The Davis Years (Indigo) Read Online Free PDF Page B

left of a life. She’d sacrificed whatever she’d needed to in order to make sure she would never be vulnerable again the way she had those six years ago. After finally creating a future for herself she could look forward to, she couldn’t really regret anything she’d done to get there.
    Jemma tried to think about all the times Emily Rose hadn’t been there for her in high school. The problem was there weren’t too many times to remember. And none of them were significant enough to warrant the way Jemma had acted—either six years or six minutes ago. She almost laughed at herself when she realized the reason she didn’t like Carolina was probably because Carolina was now a better friend than she was to Emily Rose.
    Later, Carolina stepped outside to answer a phone call. Jemma moved closer to Emily Rose. “I’m sorry for snapping earlier. I don’t know what happened.”
    “It’s okay,” Emily Rose said, giving her an understanding smile. Jemma thought back to their conversation that morning in the community center and figured Emily Rose probably thought she knew more than there was to know. Instead of bringing up things that didn’t matter—opening old and healed wounds for no reason—Jemma decided to ignore what Emily Rose thought she knew and let the subject drop.
    Jemma flipped idly through the guest list as she and Emily Rose talked about the flowers Ms. F had ordered. She gave a small frown of confusion, unable to find a name she’d expected to be there. “Hey. Tara’s name isn’t on here.”
    “Tara’s—not coming.” Emily Rose toyed with a paper lantern as she spoke.
    “She’s not coming to your wedding?” Jemma couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Tara was bad, sure, but missing Emily Rose’s wedding? She couldn’t be that bad.
    “We’re not talking right now.” Sadness flickered through Emily Rose’s brown eyes, but she masked it so quickly that she probably thought she’d hidden it altogether. “She’s been worse than usual since I went away to college. Especially since I started dating Michael.”
    Emily Rose had never had a good relationship with her sister, and it’d always taken such a toll on her. Apparently, it still did. She wanted a close relationship with Tara, but it seemed Tara never wanted the same with her.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “Who cares? She’s such a loser now. You should see her.” Emily Rose forced a laugh, but that didn’t change the fact that her voice had trembled.
    “Really?” Jemma wondered what that meant, especially after Davis mentioning their short and seemingly disastrous marriage.
    “You know what? I don’t want to talk about her. I don’t even want to think about her. Have you seen Davis yet?”
    Jemma put down the guest list and fiddled with a sheet of labels. “What would make you think I’d do that?”
    “The fact that I know you. Some things don’t change.”
    There was no point in trying to avoid telling her. She was going to figure it out pretty quickly on Saturday. “He’s my date. To the wedding.”
    Emily Rose’s eyebrows rose almost high enough to meet her bangs. Jemma knew she’d have to explain. So she did.
    ***
    Jemma sat up in bed that night, having given up on sleep. Being in the Bradens’ house earlier, having dinner with a real family, and one she knew so well, brought back hard memories of her own family. Contrasted with the Bradens, the Jenkinses had always seemed the epitome of dysfunction.
    Jemma felt her way to the kitchen, and by that time her eyes had adjusted to the dark enough for her to be able to see by the shaft of moonlight coming in the window over the kitchen sink. She grabbed a glass from the dish drying rack and filled it with water.
    Lynette sure knew how to run a household—into the ground. The only thing she was really good at was making rules for Jemma. Lynette had been the epitome of “do as I say and don’t you dare do as I do.” Lynette had been especially hard on Jemma when it came