smug. "Because if you're too modest to acknowledge it I'm not."
Owen's blush deepened.
"And that, too," he said.
"So," Eric said with a grin, "I outdid Dad in the boardroom, and you outdid him on the battlefield? I think that proves the Oedipal urge is a pretty successful drive, right? All we need to do now is for one of us to get elected President and we'll finish him."
Chapter Twenty
They were calling Emmy's flight for boarding when she got to the airport, after a mad dash back to the hotel to pack at lightning speed. Eric was staying overnight with Owen, just the two of them — Reynaldo, like Emmy, opted to give the brothers some space to bond and rebuild their fragile sibling relationship.
It was only for the weekend — Eric was due back in town early in the week and there were plans for a bigger family gathering later, which he wanted Emmy to attend.
"You've met my parents already, and Mum liked you," Eric argued as they left the check-in desk, Emmy clutching her boarding pass. “And I hope we’re going to be seeing a lot more of each other in the future, so…”
She allowed herself a smile.
"I think after the past twenty-four hours it would be crazy to deny that this was more than a passing fling, no?"
"My thoughts exactly," he said, slinging his arm around her waist and pulling her in tight.
The kiss he planted on her before she went through security lingered on her lips for most of the flight — she could swear she still felt it when she was woken up gently at dawn by the flight attendant with a hot towel, a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and a muffin.
Eric had booked her a limo for the way home — a nice touch she discovered when she turned her phone back on and a text from him popped up.
Good morning darling, I hope you managed to sleep. Look out for a chauffeur with your name on a board at arrivals, I figured you needed a ride home. I miss you already. Owen and I are getting reacquainted — as grown men now, and no longer the boys we were. I can't tell you how much it means to me. To us. It couldn't have happened without you, Em. Thank you.
Emmy resisted the temptation to text him back — it was barely 5 am in Cali — and just let herself enjoy the feeling of having done something right, even if she couldn't pretend she'd been entirely motivated by selflessness. The thought that Eric was back into her life — seriously, with future plans, family dinners, and the likely prospect of more wild sex — was another source of bliss, and so she daydreamed her way into the city, cocooned in the buttery leather seats of the limo as it made its way through the Sunday morning traffic on Grand Central Parkway.
It felt like she'd been away for a week when she lugged her overnight bag up the stairs even though it had barely been 36 hours since she left the city. Her apartment was empty and spotless, tidier than she remembered leaving it. She dropped her bag in the hall, where there was a conspicuous lack of shoes under the coat rack, and not a single newspaper on the table where she dropped her keys.
The kitchen was even better, every surface gleaming and not a dish drying in the rack. Anna had obviously made a point of being the perfect guest, something Emmy approved of wholeheartedly. She'd even left a note on the kitchen table to explain her absence:
Kidnapped by Donna and Allie and Rose for a long weekend of gambling in Atlantic City. Probably not back until after you — late Monday or early Tuesday. Don't wait up. I hope you had a good time in Cali, sis. Tell me all about it when I'm back. Xoxoxo
P.S. I bought some more of that Merlot you like. In case you need something to take the edge off when you get back. I won't judge :)
Emmy grinned as she crumpled the note in her hand, checking the time on her watch. It was just gone 9 am, and frankly at this point hot milk was more appealing than red wine, especially since Anna had been considerate enough to stock up on both. Too early still to text the West Coast, although she bet Eric was up already. She was debating whether to start