Chapter 7

Emma

Everything was going wrong before it had even started. I was turned on, angry, hungry and ready to leave. I knew that he didn't want me to sing; it was clear from the way that he asked if I'd come to sing or strip?

I'd be offended but I looked like a stripper, didn't I? The lace dress that had transparent gaps in between the lace panels gave the illusion of nudity. Sure, it was white, but with my pure pale skin, it just looked like another layer on my flesh. I was more than gifted in the breast department too, and it didn't help that bra that I was wearing was two sizes too small and made my breasts look even bigger in the dress.

The good thing about the outfit, however, was that it was covered with a big shawl when I came in, so no one saw me coming in dressed like a hooker, apart from him. Not even his secretary.

I'd lost whatever little confidence I'd had before I walked into the room when I made the mistake of looking at my phone and seeing a message from Abe. He was coming to visit me. He had something to say.

What?

I thought that we'd said all we had to say. He told me to come back home, and I told him no. What more did he need to say, that hadn't been said before?

I was a bitch, a cold, heartless mean little bitch to him. The kind that the girls in the city were portrayed to be all the time. I'd learned that wasn't always a stereotype in my time here. The saying that city girls eat men alive wasn't an exaggeration, they seemed to care about no one's feelings but their own. That's how I'd been with Abe, but he didn't seem to get it.

As I thought about it all, something hit me. Maybe I'd been in the city a little too long. I really hated Abe for wanting us to be together. It was something that we'd talked about since we went to middle school. Maybe it all sounds crazy, but back then everything seemed simple. I was to stay in town, he was to take over his dad's farm, and we would have kids, and then life would be good. I hated myself for wanting something different. It was even worse whenever I spoke to him, which was why I tended to avoid talking to him, especially lately, we hadn't spoken for a while. Six weeks to be exact. I thought that my silence would be a big hint.

Abe's voice was so soft, not like Kent James' voice. Kent barked at me like a dog, and he didn't even know me. I hated it when people spoke to me that way. Something that Abe would never do and when Kent asked if I'd come to strip, well that just made me want to get out of there even quicker.

Until my eyes focused down on the floor and I was all of a sudden fixated on his shoes. Gail wasn't kidding; they were big.

Did that mean...I felt my face change into curiosity, and then I felt my ears go red as thoughts rushed around in my brain.

I shook my head at the thought of it. Sometimes, Gail would come home from work, and I would think that she spent more time at work staring at his shoes, wondering about his reputation than she did anything else.

And just like that, the tears flooded from my eyes. I didn't know how to stop it, and the song which I was supposed to sing was erased from my mind, and my favorite song, Vision of Love started to escape my lips.

I felt as if Mariah Carey was in the room with me and holding my hand. Giving me the confidence to sing the first song that I'd heard her sing and wished that I could sing like her. I didn't stop practicing from that day forward.

"And now I know I've succeeded..."

I didn't stop to open my eyes, I didn't want to know what he was doing, but I knew one thing for sure, no longer was he barking. I didn't feel him close to me. But I felt the warmth of the melody take over my body and no longer did I fear to open my eyes. If anything, the complete opposite as I saw him sitting arms crossed on the edge of his desk watching me as if his life depended on it.

I could tell he wasn't angry anymore. If anything his eyes seemed to light up as I started to sway my hips and move my arms. Exaggerating every note and hearing the echo in his office made me want to sing another song. Even maybe strip, I thought with a silent giggle. I'd never sung for money. That night at the club that lost their singer was a gig for drinks. This was different, so different.

I'd sung for my dad on his birthday, and sometimes in front of the family around Christmas time, but never for as much money as Kent James had on offer. This would save me from having to go home to Minnesota, from leaving my best friend, and the dreams I'd only just started to allow myself to follow behind. I needed this job, but I knew now that, even if he didn't give me the job, he'd given me something that I'd never had before.

Confidence.

The song came to a dramatic end, "And it was all that you turned out to be..."

I hummed the last part and waited for a reaction, something from him. I didn't feel like crying again, I was on cloud nine actually. I felt like having a party and rejoicing in the new me. I had something in me that I didn't think I possessed, and it was more than a pretty voice.

It felt as if the room stood still as I the final note rang in the room and he said nothing. All I could hear was my heart beating out of control. I wanted him to be as moved as I was about the song. A perfect stranger, but he said nothing, not even a blink.

The dramatic silence came to a close as he whispered, "Thank you, and I'll let you know."

It was as if he didn't have a care in the world as he shifted from his desk and sank more comfortably into his chair. It was as if I was being dismissed and the tears that I once controlled came racing out of my eyes as I grabbed my purse. I picked up the shawl and covered my body, before storming out of his office.

I needed to go back home, whether I liked it or not.

I should've known better than to think otherwise.

I should have known better than to think that the likes of him, would be nice to someone like me.