Free Jesse's Soul (2) by Amy Gregory

breathe, and how fast her stomach dropped over and over—it was real. Her pulse would race , and it took a conscious effort to act normal. As much as she wanted to, Emery couldn’t deny the physical reactions she had to him.
    It just meant she’d have to work that much harder to mask herself. He’d been hurt once already. That kind of pain was more than enough for one lifetime. After hearing what he’d been through, Emery knew there was no way in hell she’d put him through that kind of pain again.
    “Love at first sight. You really think that exists?” She didn’t, but that didn’t mean she didn’t hold out hope for others.
    “Yep .” Molly nodded. “Carter proposed four weeks later.”
    “Are you serious?” Emery’s jaw dropped open. “Oh my God.”
    “Love at first sight, my friend.” Molly stood up. “Well, I better get, before my husband sends out a search crew for me. I just wanted to come by and say hi.”
    Emery stood up and stumbled, grabbing on to Molly.
    “Emery!” She set her back down on the couch. “Are you okay?”
    No, no, no, no. Damn it, no.
    Emery grabbed her head with her eyes still shut and took a deep breath.
    Why now? This can’t be happening, I can’t keep getting worse. I can’t have anyone seeing this shit.
    “I’m fine. I just get a little lightheaded sometimes.” She breathed out the words as the pain of the headache hit.
    “A little? You about passed out.”
    “I’m fine, I just stood up too fast, that’s all. Really.”
    “Sorry, Emery, I’m not buying that. I understand we don’t know each other very well yet, and if you don’t want to talk to me, that’s fine. I really do understand, but I’m getting your dad. I’ll be right back.” Molly stood up.
    Emery grabbed Molly’s ar m before she could skate away. “Oh, Molly.”
    She took another deep breath and opened her eyes. Reading the fear written over her friend’s face, she realized Molly was not going to accept that she was fine or leave her alone until she knew she was taken care of. She weighed her options—baring her soul to a woman she just met or having her dad ride her ass even harder than he already was. For someone who liked to keep to herself, neither was an appealing option.
    “This isn’t something that I go around telling people that I just met ...or anyone, really.”
    She hoped Molly would understand how serious she was. Her heart pounded in sync with the pain thumping in her head. Resting her elbow on the small table, her forehead in her palm, Emery closed her eyes and contemplated her position. She hadn’t exaggerated the truth in the least. Only her close family knew everything about her situation, and so far she’d been able to keep that count to seven people, not including doctors or nurses.
    Technically , eight people if she was being completely honest, but he didn’t count. Not now and not ever again.
    Emery’s grip on Molly’s arm loosened as her friend stood. The clock was ticking.
    Rock—hard place—her.
    She went with Molly. “Can you please keep this between us?” she begged.
    “I’ll try. But if you need help, I’m going to go get it.”
    “It’s not like that.” She let out a defeated breath. “I…I was...”
    Molly slowly lowered herself back into the seat and reached over putting her hand on top of Emery’s for support.
    “I was sick. I  had cancer.”
    She hated telling people because of the devastated look that washed over their faces even when they tried not to be obvious about it. The dreaded C word. It had reduced the strongest woman she had ever known to tears, her poor grandmother—that day broke Emery’s heart. The memory of it still haunted her.
    Having people feel sorry for her was worse, almost as bad as treating her as if she were fragile. She understood her family couldn’t help it, but she wasn’t made of freaking glass, which was exactly how her they acted around her, especially her dad.
    Molly was the first outsider that she had