Free Getting by (A Knight's Tale) by Claudia Y. Burgoa

sent Jake back to where he belonged—next to my parents. Not that I wished him dead, but I didn’t need him or the memories of us around. Bringing him back would never help me move on and find a guy that might accept me and who I could be with for the rest of my life. Like Grampy suggested. “But nice to see you, I guess.”
    Bullet dodged, I finished my journey to the old house, which no longer had a door and begged for mercy to be taken down or repaired. My pretty sign of welcome and the flowers I painted around it were all washed away. I took a peek into my old house; no tree house—who tore it down? No, wait, the entire tree was gone from my house. The perfectly manicured grass housed a tiny plastic playground and a few dog toys. Whoever lived there had no respect for Mom’s award winning garden, because it no longer existed.
    A pang of loneliness hit me. These were the moments I wished life had a different outcome. In a perfect world, Mom would’ve been helping Tina in the kitchen, and Dad would be flipping hamburgers with John. Chloe might come from New York—or not. And I’d be arriving from France, with my boyfriend who I hoped was close to proposing because we loved each other very much. We met in Europe—love at first sight. It was him, my personal hero and stalker. Serendipity sent him my way, forever. But when I opened my eyes, I was standing alone looking at a stranger’s backyard—Mom and Dad weren’t there.
    Hello, real world, you suck!

Chapter 9
    Jake
    “NO, NO. I’LL smile. See, pearly white smile, no sad face.” I heard the pretty girl talking to Gaby. Who was I kidding, I had stalked her since the moment she arrived and Mrs. Clement yelled to John and Gavin that little Emma was home.
    Mitchel gave me a look, while Liam walked inside the house to “check up on things,” as he said. The confirmation of what we already knew, their Emma was the same as my Emma. From that point on, I observed far enough away to avoid contact, but close enough to…be called a stalker. Mrs. Clement bombarded her with overwhelming subjects, and her stiffened body and lost eyes begged for a hug, a hero to rescue her, or at least some mercy from whatever torture she was going through. Emma met Mom, and the thankful smile she gave her brought a smile to my own face; the meddler had done something worthy of it. My girl didn’t award those loosely. Then Emma headed upstairs, where she spent about an hour locked in one of the rooms.
    Once she descended and came to the backyard, the internal fight she had going on became a war with lots of casualties. Not only her body but her face was begging for sympathy and understanding. She wanted to run away and never look back—I saw that face three months ago. The difference with today was that she stayed and faced her problems. Emma’s tears made an appearance twice in one day; a miracle for the insensitive girl. Rewind…that sounded wrong. She was sensitive, but chose to hide any kind of feelings from the world—including me; no, especially me.
    “Your mom went a little overboard with her memory lane trip, but I’m good.” Emma sobered up and straightened up her body. “I swear it was the first time I’ve cried since forever. Maid of honor, perfect, just for you. No need to draw attention, Gabriela.”
    “Okay.” Gaby twisted her mouth and narrowed her eyes. “Let’s go with Cade, you need to meet his cousins and brothers.” I caught a devilish smirk as she paused. “One of them is the best man.”
    “Don’t you start, Gabriela.”
    Careful, she’s going to bite your head off.
    Emma came to a halt and placed her fists on her waist. I seconded the motion. My girl wouldn’t be sleeping with Mitch–over my dead body. Correction, I’d kill him if he dared to look at her, other than like a brother. Which, of course he’d never be. We were over, and we were never serious. “You promised, no pimping this week. I’m so not sleeping with the best man, or