Unlucky in Love

“Em!”

“Yeah?” I called, pinning my hair up into a bun. I put in a black headband and slipped on black leggings. Those, a black top, and ankle boots completed my outfit.

“Do you have a class today?”

I put away my make-up and closed the drawer. “No, I was going to have an Ember Day though. Give myself some time to think.”

Dominic came into the bathroom and grabbed his toothbrush. “Think about what?”

“Just think. Why do you want to know?”

“Maybe because of all the shit with Autumn and everything. It just seems like you’re making it your problem. Like you’re making everyone’s situation your problem.”

I sighed and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. “I’m just trying to help.” I shrugged helplessly. “It just feels like I’ve gotten off too easy. There’s really no conflict with us right now, and it makes me feel bad because there’s so much conflict with everyone else.”

Dominic rinsed his mouth out and put his toothbrush back in the drawer. He came over and sat down next to me. “Ember,” he said, putting an arm around my waist and a hand on my thigh. “It’s not a bad thing to have no drama. And no, you haven’t gotten off easy. Your mom, your dad, our fighting…why can’t you just be happy with the fact that everything’s okay right now?”

“I can’t be happy because it’s not fair!” I complained. “It’s not fair that I have a good life. I have you, and I have Emma, and I have everything under control for once in my life. It’s not fair that I get all of that and Autumn has to deal with being a single parent and living with Leah, who’s about to pop any day now and will make absolutely everything about her.”

He grabbed my face somewhat roughly and kissed me, making me shut up. “Just stop.” He said, pulling away. His hands were still holding my face, but his grip had lessened. “You deserve what you have, and Autumn and Leah deserve what they have. It’s as simple as that.”

I nodded slightly, still not entirely convinced. “I guess.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly. “You guess?”

I shrugged dramatically. Without missing a beat, he pulled me up and started to carry me into the bedroom. “Dominic!” I screeched, quickly wrapping my arms around his neck. I so did not want to fall.

I was dropped on the bed, and I noticed a familiar look in his eye. That look made me forget all of my guilt. I leaned up and met his lips. I pulled him down on the bed with me. We lay on our sides, and he hitched my leg around his hip as he continued to kiss me.

Sex wasn’t on my mind—this kissing was just a distraction from the meaningless worries raging through my head.

“You’re keeping me away from my day.” I murmured.

He pulled my closer to him by my waist. “Do you want some company?” he asked. “Me and Emma need to find you something for your birthday.”

I chuckled. “So you remember this year?” I joked. “When is it?”

“Tuesday.” He said without missing a beat. I had a feeling he had written it down on every calendar he had.

I rolled over on my back. “I don’t need anything.” I told him. “And I have everything I want.”

“There has to be something you want.” He said flatly. “Chanel? A new Mercedes or a Range Rover? A personal chef? A private jet? What do want, Em?”

“Well, a personal chef would be lovely.” I said offhandedly, and Dominic chuckled. “Okay, if you happen to find something that I’ll actually use and will benefit us somehow, go ahead and get it. Just don’t blow the budget.”

He kissed me lightly. “What’s the budget?”

“Ten dollars.”

“Not gonna happen.” He said quickly, and I sighed.

I sat up. “All right. I’m going to go out. You and Emma can come if you want.”

“Where are you going?”

I got up and grabbed my black coat and slipped it on and buttoned it. I grabbed my bag and my set of the car keys. “Costco. Maybe get some bad Chinese take-out afterwards and come home.”

“Have fun.”

I nodded, knowing that’d be his answer. “Okay then.” I started. I waited till he met my eyes to reach over and grab his wallet off of the nightstand. I took out his credit card and tossed the wallet to him. “I guess you won’t mind me buying Christmas stuff then.”

“It’s October.”

“Point being?”

He sighed and got up. He took his card back, put it back in his wallet, and then put his wallet in his back pocket. “Let’s go before you talk me into something else.”

* * *

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Emma, don’t you like it?” I asked, taking her out of the cart and holding her up to the moose. It was a Christmas moose, all decorated with scarves and mittens and a welcome sign by its feet and it had a baby moose too. Emma started to pet the nose, and then tried to grab it. “See, she wants it!” I told Dominic.

He sighed. “I’m not spending sixty bucks on something that we’ll only use once a year.”

I gave him a pouty look. “Please?” I asked pitifully. “I won’t ask for anything else. And besides, our daughter wants it! You wouldn’t deny her anything, would you?”

“Don’t use my daughter against me,” he chastised me. He looked again at the moose. “Fine. Whatever.”

He put one of the three-foot-tall boxes into our cart. My eyes immediately found a bunch of ornaments and decorations, and Dominic followed behind glumly.

In my defense, he did say I could have whatever I wanted. It didn’t matter that it was in reference to my birthday.

By the time Dominic finally managed to drag me out, we had spent over two hours in there. We started to load up the car—we had gotten a bunch of groceries and a few packs of Coke—when I heard a distinctive voice.

Daveigh and Logan were coming out of Costco, a cart full of crap I couldn’t believe Daveigh would ever buy. She was so not a processed-food kind of person.

“Hey,” Daveigh said, making Logan take a detour over to us. “So did you hear?”

I looked at her blankly. “What?”

She looked like she was holding back a laugh. “Leah had her baby.”

“And?” I asked, not getting what the big deal was.

“Then she kind of went off the deep end—we don’t really know the details. We did find out that they had to sedate her, and aren’t letting her take him home.”

I felt my jaw actually drop. “So what about the baby then?”

Daveigh and Logan shrugged nonchalantly. The fact that they didn’t seem to care made me feel sick.