Dr. Hank Lawson pulled into the driveway of his upscale cottage after yet another failed attempt at a date. If there hadn't been so many previous failures, he probably would have been upset. But a smile held on his lips as he recounted the rather comical evening spent with the town's newest yoga instructor. She was quite attractive and fairly intelligent, but a little too much of a tree hugger for his liking. One of these days the woman of his dreams would pop into his life. He was confident of that. In the meantime, he would enjoy the yoga instructors of the world.

Lost in his thoughts, he parked and ambled his way towards the house, when he noticed the red Saab convertible amongst the fleet of cars. His smile widened. Emma was home. Almost as quickly as the joy appeared, the worry joined it. This was earlier than her expected summer arrival. Big brother mode took over and he quickened his pace and entered the house.

The flat screen was showing a nineties chick flick with the sound off in the dimly lit room, but his sister was not visible. Peering over the couches he spotted her curled up and sleeping. His doctor impulses flew into high alert and he reached a hand out to lay on her forehead. Cool. His hand slid down to her cheek and the motion jostled her awake.

Emma's eyes opened wide and she sucked in air. Her hand rose and batted the one on her cheek as the head looming in front of her showed no face of its own.

"Emma," he called, still leaning over the back of the couch, "It's ok. It's me. It's Hank."

She heard the words but it wasn't until he said his name that his face came into focus and she relaxed her features.

"Hank," she said sitting up, "I'm sorry."

"It's OK," he said, moving around to sit next to her on the couch. "Bad dream?"

"No," she said. "You just surprised me."

"Ok," he watched her struggle to calm herself. "You're ok, Emma." He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder to steady her.

"I know. I'm ok," she said it more to reassure herself than him.

"Emma. I didn't know you were coming today. Why didn't you call? Or text?"

"I kind of decided on it on the spur of the moment and just packed up and drove out here."

"Packed up? What do you mean? You're going back to school, right?"

Emma stood and walked into the kitchen. She needed some water. "Ummm . . . ," she stalled. He had risen when she had and was close behind her. "No. Actually, I'm not going back."

"I don't understand. You're not done yet. Finals are next week. You've worked so hard. You can't miss them." His speech quickened with each sentence.

She was drinking her water, taking much longer than necessary. Putting this conversation off for as long as possible. Clearly impatient, he reached out and gently took the glass from her.

"Emma, talk to me." She walked back into the living room and gathered her things.

"Hank, please, everything's going to be fine. I'll email all of my professors in the morning. The work can be done and submitted online. Classes are over so I don't need to be there." She turned and looked him in the eye for the first time since he walked into the house. "Now I'm so tired. Can we talk more in the morning?"

"Sure," he acquiesced. "As long as you're ok."

"I'm ok," she said and stepped closer to kiss him on the cheek. "Good night."

"Good night." He wasn't convinced.

RPRPRPRPRP

Hank was putting the finishing touches on the egg white and spinach omelet that he knew Emma loved when his younger brother bounced into the house.

"Morning," Evan yelled dropping his things on the table.

"Good morning," Hank answered with a smile.

"Hey, is that Emma's car outside?"

"Yep," Hank said plating the food and setting it on the table. "She came in last night."

"Wait. Where's mine?" Evan said eyeing only two breakfasts.

"Didn't you eat with Paige?"

"Well, yeah, but I could always eat again."

"Evan!" Emma yelled from the stairs and ran across the room to jump into her brother's arms.

"Hey, kiddo," Evan swung her around.

Watching them, Hank tried to keep his jealousy at bay. He reminded himself that his relationship with Emma was different from the one she had with Evan, but just as strong.

"What are you doing here? I didn't expect you for another couple of weeks."

"I got tired of that place, so I packed up and took off." She turned to face Hank. "Don't worry, Hank. I already emailed my professors. They'll get back to me saying I can start my exams online tomorrow and I'll be done by the end of the week."

"Things really work that way now?"

"They really do," she grabbed a piece of toast and her bag.

"Wait," Evan said. "Where are you going?'

"To look for a summer job. Thanks for breakfast," she waved her toast in Hank's direction. "Don't worry. We have all summer to have omelets together," and she walked out the door.

Evan eyed the space that she vacated for a moment then turned to his brother. "She 'got tired of that place?' Does that make sense to you?" he asked.

"Not at all," Hank shook his head.

"So what do we do?"

Hank shrugged his shoulders. "I tried to get something out of her last night but she was too tired." He sat at the table. "I guess all we can do now is wait. Emma will talk when she is ready. At least now you can have a second breakfast," he gestured the plate across from him.

Since there was nothing further he could do regarding his sister, the tension left Evan's face, "Yeah, there is that."

RPRPRPRPRP

When he entered his home at the end of the day, Hank found the young co-ed seated at the kitchen counter with her laptop open in front of her. She kept a focused attention on it, ignoring his greeting, so he continued on to the refrigerator and retrieved water bottles for each of them. He twisted the cap off one and placed it beside her, then performed the same action on his. He took a long sip and watched her, trying to determine the best approach. He decided on, "Are you hungry?"

"No," she said attempting to be discreet as she wiped a tear threatening to fall down her cheek.

The gesture was not lost on him and, certain that an indirect approach would prove fruitless, he said, "Emma, what's wrong?"

Her gaze lifted to his. She saw the concern there, and hated the disappointment that would follow, "Oh, you know. I just screwed up again." She looked down and closed her laptop.

"What do you mean? What's happened?" he asked. He knew honesty was something she had struggled with in the past, and hoped that they were at a point where they could both trust each other.

"Well," she said, somewhat flippantly, "it turns out I was wrong. While all of the exams are taken online, they need to be taken in person. Prevents cheating or something like that." She stood, picked up her computer, and stuffed it into her bag. "Looks like freshman year was a big bust afterall. I'm so stupid."

Hank moved around the counter to stand in front of her. "Alright, wait a minute," he said. Removing that bag from her, he placed it on the table and rested his hands on her shoulders. The chances of her bolting were high and he didn't want to risk it. Besides, the physical contact might help calm her. "Emma, look at me." She didn't so he repeated the direction. When she gave in he continued, "First of all, you are not stupid." This distressed her enough to make her look away from him so he moved on hand up to her cheek and waited for her to refocus on him. "Do you hear me? You've come so far from that little girl who walked in here last summer. You've done an amazing job at school and I am so proud of you."

She wanted to believe him. He seemed sincere. But these kinds of accolades had been completely foreign to her before arriving in the Hamptons, and they continued to make her feel uncomfortable. Still, the smile on his lips reached all the way to his eyes. She loved him and would do anything to make him proud, so she responded with a, "Thank you," even though she was unsure.

Confident that his message was clear, Hank released her. "Now, this doesn't really seem to be a problem at all, Em. You have your dorm room for another week. Pack a bag for a few days and drive back. When finals are done, come home."

"No," she said while continuing to gather her things into her backpack. "I'm not going back."

"Why?" he asked.

She thought of a million different reasons to give him, had been thinking of them for days. But when she turned and faced him, she discovered that she couldn't lie to him again. "I don't feel safe there," she said.

Evan and Paige entered the guest house through the patio and heard the last bit of Hank and Emma's conversation. Evan said, "You don't feel safe, where?"

Eyes locked on Hank's, Emma's voice was small as she spoke. "Anywhere." She grabbed her bag, dodged between her big brothers, and raced up the stairs to her room.