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Disclaimer: If I owned Matt Hardy, we'd all be in trouble. Emma Keating/Keating family = mine all mine.

If This Isn't Love - Chapter 10


Emma had been staring at the computer screen for hours, and so far the logo she had been attempting to design looked exactly as it had the moment she'd opened it. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't focus .. her mind kept running through the same things over and over.

If he loved you, if he wanted to be with you, he would have been here to fix this.

Sighing in frustration Emma closed the laptop and leaned back in her desk chair, rubbing her tired eyes. The clock on her nightstand read 6:08 pm, but to Emma it felt like midnight. After a restless night her entire body had been tense all day waiting for the doorbell to ring, and with every hour that ticked by and it didn't, that little voice in her head grew worse.

See? He doesn't care .. weren't you listening to what he said?

It wasn't even the marriage thing that bothered her. They could have gone forever without getting married like Jeff and Beth and she'd been perfectly content just being with him. It was like Jeff said, he may never marry Beth but he would also never divorce her. It was the way Matt had said it .. like he was only with her until something better came along. Someone more "supportive", someone that could handle everything, because obviously he didn't think she could. And that had killed Emma. She always thought she handled it well .. she never complained when he had to miss special events, she rearranged clients and work projects to be with him on the road, took care of things back at the house when she couldn't be, nursed every bump and bruise like it was on her own body .. treated Matt better than she treated herself. She'd always thought he would do the same if the situation was reversed.

Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.

There was a knock on her bedroom door and Emma jumped, startled out of her thoughts. Her stomach immediately filled with butterflies .. could it be? Did he?

Tyler poked his head in, and the voice in her head snickered. "Mom and Dad want us to go out for dinner," he said. "So uh .. you might want to get dressed," he said, surveying the lounge pants and tank top Emma had been in since the day before. Emma groaned, the last thing she wanted to do was go to dinner, but her parents had been so wonderful letting her stay no questions asked, she couldn't say no. Begrudgingly she grabbed a pair of jeans and a nice shirt and made her way into her bathroom to get ready.

A half hour later Emma gave her brother a confused look as her Dad pulled onto the property of the Woodlake Country Club and headed towards the Oates House restaurant.

"We're eating here?" She asked. Most of the time they ate at Miller's or Valenti's .. the last time she'd even been to Woodlake was for her high school prom.

"Well it's not often we get both of our kids home at the same time, we wanted to have a nice dinner," her mom replied as her dad pulled into the empty parking lot. "And look, we have the place to ourselves!"

"Great," Emma remarked as the car stopped. She opened the door and stepped out, taking a deep breath and trying to reign in her surliness. Her parents were just trying to have a nice night, it wasn't there fault that her life was falling apart and she didn't want to ruin it for them.

"Hey Tyler, is that John over there?" her dad asked, pointing to a man in the distance. Emma could barely see him, never mind see who it was.

"Yeah, it is," Tyler responded.

"Well I'll be. You girls go get our table, I'm gonna go say hello. C'mon Ty," her dad said, wrapping an arm around Tyler's shoulder as the two of them rushed away. Emma looked at her mom in confusion, but her mom just shrugged.

"Men," she reasoned, laughing as she took Emma's arm and headed inside. They entered the lobby of the restaurant and her mom looked around.

"I'm gonna use the ladies room," her mom said quickly, heading towards the door. Emma furrowed her brow in confusion, wondering how she just got left behind at a dinner she didn't even want to be at, when the hostess walked up to her.

"Miss Keating?" she asked expectantly.

"Uh, yes?" Emma answered, feeling very underdressed as she took in the hostess' little black dress.

"This way," the hostess directed.

"But my family .." Emma started, but the hostess interrupted her.

"This way please," she said, opening the doors to the dining room. Emma took a few steps forward .. and froze.

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