Chapter 22
"Are you sure you can't come with me," Punk murmured into Emma's ear. She shook her head and pulled him closer to her. They had found a few stolen minutes away from the kids; who were busy cleaning up their rooms. Emma had been begging them to clean their rooms for weeks, but all it took was a request from their dad and a stern look and the three of them marched right into their rooms and started cleaning. "But I want you to," he whispered as he nuzzled her neck. She shook her head again. The rest of the weekend had been near perfect; except for the fact that Jack still refused to speak to his dad and shot him glares all weekend. Punk had given up trying to get the kid to talk to him for the moment; he would just have to deal with his oldest son later. Right now, he needed to try and convince Emma in the next twelve hours that she should pull the kids out of school for a week and come on the road with him. He even suggested that the kids stay with her mother and just Emma come along with him. Jenna had caught wind of their conversation about leaving the kids home with Evelyn and had immediately burst into tears at the thought of her mom and dad going somewhere together and not taking her with them. So much for a week alone with his wife, he thought to himself.
"The boys have school, and-" she started to say before the cut her off.
"And what, Em? I never see them, and it's just a week. I don't want to lose what we have going on right now," he said softly as he traced her collarbone with his fingers, causing her to shiver from his touch.
"Punk..."
"Emmy..." he whispered as he leaned into kiss her. "Can you think about it? Please, Emmy Sue?" he whispered as he leaned in and kissed her softly. He pulled away from her and smirked as he watched her blue eyes cloud over with lust.
"Ok, I'll think about it," she mumbled as she leaned in and kissed him on the mouth and sighed in content at the same time. She pulled away and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I love you, Punk...are we all right now?"
Punk was silent for a few seconds before he answered. "Yeah, baby, we're gonna be all right..."
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"Beth, what are you doing?" Scott asked quietly as he walked in on her going through the photos on his laptop. She turned and looked at him with an evil smile on her face. Scott looked over her shoulder and saw what was making her smile like that; it was a picture of him and Emma. He was sitting on the couch and she was straddling his lap. It was obvious to anyone looking at that picture that him and Emma had been lovers. "Why are you looking at that? I thought you hated Emma. And I thought you were mad at me?" he asked as he sat down on the couch and started to play with his phone. He had sent Emma a text earlier today and she still hadn't replied. Not that he had really expected her to reply; not with Punk at home at least. He knew deep down that whatever him and Emma had had going on the last couple of years wasn't over. It wasn't going to be over until Scott finally gave up on her or until she left Punk. And he was damned if he was going to give up on her. Shit, he thought to himself, now I'm starting to sound like Beth.
"I do hate Emma. And I'm not mad at you anymore," she said quietly as he watched as she opened the Photo Shop program on his laptop and began messing around with the photo of him and Emma. He watched with interest as she manipulated the date stamp on the photo. What was she up to now?
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Sunday afternoon finally rolled around and Punk was once again trying to convince Emma to come on the road with him; even if it was just for a couple of days. It was already after twelve and he had to get ready to head out on the road in a few hours. She had promised to think about earlier this weekend, but she hadn't said anything about it since then."Hey, we need to talk about whether or not you're going to come with this week. I really want you to come with," he said as he lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers. Emma was pleasantly surprised at how romantic he was trying to be right now in order to get what he wanted. "Please, Emmy..." he whispered in her ear as he started playing with her hair. He moved some hair away from her neck and placed a few gentle kisses on her most sensitive spot.
"Punk, you know we can't just drop everything and come on the road with you," Emma said quietly as she sighed in contentment as he played with her hair. "We can't just pull Jack out of school like this."
He pulled away from her and sat back on the bed. "You know, Em, if we left him at your mother's, I don't think it would even bother him. The kid is so pissed off at me right now, he's probably rather be at Evelyn's anyways."
"That's not true, Punk, Jack loves-"
"Jack is mad at me. And that's there is to it, Emma. He's mad at me because I beat the shit out of his beloved Uncle Scott and I screamed at you."
"He'll get over-"
"No, he won't. If that kid is anything like his old man, he's not going to just get over it like that," Punk said gruffly as he moved off the bed and started pacing around the room.
"Give the boy some time," Emma said softly as she watched her husband pace back and forth. "That's all you have to do. Give him time."
"Em, I have to leave in a few hours and you said yesterday that you would think about it. I gotta know; are you coming with me?"
Emma sighed and looked down at her hands; she took a deep breathe, "Let me call my mom and see if she'll get Jack and Josh to school this week."
A big smile broke out on Punk's face. "You're the best, Emmy Sue..." he whispered as he walked over to the bed and took her face in his hands. "I told you we'd be fine..."
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"Mom, I know that you're tired of this back and forth business that Punk and I are doing, but I'm serious. Everything is fine now and we're back together," Emma said in frustration as she talked to her mother on the phone. Punk was out in the living room helping Josh practice his letters while Jack sat in the chair and ignored his father. Jenna was in her own little world, humming to herself and coloring.
"Emma Sue, I just don't understand why you want to go with him. You have responsibilities at home that you should be worried about instead of hopping from town to town like some sort of gypsy!" Evelyn said back.
Emma rolled her eyes. "Mom, it's nothing like that at all and you know that. It's more of being able to spend time with my husband and watching him live his dream."
"What are your dreams, Emma? When are you going to stop worrying so much about Phil and start worrying about yourself?" Evelyn asked softly.
"Mom..."
"Emma Sue, I'm serious. Part of the reason you were so upset with Phil and wanted a divorce in the first place was because there was no Emma. It was all Phil and Emma. Or Emma the mother. Don't you want something better for yourself?"
"What are you saying? Being a mom isn't good enough?" Emma asked huffily.
"No, dear that's not what I'm saying at all. I'm simply pointing the fact out that if things didn't end up working out for you and him, that you would have nothing. And I don't mean that he wouldn't leave you with alimony or child support, I mean that your purpose of being a wife, would be over and then what would you do?"
Emma sighed. "Mom, I don't have time to think about this right now. I will, trust me, but right now, Phil is leaving in a few hours and I need to know if you can watch Jack and Josh this week or not?"
"I don't appreciate you talking me in that tone of voice, Emma. But, I do love my grandsons and I would be happy to watch over them this week. Does this mean you will be taking little Jenna with you?"
"Yes. She refuses to let Punk out of her sight."
"Very well then. I assume I will see you soon?"
Emma finished saying good-bye to her mother when Punk came into the kitchen and sat down next to Jenna at the kitchen table. The little girl looked up at her dad and smiled before turning her attention back to her coloring book. He watched with interest as his wife talked to her mom on the phone; he held in a chuckle when he saw Emma rolling her eyes at her mother. Evelyn had that same affect on him as well. Emma hung up the phone and turned to face Punk.
"Well?" he asked.
"She said yes."
Punk jumped up from his chair, grabbed Emma around the waist and spun her around the room. He finally set her down and kissed her gently on the mouth. "Go pack, baby," he said as he slapped her on the ass and went out into the living room to get his sons motivated to start packing their suitcases and backpacks for grandma's house. Everything was falling into place for the first time in a long time for Punk.
As he got his boys motivated, he tried like hell to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that it was strange that things had turned around so quickly for him and Emma. He was repressing the anger and jealousy when he thought of his best friend's hands all over his wife, and how there had been a fifty percent chance that Jenna hadn't been his daughter. Thankfully, she was his. What was he going to do about Scott though? He had been his best friend years and was actually the godfather to his kids; hell, he was even named as their legal guardian should something happen to both him and Emma. He was going to have to go through the hassle of changing all of that paperwork. That didn't bother him as much as it was going to bother him to have to tell his kids why they wouldn't see their Uncle Scott anymore.
He couldn't think about it right now; when he got back in a couple of weeks, when he had calmed down a bit more, he would sit down and talk to Scott. Until then, he just hoped that he did the right thing by forgiving Emma so quickly. She had better hope that she didn't disappoint him; he believed in forgiveness, but he also believed that the other person should have learned their lesson the first time.