Emmalee (2 page)

           
“You remember that?  Really?”  He placed his
shoulder against the wall of the small room, clearly amazed.

           
“Excuse me, but a girl does not forget the only guy who would
ruin his brand new shoes and leather coat to come and save her.”

           
“But you were ten.”

“A very terrified ten year old
girl, who Zack and Taylor refused to help and would only laugh at. 
Had you not come when you did—and as quickly too!—I might
have drowned.”

           
“Well, I’m sure you remember the almost drowning part.”
He teased.  “I don’t think that is something any of
us will ever forget.  I’m just surprised you remembered it
was me who rescued you and the nickname I made you call me.”

           
“You made me?”

           
“Ah-ha!  Something you don’t remember.” 
Chase grinned.  “It was the only thing I could think of to
get you to stop crying.  You were such a princess then. 
All girlie-girl, so I told you I was your knight coming to rescue
you.”

           
I couldn’t help it.  I laughed.  I couldn’t
remember, but I could imagine.  Mostly I could imagine it
working. 

           
“So I take it you didn’t run all the way up here to tell
me the boat was in the lake, did you?”

           
Oh!
  “No, Lady had puppies and I was coming over
to see them.”

           
“Lady?  You mean Georgia’s dog?  Yeah, they’re
up in her room.  Do you want me to take you up there?  I’m
trying to spend as much time with her as possible.”

           
“With Lady?”

           
“No.”  He grinned again. “With Georgia. 
Since I’ve been in Spain I have a whole summer’s worth of
catching up to do.” 

           
“Oh.  Well, don’t worry about me, I know the way.”

           
“In that case, let me get the fishing stuff put up and then
I’ll see you in a minute.  Georgia’s not the only
one I need to catch up on.”  He wiggled his eyebrows as he
moved past me.  In a heartbeat he had stepped out the open door,
turned the corner and was gone.

Chapter 2:

“Have you always been this
cute, or did you have to work at it?”

           
“Knock, knock,” I called as I tapped onGeorgia’s
open door.

           
“We’re back here!” a little voice rang out. 
“Emma, is that you?”

           
“Yep.”  I stepped into the beautifully displayed
large lavender and white playroom.  It was full of every toy
imaginable.

           
“Hurry!  You have to see!  Lady had her puppies!”

           
I followed the enthusiastic six year old voice through to the
adjoining room.  I looked on either side of the large canopied
white eyelet lace bed, before glancing around the rest of the
pristine lavender bedroom.  “Where?” I chuckled.

           
“In here!  In here!” cameGeorgia’s reply.

           
Is she in her bathroom?
  Just as I opened the door to
the designer bathroom I heard a couple of slight soft giggles and
mewing sounds over my shoulder. 
Ah-ha.
  I shut
the door and walked into Georgia’s dressing room.  “There
you are!”

           
The little girl was laid out on her tummy while she peered into the
small circular dog bed the Pomeranian and her brood were resting in. 
Georgia giggled and motioned me closer.  Cautiously I walked
over and knelt down on the floor next to her.  I raised the back
of my hand for Lady to sniff before visiting with the puppies. 
I had never seen the small dog look more proud than I had right then.

           
“Good girl, Lady.  They are simply beautiful.”

All four of the puppies were busily
nursing.   Carefully I ran one finger over the smooth
backside of the nearest pup. 

           
“That’s Little Lion,” said Georgia.  “He’s
my favorite.”

           
We both began to giggle as Little Lion scooted blindly over his
siblings and began to search for some more milk.  Faint protests
were heard from the other puppies as he scrambled above their heads. 
Georgia chuckled and gently picked him up and placed the little guy
away from the rest where he greedily latched on and started to nurse
again.

           
“Do you have names for all of them?”

           
“No.  Just Little Lion.  Me and Mom decided he was
the most like Dad.”

           
I laughed.  Lionel Anderson probably wasn’t too thrilled
with the name choice.  “Were they born today?”

           
“Nope.  Last night.  It was so exciting too! 
First Chase came home, and then the puppies came.  Mom even let
me stay up an’ watch.”

           
“I bet you’re tired now, huh?”

           
“I was, but now I’m okay.  I like watching them. 
They’re so cute.”

           
“I can’t believe how tiny they are.” It looked like
I could fit two puppies in the palm of my hand. 

           
“Dr. Westbrook says that they won’t open their eyes for a
whole week from now.”

           
Surprised I asked, “Was she here?”  The local vet
very rarely made house calls.

“No, not yet.  But Mom
says she’ll be by later this afternoon to check on them.” 

           
I wonder if the Andersons had Dr. Westbrook on speed dial? 
Probably. 
Knowing Grace Anderson like I did, it was
basically guaranteed.  She was meticulous when it came to
details.  Especially, when it involved her daughter. 

           
It was no secret that Georgia was the Anderson’s miracle baby. 
After twelve years of repeated fertility treatments they had finally
given up on ever having another child. 

           
“Hello, girls.  Can I join you?” Chase’s head
peeked into the dressing room.

           
“Hi, Chase!” Georgia beamed up at him.  “Come
in.  Emma’s deciding which puppy she wants.”

           
I scooted over a bit and let him sit next to her.  The room was
pretty big, but with Chase in it, it automatically seemed to shrink
to about half the size.  He grinned and playfully nudged one of
the puppies before looking over at me.  “Have you chosen
one yet?”

           
I smiled.  “No.  I thought I’d wait until they
stopped eating.  I can’t even see them right now.”

           
“You’re right.  You shouldn’t choose today
anyway.  You should give them a couple weeks until you get to
see their personalities.  Besides, right now they look more like
little slugs than dogs.”

           
“Slugs!”  I chuckled and shook my head.  “No
way.  They’re adorable.  I can’t believe you
just called them slugs.”

           
“Don’t listen to Chase,” statedGeorgia. “He’s
a boy and boys don’t know anything.”

           
“It’s true.”  He winked at me.  “I
don’t know anything.”

           
I rolled my eyes and watched as the first of the puppies unlatched
itself from its mother and curled into a ball.  Lady leaned over
and began to lick and clean the little guy.  I was amazed at her
natural motherly instinct that kept the puppy close to her so it
could stay warm as it slept.

           
“So, speaking of not knowing anything,” Chase ominously
began. “What have you been up to?”

           
This oughta be good.  Same old Chase.  
“You
really should’ve become a police detective, you know that?”

           
“Hey, I haven’t even asked anything yet.”

           
“Yes.  But I know it’s coming.”  I
grinned.

           
“Okay, okay.  I can take a hint.  If you don’t
want to tell me then I figure I’ll just have to guess.” 
Chase leaned in and smoothly picked up the small puppy that had
fallen asleep.  He rubbed its petite head with the tip of his
nose before he took one of my hands and lightly placed the puppy on
my palm.  Lady raised her head and watched intently while I
cradled the little guy next to me, but she didn’t growl. 
After a couple of seconds she seemed content that I was safe and went
on to clean another puppy.  

           
“So, I take it you’re still ruling the roost in
theBradford home?”

           
Great.  We’re going this route.
  “What
do you mean?”

           
“Come on, you know there isn’t anything your family
wouldn’t do if you didn’t want them to.  You’re
way too spoiled for your own good.”

  “That’s calling
the kettle black, don’t you think?”

           
“Ha!  You think I’ve been spoiled?”

           
His incredulous look was unbelievably entertaining.  I bit my
lip to stop the smile before responding, “Oh,
Señor
Español,
I didn’t realize life inSpain was so
difficult for you.”

           
“More difficult there for me, than here for you, I am sure,”
Chase smugly replied.

           
Whatever!
  “I’ll have you know since Zack
left, it’s been really difficult.  Thank you very much.”

           
“Oh, you mean you have no one to plague now with what
fingernail polish to choose?”

           
“Hey!  Fingernail polish is an essential element to any
girl’s outfit, so don’t knock it.”  I laughed.
 “Besides, my life is not all idle, or whatever you think
it is.”

           
“Ha!  I bet it is.  Actually, I bet the only idle
thing you don’t do, is
American Idol
.  Never
mind, I take that back.  I can see by your face that you are
blasé enough to actually watch
American Idol.
”   

           
“It’s good!  Plus, when you vote you’re
helping to launch someone’s singing career.  So therefore,
you really are doing a service forAmerica, especially if the singer
is good.”

           
“That’s your idea of helping America?” he began to
laugh.  Really laugh. 

I never realized until that moment
just how annoying laughter could be.  I squinted my eyes
slightly and brought out my fake smile. “Finished?”

           
“Al-almost!” he gasped.

           
“Before you
die
of laughter, I’ll have you know
I am extremely busy with helping people.  In fact in my
Honors
English class, I have the privilege from time to time to even tutor
the teacher.”

           
Chase stopped laughing.  “What?  You tutor your
teacher?  What does that mean?”

           
“It means when Mr. Young has his facts wrong, there are times
when I feel I must correct him.”

           
He was clearly baffled by that statement. 
Good.

           
“Emmalee Bradford, are you saying you correct
Mr. Young
?”

           
“On occasion yes,
Chase Anderson
, I do.”

           
“Wow!  You know, that is one thing I think I would love to
see.”  He shook his head slightly and then stared at me.

           
“What?  What are you thinking about?”

           
“You.  Does anything phase you?”

           
What does that mean?
  “Of course it does.  I
lost my best friend this year.  That has phased me incredibly.”

           
“You lose a friend?  Impossible.”

           
Is he being sarcastic?
 
He seems serious enough
. 
“Well, we didn’t get in a fight or anything, and she
didn’t die—if that’s what you’re thinking. 
She left for college.”

“O-oh.”  He nodded.
 “So that explains the puppy.  Mom and Dad can’t
bear to see you mope.”

           
What the—?
  “I do not mope!”

           
“Sure you don’t.”

           
“I’ll have you know, I am–this moment—planning
on adopting someone to take Olivia’s place.  In-in fact,
I’m thinking about picking a girl who no one would’ve
ever noticed before and make her popular.” 
Now that
is
a good idea.  I’m surprised I didn’t
think of it sooner. 
“So there.  I do plan on
serving humanity.”

           
“How?  By granting some girl’s wish of becoming your
friend?”

           
“Well, yes.  What’s wrong with that?”

           
“Nothing.  If you really mean to be her friend, and not
just something to occupy yourself with until you get bored with the
idea.”

           
“Of course I mean to be her friend.  I need a friend,
don’t I?”

           
“Em-ma, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

           
“It will be perfect, you’ll see.”

I found for the first time in three
weeks I was actually looking forward to going to school on Monday. 
“Now, enough about me.  It’s your turn.  I want
to know all about Spain.  What did you do?  Where did you
visit?  Was Spanish easier or harder for you to understand than
you thought it would be?

           
“Very good, Emma.”  He smiled at me.  I think
if Chase had the foresight to clap he would have. “You abruptly
switched the conversation just as swiftly as any high society
matron.  You mom would be very proud.”  He held out
his hand.  “No, before you get on your high horse again, I
want to point out that Georgia has fallen asleep.  So if you’re
going to say something please try and refrain from shouting.”

           
As if I ever shout.
 Urgh. 
Besides I
really wanted to know about Spain.
 
I’d forgotten
how quickly Chase could get on someone’s nerves.  I took a
deep breath before whispering, “She looks absolutely adorable.”
 And she did.  LittleGeorgia had curled herself around the
top of the basket.

           
“Yes, she does.” Tenderly Chase brushed one long strand
of her curly blonde hair off his sister’s forehead.  “When
I see her, especially like this, it almost keeps me from wanting to
leave again.”

           
Leave?
  “Oh, are you planning to leave?”