Chapter 1: Notice
“If you walk out that door, don’t come back!”
Emma didn’t flinch. Her apron was already balled in her fist, grease-stained and damp from an entire shift of spilled coffee and ignored breaks. Her shoulders were stiff, arms trembling just enough to show how tightly she’d been holding herself together. She turned her head slightly, eyes unreadable. “Trust me. I wasn't planning to.”
The bell over the diner door rang as she stepped into the fading evening light, her heart pounding hard enough to make her ears ring. The air outside was thick with the scent of food and exhaust fumes, the feel of desperation clinging to everything.
Behind her, the voice of her boss chased her into the street, still laced with spite. “You think someone’s lining up to hire a dropout waitress with an attitude?”
Emma didn’t answer. She kept walking, her jaw clenched so tight it hurt. Her feet throbbed inside her worn-out sneakers, each step a small rebellion against the soul sucking job she just walked away from. She managed a faint smile, her head held high. There was no turning back.
At the far end of the lot, her car slumped in its usual spot, parked beneath a broken lamp. The paint was dull and a bit dirty. A side mirror hung freely as if it would fall off any second. The deadbeat ride looked exactly how she felt.
She climbed in and closed the door softly, like she might break something up if she slammed too hard. The keys jingled as she turned them in the ignition.
The car clicked but nothing. She tried again. Still no reaction. Not even a cough. The fuel needle was flat on the left edge, barely visible.
Emma let her head fall forward onto the steering wheel. Cold vinyl met her forehead as she let out a slow breath.
“Of course,” she muttered.
She stayed like that for a moment, surrounded by the silence and the fading warmth of the setting sun on the windshield.
Her eyes burned from lack of sleep. She blinked hard, before straightening her posture and opened the glovebox. A thin envelope slid into her lap, crumpled with a bit of an oil stain. She quickly opened it and found two folded bills and a couple coins. The last tip she had saved from one of the regular customers.
Still running the bills through her fingers, she weighed in her options. Not much but just enough for insulin and a loaf of bread. Maybe some eggs if she was lucky.
She gripped the envelope tighter, her fingers turning cold. With a sigh, she stepped back out and shut the door carefully. The walk to the pharmacy would probably take twenty minutes and her legs already ached from standing all day.
---
By the time she pushed through the sliding glass doors of Pineville Medical, her whole body felt like it had been squeezed hard and hung to dry.
The fluorescent lights buzzed above, painting the room in sharp white. A look she hated but had gotten too used to. A security guard looked up from his seat but didn’t say anything. He’d seen her before. Most of the night staff had.
She moved toward the pharmacy counter. Her reflection caught in the glass window, revealing a pale and worn out look. Her hair was all messy with weights in her eyes to match.
The pharmacist gave her a tight smile with the prescription bag already ready. “Your mom’s usual. Insurance didn’t clear this week, so we cut the dosage to hold her over.”
Emma blinked. “What?”
He hesitated. “It’s still safe. Just stretched thinner. Hopefully the claim comes through by next refill.”
She nodded slowly, reaching for the paper bag. “Thanks.”
Her fingers curled around it protectively. It felt too light in her hands.
She turned to leave, already thinking through the numbers in her head. Rent was due in a few weeks. Utilities even sooner. And now, less medication.
The doors hissed open behind her as she stepped outside and then froze.
Her eyes caught something she hadn’t noticed on the way in. A tall white billboard across the street, gleaming under the blue flicker of a bus stop light. She crossed the pavement slowly, drawn toward it like it called her by name.
HARRINGTON INDUSTRIES – NOW HIRING
Secretary Position Available
She read through it closely, quietly studying it as if searching for something. Her breath hitched at the sight of a word, or rather a name
Harrington.
She took another step forward. The sign was real for sure. It stood clean and sharp as if it had always been there. The name glittered under the streetlamp like something too big for this small town.
A man standing beside the bus stop caught her stare.
“Pretty wild, huh?” he said, adjusting his coat. “They put it up just yesterday and it's causing so much buzz already.”
Emma turned slowly toward him. “Who’s the owner?”
He looked at her like it should’ve been obvious. “Cole Harrington of course. Haven't heard of him? He left town years ago, now he's back with so much money. He owns half the block now. Hotels, apartments, tech stuff. Guy’s practically untouchable.”
Emma’s throat went dry.
Another woman nearby chimed in. “Yeah. He’s been investing all over town. Opened that new co-working space and even that fancy gym up near Crescent Street.”
The man added, “He’s got real pull. People say he’s staying now. Hiring locally. Some folks even think he’s doing it to ‘give back.’ But who really knows with rich men.”
Emma’s heartbeat thudded in her ears. The name echoed again.
“Cole Harrington.”
Her knees buckled slightly. No. No, it couldn’t be. Not him. Not after everything.
She stared back at the sign, eyes wide. The bold letters blurred as memories punched their way to the surface. His voice, his laugh, the way he used to look at her like she was the only thing that made sense in his world.
The way she shattered it all with one lie.
“I don’t love you.”
A sentence she told herself a thousand times since. Never once believing it. And now he was back in town. With an empire and maybe the solution to her current money problem.
Emma turned sharply, her footsteps uneven as she backed away from the billboard. The pharmacy bag crinkled in her grip, crushed against her chest. Her chest rose and fell in fast, shallow breaths. She stumbled once on the curb and caught herself on a metal bench.
Her whole body tightened as she struggled to process what she just heard. Her hands trembled, legs begging to sit but she couldn’t stop staring at the
sign. Then her lips parted, voice barely louder than a breath.
“It can’t be,” she whispered.
