Escape from Mr. Whitman (Emma and Theodore) novel Chapter 481

Sebastian laughed. "Why do I love it so much when you say these sweet, silly things?" He took the spoonful. It was indeed sweet.

In that moment, Emma felt perfectly content. Sweet words were only charming when they came from a place of love. Without it, the sweetest compliments would only make you want to run.

As she slowly finished her soup, he started tidying her room. She had bought a few things online since returning, and while the packages were opened, the contents were still piled up. He neatly put everything away, hanging clothes in the closet and storing items in drawers.

That's when he found a small, exquisitely carved wooden box in one of the drawers.

"What's in here? Can I look?"

Emma glanced over. It was the box where she kept the stone. She nodded. "Go ahead."

Sebastian opened it and saw a smooth, beautifully colored stone. A simple circle had been carved into it, with flower petals etched inside the circle.

"Did you carve this?" Sebastian turned the stone over in his hands. It felt as though it had been held and rubbed thousands of times to have become so glossy and smooth.

Emma, still sipping her soup, nodded. "I carved it for fun in high school. It's hideous. The person I gave it to didn't even want it, which is how it ended up back with me."

It was originally for Theodore, but by the time she gave it to him, he no longer wanted it. Somehow, it had ended up with Bart Pearson.

"How is it hideous?" he countered. "When something is made with heart, the person who cares about you will treasure it." He had initially suspected it was for Theodore, but her tone suggested otherwise.

Emma shook her head. "Of course not. He was another classmate from high school, not in our class. I don't even know how it ended up with him. By the time I saw it again, he was already gone."

"What was he like?" Sebastian watched her, a hint of a pout in his smile. "Baby, I'm realizing there's still so much I don't know about you. I hardly know any of your friends."

"His name was… Bart." Saying the name again felt surreal, like speaking of another lifetime. A pang of sadness hit her. He had been a classmate, gone so young.

Sebastian didn't want to say what he was thinking: *This Bart must have loved you very much, maybe even more than Theodore did.* He couldn't stand the thought of anyone else competing for Emma's love. One Theodore was more than enough; he didn't need the ghost of a Bart, too.

"Baby…" he said, his voice soft and plaintive. "I wish I'd been born two years earlier. I wish I'd grown up in Cresthaven, right in your neighborhood, so I could have filled every moment of your youth."