Escape from Mr. Whitman (Emma and Theodore) novel Chapter 482

He usually just called her "Emma." What had gotten into him today?

Even though "baby" was a common, almost cliché term of endearment, hearing him say it still made her feel like she had bitten into a caramel-filled chocolate—the sweet center melting out, making her entire heart feel like it was floating in sweetness.

"Sebastian, why are you being so cute today?" she asked, her eyes crinkling with laughter.

"I'm serious!" he insisted. "I really regret being such a coward in college. If I had just tried a little harder back then, I definitely would have had a chance!"

Emma fed him another spoonful of the sweet broth. "Isn't your chance right now pretty good?"

"I just hate that I lost so much time, that someone else had all those years with you." He drank the sweet broth, but the taste in his mouth was sour.

Emma gave him a playful look. "What about the next several decades that will be all mine? You're not mentioning those?"

Sebastian's face lit up. "Baby, are you saying you'll marry me? That we'll live happily ever after?"

"Well, aren't you?" Emma shot him a sideways glance. "Are you just playing around with me?"

"No! Of course not! It's just…" Sebastian placed the stone back in its box and handed it to her. "I just want a special gift, something like this."

Emma picked up the stone, examining it closely. She sighed. "There are so many wonderful things in the world. Are you sure you want something so worthless?"

It was just a colored pebble. As a teenager, she had thought it was a worthy gift, but if she'd been even five years older, she would have known how childish it was. A decade had passed, and the stone had been worn smooth by time. Her memory of Bart had faded to a blurry outline, like looking through a fogged-up window. The lines of his face were no longer clear.

A thought struck Emma. "Sebastian, be honest. You just don't want me to keep it, do you?"

"Well…" He didn't deny it, just gave a sheepish grin. "Baby, think about it. When Theodore kept things from that other woman, weren't you upset, too?"

A wave of discomfort washed over Emma. Theodore was a painful part of her past, a raw wound that had been torn open. Sebastian knew this, yet he was using it now to try to persuade her.

"How is that the same?" she tried to explain. Was the relationship between Theodore and Cecilia the same as hers and Bart's? She and Bart were just classmates!

But when she saw the insistent, pleading look in Sebastian's eyes, she trailed off. She suppressed the flicker of irritation and tried to be rational, to understand his perspective. But throwing it away was out of the question.

"Bart's parents kept the stone. When I got it back, I just couldn't bear to throw it out. I'll find a way to handle it properly," she finally conceded, agreeing to get rid of it.