Hi everyone!

One week from tomorrow, The Day to Remember will be released! I hope you’re all excited! Here’s another unedited teaser from The Day to Remember, it continues exactly where Teaser #3 ended, so be sure to read that first!

Also, tomorrow night kicks off my PRE-RELEASE Giveaway! So stay tuned! 🙂

xo,
Jess

Chapter One

Emma (continued from here)

“Emma? Where the hell are you? Are you home?” I heard Brandon say in rushed voice on the other end of the line.

“Brandon, I need to be alone right now, I—” I stopped mid-sentence. There were so many things I wanted to say to him and to ask him, but at that moment, I was unsure of what to say and what I was ready to say to him. I felt a mixture of hurt, anger, and love towards him, and I knew I wasn’t ready to confront him—not when I felt this vulnerable.

“Emma, why did you leave so abruptly this morning? What the hell happened?”

“Are you serious?” I heard myself ask with an air of defiance that surprised me. “How could you have not told me? You made a fool out of me, Brandon. You asked me to go get the door because you expected the courier, but I see her standing there! Did you honestly expect me to stick around and hang out with you two?” I spat out the words and felt a wave of anger come over me.

There was silence on the other line, which both made me nervous and increased my anger. “Emma, I’m not sure what to say. I didn’t mean to upset you. I didn’t know Des was—”

“Do not say her name to me! How could you, Brandon?” I felt hot angry tears well up in my eyes.

“Emma, I’m not trying to upset you, but I think you’re overreacting. She’s—”

“Overreacting? How can you say that? How could you have slept with me and not told me about her?” I asked accusatorially.

“Emma, stop being this way. I had a life before I met you, just like you had one before you met me.”

“So you don’t deny it then?” My voice was scathing.

“Deny what? What the hell am I suppose to deny here?” I could hear the irritation in Brandon’s voice and I flinched at his reproach.

“Deny that—” I paused and felt my streak of heated boldness waver. “—that you didn’t tell me about her.”

I heard Brandon sigh into the phone with frustration. “Please be reasonable here. Emma, I don’t think I need to tell you everything about my life. We haven’t known each other for that long, and my relationship with Des hasn’t come up.”

His last few words ignited the anger that I could no longer suppress. “Yes, Brandon, you’re so fucking right. We haven’t known each other for that long, so of course I wouldn’t think to ask you if you have any other relationships. I thought you were this sweet guy who actually cared about me. I thought you were falling in love with me! And you’re right, you don’t need to tell me everything about your life, but I thought you would want to because you wanted me to be a part of it. And I’d think with something so important as your relationship with that other girl, you’d think it’d be important to tell me. How incredibly stupid of me, right!? Why on earth would you want more from me than my virginity and another notch on your belt?”

“Emma, that’s really out of line. You know I want more from you than that.” I can hear the anger in his voice, which seemed to further fuel my anger.

I ignored his comment. “You know what? I really feel sorry for her! You may have made a fool out of me, but you’ve made a bigger fool out of her and the relationship you have with her. I hope you have a great fucking life with your girlfriend. Don’t call me again.”

“What the fuck, Emma, Des is—” I heard Brandon say before I ended the call. I took a deep ragged breath and wiped the remaining tears from my face. I will NOT cry over this man. He does NOT deserve my tears. I told me myself with conviction—a conviction that was absent from my heart. My phone buzzed, causing me to jump. Brandon’s name popped up on the screen and I immediately pressed “Ignore” before I could change my mind. Then it buzzed again. A text from him. I deleted it without reading its contents. The intercom buzzed again. I put my hands to my ears and shook my head, willing him to go away. I didn’t think my heart could bear any more pain from this man.

I quickly pulled up Jill’s number on my phone to call her. I felt panicked and needed to talk to someone—someone that wasn’t Brandon.

“Sweetie? I’m glad you called. Are you okay? What happened? Tell me everything—if you’re up to it, that is.” Jill’s concerned voice came rushing through the phone.

“I’m not sure. I don’t know how I’m feeling right now. I think I’m still in shock. I just talked to him on the phone and I screamed and cursed at him. That’s so unlike me, but I just couldn’t hold it in. I was so upset.”

“What? You just talked to him? What happened? Can we start from the beginning?”

I took a deep tired breath, “Okay. Sorry, I know I sound like a mess. God, it’s been awful, Jill. Where do I even begin?”

“It’s okay. You’re not a mess. You just sound like you went through something awful, and that’s totally okay. Just remember, you’ll be alright. No matter what happened, you will be okay.” Jill’s reassuring voice was soothing and I realized how much I’ve missed her—the sister I never had, but a sister nonetheless. “So maybe we can start from the top. We briefly talked yesterday morning before work and you said you were heading over to Brandon’s place because he had a special night planned for you two. What ended up happening?”

I took a deep breath to calm myself. “Well, we had an amazing night last night. I mean, everything was just perfect.” I buried my face in my free hand that wasn’t holding the phone. “I—I just don’t know how everything got to this point.” Tears once again filled my eyes. I quickly told Jill in excruciating detail about the canopy bed and candles Brandon had recreated outside his terrace that overlooked the sunset. “He was my first, Jill. And … and it was amazing. At that moment, I really thought he was the one.”

“Oh sweetie,” Jill crooned sympathetically.

“Jill, I know this is going to sound silly, but there was a moment when he was on top of me and looking into my eyes, and I felt the world actually standing still. It was like I can sense the magic in that moment and everything slowed down for it. It was nothing I’ve ever felt before.”

“Oh hun, that’s not silly. I’ve never felt that before with anyone, but it sounds wonderful. That’s how my mom described how she felt towards my dad when he proposed. She said it felt like magic, like the world stopped for that brief moment to celebrate that perfect moment between them.” Jill paused for a second before continuing, “So, what happened then? I mean, it sounds like a perfect night.”

I told Jill about the beautiful girl at the door, about what she said, about the guilty look on Brandon’s face and the panic in his eyes, and about the conversation she just had with Brandon moments earlier.

“Wow, I’m so sorry, Emma. How could he do this?” Jill paused while I began to sob quietly. “Emma … are you sure? I know I’ve never met him, but from everything you’ve told me about him, he just doesn’t seem like the type that’d do this.”

“I really don’t want to believe it, but she obviously knew him well. She knew where he lives, she knew his name, she knew I was wearing his shirt, and she felt comfortable showing up randomly on a Saturday morning. Plus, why would she say she’s a guy’s girlfriend to another girl when she’s not, especially when the other girl is half-naked in the guy’s shirt opening the door to the guy’s house?”

“God, why would he do this? I just don’t get men. He sounded like he was so sweet and genuine, and he seemed to really adore you.”

“I thought he did too, but maybe I was lying to myself. Maybe I saw what I wanted to see, and not what was really there.” I sighed and felt the heaviness of my heart. The images I had of my life with Brandon earlier this morning were gone, as if those images were made from a canvas of colored dust and a violent gust of wind just blew it apart and into nothing.

“Is there anything you want me to do? Gloria and Steph are both back in California next weekend for Thanksgiving. We can all drive to San Francisco on Friday and see you.

“You mean Black Friday,” I said with the wry laugh.

“Oh Emma, don’t think about it too much, or it’ll just eat at you. Maybe he just wasn’t the right guy for you. My dad always said that the right guy will fight for you and your love at all costs and despite the obstacles.”

“I love your dad. He’s such a sweet man.” I thought about Jill’s father and how he uprooted his life and moved from London to California for Jill’s mother after only a few months together. He had already known that she was the one and he had done everything in his power to make their relationship work. My heart ached at that thought—not just for myself and the relationship I didn’t have with Brandon, but also for my own mother and the father that never existed in our lives.

“Emma, you’ll meet the right guy for you. I just know it.”

“Thanks, Jill,” I said meekly. “Thanks for listening to me. I’d love to see you girls next weekend if you’re all free.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll plan it out,” Jill said eagerly.

I couldn’t resist a giggle. “You and all your planning.”

“I know, right? Why am I an accountant? I should really be an event planner or something.” Jill giggled.

“Thanks for being here for me.”

“You know I’m always here for you. Just call me whenever you need to talk.”

“Thanks. I think I’m going to watch some T.V. and do some things around the apartment.”

“Okay, don’t think too much about it. Love you.”

“Love you too. I’ll talk to you soon.” I put my phone on silent and laid my head down on my pillow. I was emotionally drained from all that has happened today. I closed my eyes. They were swollen and my head was throbbing with pain from all the crying. Thankfully, within minutes, I was drifting in and out of consciousness and quickly feel back into a deep dreamless sleep.

That was Saturday, and it was Tuesday morning now. I turned my head to look again at the alarm clock. It was 6:59 a.m. It would go off in less than a minute. I took in a deep anxious breath and tried to let it out slowly as I felt my body sink deeper into my bed. I did not want to get up. I did not want to move, to think, to face the world.

The alarm started buzzing and I moaned. I forced myself out of bed. I had to go to work today. I had called in sick yesterday because I was a mess and wasn’t ready to face anyone. But I knew I couldn’t afford to call in sick again today. First, I had just started working at Fisher & Morrison a few months ago and did not want to leave a bad impression. Plus, I was just reassigned to another project group last week, and my new group leader Josephine Kim had just given me a few projects on Friday that I haven’t had a chance to review yet. I could not lose this job over a guy. And if I was really honest with myself, I also didn’t want Brandon to think that he could affect me this way—that he could devastate me and ruin my career. He didn’t deserve that power. He has already taken so much away from me, I wasn’t going to give him that.

***

By 8:15 a.m., I was outside my apartment building and walking towards the Financial District where Fisher & Morrison Consulting was located. It had rained heavily most of Sunday and Monday—matching perfectly with my own emotional state. This morning, the air was cool and damp and thin rays of sunlight broke through the dense, grey clouds overhead. I turned towards my left where I could see the Golden Gate Bridge peeking through the fog and a faint rainbow arched over the bay. I laughed to myself at the bitter irony that crossed my mind. My relationship with Brandon was like this rainbow—though it was beautiful and magical, it was uncertain and elusive; there was nothing tangible about it. And as magically as it appeared, it could quickly disappear without warning. Chasing it would be a fool’s errand. Chasing after this happily-ever-after with Brandon was my fool’s errand.

My heart raced and anxiety coursed through me as I walked out of the elevator and into the lobby of Fisher & Morrison Consulting. Part of me expected him to be standing on the other side of the elevator when it opened, waiting for me. But to my relief, he wasn’t there. In fact, I safely got to my desk without bumping into him.

“Hey Emma, are you feeling better?” said a girl with shoulder-length red hair sitting at the workstation next to mine.

“Oh, hi Katie. Yes, I’m feeling better.” I gave Katie a small reassuring smile as guilt prickled inside at my lie. “Did I miss anything important yesterday?”

“Not much. Just the weekly Monday meeting with the other project groups,” came a voice behind me. I turned around and saw Steve, a tall, lanky guy with light brown hair who sat at the other end of my workstation. Katie and Steve were the two other associates in my new project group. While I liked Katie and Steve from the Friday happy hours, I realized I didn’t really know them. I also wasn’t sure how they felt about the fact that they lost George from their project group when I was reassigned to this group and George was reassigned to Brandon’s project group.

“Oh yeah, your boyfriend did come by looking for you yesterday,” Steve said in a teasing voice.

My heart tightened as his words. “Oh.” I wasn’t sure how to respond, but I knew I wasn’t ready to explain to them why Brandon was no longer my boyfriend. For some reason, explaining to the people at work, who also knew Brandon, seemed to make the end of our short-lived relationship that much more real. I wasn’t ready to face that yet. I gave Steve a small smile before turning to my work.

For the rest of the morning, I immersed myself into the two new projects Josephine put me on. I forced myself to be completely absorbed into work so that my thoughts would not drift to the only place it would undoubtedly go. By 11:25 a.m., I was going through my second binder of financial statements for the Mandoni merger project when I felt my attention waver as I felt a nervousness prickle through me. I wasn’t sure why, but I looked up from my desk and around me. I froze and felt my body stiffen as I saw Brandon looking at me as he approached my workstation.