Emma packed another bag into her red Durango. Tommy her twin brother was bringing out two more.
“Thanks Tommy.” Emma said as she took the two bags and shoved them into the back seat. “Well that’s the last of it. Boy, I never realize how much stuff I packed until I had to move it.”
The hot Californian sun beat down on Lyre Cove, a city an hour north of Los Angeles, where they lived. It was the middle of June and one of the hottest summers yet. Emma pulled her long blonde hair up into a messy bun. She looked at her brother who was looking down into the ground and playing with the dirt with his feet.
“Thomas James Oliver, what’s with the long face?” Emma cooed in her thick British accent. She stood there with her hands on her hips. Tommy looked at his sister.
"You're really are going aren't you?” Tommy asked in his sad American voice.
"Yes, I am. I have to Tommy. It's-"
"Time you went out and found out who you are and what your life means, blah, blah blah." Tommy finished for her. "I still don't understand why I can't go with you, the road is a very dangerous place for a single girl like you."
"Oh Tommy I'll be fine, I can take care of myself."
“But anything could happen, you could get mugged, shot, raped-” He named off before Emma interrupted him,
“Oh bugger off Tommy, I can fend for myself." She smiled, "Besides if I can kick your ass, I can kick anybody’s.” She said playfully and Tommy smiled at his twin. He knew that she was right. Emma was a third degree black belt in Karate and Tae Kwon Do, plus on top of that she was a great gymnast and that combination was dangerous.
“I know, but I’m still gonna worry about you. You’re my little sister, I’m supposed to.” Emma rolled her eyes at her twin.
“By one minute.”
“So, you’re still younger than me.” He replied and Emma cocked her head to the side,
"It's just that big brother thing kicking in for you and your need to protect me. I will always be a phone call away and if I do need you, I will call you, I promise." Emma smiled at her twin brother Tommy, trying to ignore the sad look in his crystal brown eyes. They weren’t identical twins, Tommy was 6’3”, handsome, built and very athletic. He had straight, shiny shoulder length brown hair that he kept back in a ponytail, very tan skin and warm brown eyes. Emma on the other hand was 5’7”, slender and athletic. Her long blonde hair fell to the middle of her back, pale skin and emerald green eyes. Eventhough they looked so different, she could always see so much of herself in him.
Emma hated making him sad but nothing was going to keep her from taking this trip.
"Tommy," Emma pleaded "please don't make this hard on me, I am coming back, I promise. This isn't goodbye-"
"It's see ya later." He finished for her, he always finished her sentences, she loved how he always did that. Tommy half-smiled at his twin. They hadn’t grown up together as normal brothers and sisters do. They were separated at birth, how, they didn’t know. Tommy was given up for adoption and Emma stayed with their biological parents. Tommy was adopted by Bill and Sara Oliver and had lived in California all his life. Emma grew up on the coast of Morocco, the daughter of the British moguls Charles and Angela DeCour. The DeCours were extremely wealthy, her mother was a famous fashion designer and her father had his own computer company.
Emma had found Tommy shortly after their biological parent’s died in a tragic plane crash. Emma’s house keeper was cleaning out her parent’s files when she found a birth certificate that she thought was Emma’s because it had the same birthday, but this one said baby boy, not girl. So Emma investigated and found out that her parent’s had given up a son for adoption. After they met, Emma moved to his town to get to know him better and since then they were close.
“I just need some time to think about things and clear my head so that I can live my life. It’s the hardest thing for me to do leaving you but I just need to do this.”
“Okay, I guess I’ll have to deal with you running away.” He replied and Emma let out a sigh,
“Tommy I’m not ‘running away’.”
“Uh huh, it just so happen that you’re leaving town when your ex-boyfriend is coming back from Asia. The guy who broke your heart-"
“And happens to be your best friend and your partner.” She finished for him. Tommy was talking about Jason; together they owned a Karate school together. Jason had been away for the past year and a half studying a new form of martial arts in Asia. “You’ll be with him everyday. It’s almost a year since you last saw him, I don’t want you to lose your best friend on account of me.”
“I’ll deal, I’ve had lots of time to spend with Jason, we’ve known each other since we were five. You on the other hand, I’ve only had a few years to get to know.”
“Tommy, I’m going not matter what you say. So you can either say good luck and good bye and give me a hug or stand there and be stubborn about it.” Emma said defiantly and placed her hands on her hips. Tommy ignored her comment and went on.
“What about the club? That place will fall apart with out you.” Tommy was referring to the bar that Emma owned, ‘Poisoned Apples’. It was one of the hottest clubs in the area. Emma was the owner and head bartender and her three best girl friends; Kim (who happened to be Tommy’s girlfriend), Kitty and Tasha were the other bartenders. Her guy friends, Brock, Adam, and Billy sometimes helped out as bouncers.
“The club will be just fine without me. They hired that new girl Susie and she seems to be working out. Plus Kim, Kitty and Tasha know that place inside and out. They’ll do just fine. Okay? It’s time for me to go. I promise I’ll call you every couple of days or so. Okay?” Emma looked up at her twin.
“Okay, every two days. If I’m not home leave a message on the machine.”
“Okay, Dad, I will.” She smiled, “Listen, you can use the house whenever you like, here's the key.” Emma handed her brother the key. "Just no wild parties okay?" Emma said in her most motherly tone, making Tommy laugh.
"Okay, Mom." Tommy answered sarcastically.
“Stay out of trouble, well, most of the time, and give mom and poppa Oliver a hug and kiss for me.” Since she had moved to Lyre Cove Tommy’s adopted parents had served as foster parents for her.
“I will. Well, good-bye, good luck and all that stuff.” Tommy stepped closer and hugged his sister, squeezing her tight.
"Thank you." Emma whispered into his ear. She let go and got into her truck. She waved out the window as she drove down the street. Once on the highway she popped in a mixed CD and sang along with it. She was so happy to get away; it was just what she needed. It was partly because the fact that Jason was coming back to Lyre Cove that she wanted to leave. Emma just couldn’t face him after how he hurt her. They had been dating for four years and she thought that he was the one. The scene from Asia flashed through her mind. She had gone to visit Jason while he was in Asia. It was their anniversary and Emma wanted to surprise him. She remembered walking into his room and seeing them there. Emma winced at the memory, Jason and that girl, fucking, in his bed. The same bed where he supposedly called every night, professing his undying love, how much he missed her. It positively made Emma sick even thinking about it. That was the last time she saw him and the last time she talked to him. He tried everything to get her back but she refused and even had her phone number changed so that he couldn’t call her. It had taken her months just to come to terms with what had happen. Now she was closing that chapter on her life and starting a new one.
Emma had the plan of slowly moving east, seeing all of the US that she had never been able to see. For the next couple of weeks she explored Oregon and Washington finding little restaurants, inns, and balls of twine. She loved every minute of it. She called every two days like she had promised Tommy. On her off days from Tommy she called her foster brother Stuart. Stuart had lived in Morocco with Emma. Her parents took him in after they found him sleeping in their barn; he was an uneducated orphan from France. Her parents felt for the boy and brought him into their home and taught him everything he knew today.
Stuart had taken to Emma immediately and was one of her best friends as well as protectors growing up. He was the one who taught her French and how to skip pebbles across the lake near their house.
When Stuart was old enough, he travelled to the states and went into law. Now he was one of the best lawyers in the country. He had been Emma’s parent’s lawyer and now he was hers. Stuart also ran the family business; DeCour Enterprises, he was doing this until Emma was old enough to take it over. That was when she was twenty-five, it scared Emma to think that in couple years she would be head of one of the biggest companies in the world. She would much rather have Stuart run it; she wasn’t ready for that kind of responsibility.