Emily Waites || 34 years old || Human || FC: Gwyneth Paltrow
(+)Â Organized, Reliable, Kind
(-)Â Bossy, Cautious, Regretful
Emily is the woman you want on your team every single time. Sheâs prepared for any and every contingency, so can handle any emergency you throw at her with a smile on her face. (Emily quotes being Jamesâ best friend and unpaid assistant as what forced her to be this way, of course.) And itâs really that smile that clinches it. Emily may be cautious and careful and ready for anything, but at her core sheâs one of the sweetest women you could ever meet. Sheâs the one ready with the tissue and ibuprofen when youâve had a good cry, or the mint you need to make sure youâre fresh for that hottie at the bar, or a million other little things sheâs done for her friends throughout the years.
Of course, in order to survive, sheâs also learned to take everything with a grain of salt and a sarcastic remark for rebuttal. (Again, salute to James for being a smart-ass.) Plus if given too much room of her own, Emily can easily become bossy and a bit of a control freak. Part of thatâs her want to be prepared for anything, but some people say itâs became Emily canât quite let anything go anymore. Either way, Emily is a sweetheart who will always be there for anyone who needs her⊠As long as they also know when to let her take over.
Emily Waites has basically been #married ever since she was eight years old. She had just moved into the neighborhoodâher mother wanted to be closer to her second cousins the Gartensâand as fate would have it, right next door to the person who would become more important to Emily than sheâd ever imagine: Jameson Mercer. The two were basically inseparable, always playing together, Emily bossing James about in games of House or racing their bikes up and down the street or telling each other spooky stories under blanket forts they made in the treehouse her parents had built in their backyard. Hell, over the years, the Waites family had even gotten in the habit of setting a place for James at the dinner table or inviting him on their family trips. Emily couldnât imagine life without him.
And as time went on and the two grew up, Emily almost expected them to drift apart. After all, Emily was an artist at heart, wanting to spend time in art museums so she could study paintings for hours on end before going back home and finishing up all her homework in time for some light reading. James was a troublemaking rich boy who wanted anything and everything right now. But somehow they kept together, the town still joking that the best friends were practically marriedâEmily there to temper James and make sure he didnât totally jump off the ledge, and James around to help Emily learn how to loosen up and have fun.
So it came as little surprise that halfway through highschool that James finally officially asked her outâto the point that there certainly was money exchanged between the majority of their class (not to mention teachers and family members). Emily was ecstatic. Sheâd hardly admitted it to herself when she was younger, but sheâd had some semblance of a crush on James since that first day sheâd moved in next door. And now to be dating this crazy, crazy boy whom sheâd made it her mission to keep on the ground? It was perfect.
 But then, in their senior year, the unthinkable happened.
The baby was Jamesâ of course; Emily had never been with anyone else. But when she climbed from her bedroom window into his (theyâd set up an elaborate system for either of them to cross the tiny chasm between their houses), tapping gently on the glass to wake James up, sheâd contemplated keeping the baby a secret. Maybe even getting rid of it. As she looked at the young man across from her, though, after telling him the news, she knew that was impossible. Not with the way his face lit up with a combination of joy and absolute terror. She couldnât destroy her and Jamesâ child. So instead she spent the night crying into his shoulder as he stroked her hair and told her theyâd figure things out in the morning, so terrified that the bright future theyâd planned for themselves would be destroyed now.
After all, if they kept the child, got married and forgot about college in order to take care of the baby, Emily knew sheâd resent him eventually. Whether it was fair or not, sheâd hate James for âdoing thisâ to her. And the thought of that was even worse than the thought of losing the baby at all. So after Emily sat down with James, very logically laying out their situation and very prepared to fight for giving the child up for adoption, she was surprised to find that James actually agreed. He had the same fears she did, knew that at seventeen theyâd never be able to take care of a kid.
 Within a week theyâd found an adoption agency and a really lovely couple that had plans to move up north (the woman had just been tenured at the Cranbrook Academy of Art starting in a year, which Emily had been overjoyed to hear) who had been trying for years to have a child, but nothing had worked. It seemed so perfect. The child would have a loving family who could take care of them and give them a chance at a better life than the one Emily could give. Her only request was that the child didnât see them again. She didnât want to complicate anything by being there throughout the kidâs life. Emily couldnât be a distant not-mother, whose blood ran in her childâs veins but still lingered, reminding them of the abandonment theyâd faced from the very beginning.
But she still couldnât bear the thought of keeping the child from any life at all. This began nine long, agonizing months for Emily. Filled with morning sickness, mood swings, and enough doctorsâ appointments to last her a goddamn lifetime. She hated it. James was great through all of it, of course; going with her to meetings, hanging out at her house all the time to make sure she had company in case anything happened, glaring down anyone who made snide comments behind their hands at school⊠He did everything. Emily knew she didnât thank him enough for it, but he still stuck around and there was something to be said for that.
And when the baby finally came, James even took her to the hospital, calling the adoptive parents on the way and murmuring soothing words in her ear throughout the whole process. One of the nurses later told Emily that he was one of the most supportive dads sheâd seen in months. And with the adrenaline running through her veins and James sitting close by her side, Emily knew it would be a mistake to hold their baby girl in her arms. She didnât even have a name yet, as Emily had decided knowing her name would only make her become attached. But the nurse still handed the tiny little girl into Emilyâs arms, watching as tears formed in the teenâs eyes and whispered to the baby: âHello AnnaliseâŠâ The baby even reached out a hand and wrapped it gently around one of Emilyâs fingers as the tears rolled down her face, heart aching to know that any moment this would all end. Maybe she didnât really want to give up the baby. Maybe she and James could make it work⊠But when Annaliseâs new parents came bustling in, Emily handed her over with a deadened look in her eye.
To this day, Emily marked that as the hardest moment of her life.
Everything past that felt like a blur. She drifted through the rest of her school year, barely squeaking into a prestigious Mississippi art school through the strength of her hastily compiled portfolio. Didnât help either that since returning from the hospital, her relationship with James had been rocky at best. Often dealing with screaming matches and silent, angry staresâalmost all of which came from Emily blaming James for what her life had become now, even though she knew it was unfair. It was just that a darkness had settled in her heart from the moment she gave up that child and wasnât sure it would ever go away.
As college loomed over the both of them, James and Emily broke up. It was an explosive affair, another fight that finally got too big until one of them called it off for good. Neither really remembers who said it in the end. Perhaps they both had at the same time. Wouldnât have surprised Emily. They were always connected like that. Besides, she was headed off to her art school, James to some big name school to study law. Wasnât like theyâd have much time for each other anyway.
Fate proves to be a funny thing, though. As a few months after being away from each other, Emily found herself messaging James every once in a while with teasing notes to âmake sure he was eating his vegetables.â He never responded, of course. Why would he? But Emily liked writing them. He was familiar and hell, in the end he had always been her best friend. Eventually, though, it got to the point that Emily drove herself across the state and barge into his dorm room demanding to know what bug was up his ass to keep him from responding to her.
And so, once again, Emily Waites and James Mercer found themselves bound together. Perhaps not in love, but by history and time and too many shared memories. She blames him for âdraggingâ her back to Oxford after they both finished grad school, though in all honesty Emily had always wanted to work at the gallery that first spurred her love of art. Plus, who the hell else was going to watch out for the eight year old in a thirty-something-year-old manâs body? But after so many years on her own, Oxford is finally starting to feel like home again, and Emily has finally stopped looking through every crowd for the daughter she still misses and regrets ever letting go.Â
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