Gemotions

He stared at the email, the words blurring on the screen. The subject line, "Tree Proposal," felt like a physical blow. James ran a hand over his face, trying to clear the fog. His heart skipped a beat, then hammered against his ribs.

He remembered the endless hours of weekend yard work that had kept him from actually enjoying the property, and the thought of more work caused his stomach to churn. He wanted to hide, to shut down the computer, to pretend it wasn’t happening.

His fingers hovered over the delete button, his entire body screaming to take the easy way out. But he knew he couldn’t. The response was expected; the silence would be worse. He took a long, shaky breath and began to type.