An Unfinished Love Story: Part 3 "The Call That Changed My Forever"

I went to work like normal that day. I was slammed. Double booked. Trying to fit in as many clients as possible before our elopement. I didn’t respond to his texts until I got home around 8:30. He sent pictures of the golf course and his friends. We texted briefly.

I sent him pictures of the dogs. One selfie. At 11:59 pm I sent my last message to him.

“Goodnight b. I love you.”

I put my phone face down and went to sleep without waiting for a response.

I woke up at 7:15 am to three texts from him sent at 12:01 am and a missed call at 2:58.

Bbbbb I love you
We are about to call an uber and head back
I just watched someone sing Katy Perry then get escorted out

I wasn’t worried.

Scott was always late. He always stayed out longer than planned. Every argument we ever had was about this exact thing. This was the first time since meeting him that I wasn’t worried.

I went to work.

And everything I believed about our future was still intact.

I texted him at 7:17 am. I called him once on my way into work. No answer. Still not worried. I knew he had a tee time that morning. I assumed he overslept or rushed out without his phone. That was Scott.

I went about my work day. I texted him every few hours. I figured if something was actually wrong, his friends would have reached out to me. They always did.

Around 11:30 am, the worry started creeping in.

By 1:15 pm, it was loud.

I finished a client and had fifteen minutes before my next one. I told myself if I didn’t hear from him by the time I finished, I would reach out to one of his friends. I texted his friend, Michael,  at 1:28 pm.

“Hey, it’s Emmy. Is my idiot fiancé alive?”

I meant it as a joke. I had no idea anything was wrong. He called me immediately. I thought it was Scott on the other end.

Instead he said, “Emmy, we don’t know where Scotty is.”

I laughed. I said, “Shut up. Put him on the phone.”

He said, “No. I’m serious. We’re at the police station filing a missing persons report.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. I couldn’t breathe. I don’t remember everything he said after that but I do remember him telling me they checked hospitals. The jail. Everywhere they could think of. No one could find him.

I called my 1:30 client in a panic and told her I had to leave. I called my Aunt Andrea and asked her to come get me because I could not drive. I locked the salon door and walked outside, pacing the sidewalk, calling Scott over and over, hoping he would answer.

My aunt picked me up around 1:45 and drove me back to her house. She kept telling me everything was going to be okay. I didn’t believe her, but I didn’t argue.

By 2:15 pm, I still had no information.

At 2:45, I had a bizarre feeling that I should google Auburn just in case there was an accident or any kind of information.

The first article that came up was posted at 10:07 am.

“Body found behind bar in Auburn.”

I read it over and over. Body Found Behind Skybar. Pronounced dead at the scene. No age was stated. No person was identified.

I begged God not to let it be Scott. I pleaded with everything in me. I showed the article to my aunt, and I saw the look on her face. She called my Uncle immediately and asked him to get the Atlanta Police Chief involved.

It was 3pm and I started scrambling. Calling everyone I knew. Everyone in my family, every friend I had. No one answered, it was a work day.

At 3:25 pm, I was in a full blown panic. No word from Scott, no word from anyone else. I asked my aunt to take me back to the salon so I could get my car. I needed to be able to leave if we found him. We drove off. Two minutes into the drive, my uncle called. His voice came through the bluetooth. I don’t know if he knew I could hear him.

His voice was heavy and slow, “I just heard back from the police chief. I don’t have a name, but the body they found is a thirty six year old white male from Atlanta.”

It was him. It was Scott. My aunt pulled the car to the side of the road, threw her arms around me and I just looked out the window and cried. 

A few minutes later we got back to her house. I fell out of the car and onto the pavement. The wind was knocked out of me. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. And att 3:38 pm, the coroner called to confirm the body that was found was Scott Pinel.

That was the moment my life split in two: before and after..

I don’t remember everything that happened after that. I went into shock. I remember hearing people sobbing. I remember hearing my dad crying over the phone. I remember my brother couldn’t even speak. And I remember the pain in my heart: it was broken. It was a pain I had never felt before. It felt like it was literally breaking into a million pieces. 

People showed up at my aunts. My family called each other. Everyone spoke quietly. No one knew what to say. I don’t remember who was there or who was hugging me. It was all a blur.

I made my cousin bring me back home a few hours later despite everyone telling me to stay at my aunts and be with my family. I needed to be back home. I needed to go be with our dogs. Friends stayed with me. They rotated so I would never be alone. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I threw up anything I put into my body..

That night, I took the dogs out around three in the morning. I looked into the sky and it felt empty. I wondered where Scott was. Nothing made sense,  I just knew the police told me he wasn’t here anymore.

I called Scott’s phone and left him a voicemail, crying and begging him to come home.

The next day, my entire family flew down to be with me. Seeing them step off that plane made it real. Scott was dead. That was why they were here.

Scott was the most amazing human I had ever met. He wasn’t just my fiance, he was my best friend. I loved him more than I ever thought I could love another human. He was my everything. And the day he died, a part of me died, too.

March 31, 2023 marked the end of our love story. Nothing was the same after that. My life was changed forever. But what I didn’t realize then, was that I would become someone entirely new. Someone stronger and more resilient. Someone who would turn their pain into something beautiful. 

Emmy and Scott had died, but the new version of me had yet to be born.

Welcome to This is Her After, where I share openly and honestly about love, grief and rebuilding a life after it all fell apart.