Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
A NNIE
Shayna and I are jamming to my female power playlist—thank you T Swift, Pink, and Lady Gaga—as she’s helping me set up appetizers for my guests, who will arrive soon. It’s my turn to host book club tonight. Jack is at the station, so I won’t get to see him. I guess if I can’t have the real thing, spending the night with my friends sipping wine and talking about our favorite parts of our latest spicy romance novel is the next best thing.
I chuckle to myself, remembering how creeped out Jack was when I told him his little sister is in my sexy book club. But he’s glad we’ve become friends, so he copes with it.
“So, Shayna, I’m thinking about maybe asking Jack if he wants to take a day to go to Columbus and meet my mom and my sister. Do… do you think that will freak him out?” I ask her.
“Are you kidding? Jack would love that. He’ll lay on the charm really thick, too. Your mom will swoon over him just like all the old ladies do.” She giggles. “Haven’t you ever seen how those older servers at Pat’s Diner fawn over him? ”
A knock at the door interrupts us as one of the other women arrives, so our conversation is cut short. I guess I’ll think about taking Jack to Columbus. Hell, if he can handle my mother, he’s most definitely a keeper. As everyone arrives, we dive into the appetizers and pour ourselves some wine.
Since everyone is here but Emily, I ask Trina if she knows if her sister is running late.
“Not that I know of. When I talked with her this morning, she was coming,” Trina answers.
“Hmm, let me try to text her quick. I know she was loving this particular book, so I don’t want to start without her if she’s still coming.” I smile.
Me: Hey, Em. We are all here for book club. What’s your ETA?
Emily: Sorry, not feeling well. I can’t make it.
Me: You okay? Do you need one of us to come check on you or bring you medicine?
Emily: No, I’ll be okay. I’m just going to go to sleep. Talk to you tomorrow.
I tell the rest of the group that Emily isn’t feeling well so she’s staying home and Trina says she’ll call her in the morning to see if she needs anything.
“All right, let’s get this show on the road then,” Shayna suggests. “I’ve got some quotes underlined I’m dying to share.”
JACK
I get a text from Annie around eleven p.m. and smile. Even with some wine on board, as per usual book-club-night protocol, she didn’t forget our newest routine of me calling her before bed when I’m at the station. I usually talk to her as she’s trying to fall asleep and it’s become one of the favorite parts of my work day.
Annie: Book club is over, bae. Is my man ready to talk to me sleep?
Me: Sure thing, I’ll call you in a minute. Also, ‘bae’? Is that the wine talking?
Annie: Maybe, LOL. It’s one of the nicknames from our book we discussed tonight. You usually like things I bring to our relationship from the books… WINK WINK
Finally, outside on a bench where I can talk with her privately, I call her number. She answers on the first ring.
“Hi, Jack…” she answers in a sultry voice—tonight was definitely a multiple glasses of wine night.
“Hey, sugar. How’s my girl? Did you have a good time at book club?”
“It was extremely good. We had a nice time. Do you want me to tell you about my favorite parts of the book?” she asks.
“You know I want to hear them, baby… but not when I’m at the station. Last time you had me walking around here with a hard-on and I looked like a full-on creep until it went away,” I tell her. Her giggling makes me smile.
Our conversation is interrupted by the beeping of another call coming in and I look down and see that it’s Teddy. I send him to voicemail. He’ll understand when I call him back and explain I was on with Annie. Annie and I talk for another ten minutes until she starts to drift off.
“Sweetheart, it sounds like you’re almost asleep. Am I right?” I ask her, talking softly to help keep her relaxed.
“Mmhmm… I love you, Jack,” she responds sweetly .
“I love you, too. Have sweet dreams for me and I’ll see you tomorrow. Okay?”
“Okay, sweet dreams…” she says in a sleepy voice just before our call ends.
God, I fucking love that woman. I’m not sure what I did to deserve her, but I’m so glad she’s mine.
When I head back into the station, I glance down at my phone and see Teddy didn’t leave me a voicemail, which is a little odd. I call his number, but it goes right to voicemail so I leave him a message.
“Hey, Ted, it’s me, Jack. Sorry I missed your call. I’m at the station tonight but call me if you want to talk. Love you, brother.”
I head upstairs to brush my teeth and decide to nap in one of the recliners instead of in the bunks so if Teddy calls me back, it won’t wake the other guys.
Seven and a half hours later, I wake up in the same recliner, stiff and surprised to find that we didn’t have any emergency calls over night. I also didn’t get a call or text back from Teddy.
I’m pretty sure Ted was working overnight in the ER last night, so hopefully we can connect today. I shoot him a text to see if he wants to meet for breakfast over at Pat’s , since he should get off work any minute. When he doesn’t respond, I call him, but it goes straight to voicemail again.
Feeling a little worried, I text Annie. I know she gets to work by seven a.m., so she’ll see Teddy before he leaves after his shift.
Me: Good morning, “bae”. Can you ask Teddy to call me when he’s leaving work? I want to see if he wants to get breakfast.
Annie: Morning. Miss you. Sorry, hon, Teddy’s not here. He called off work last night.
My stomach drops when I read her text. Something feels wrong. I can’t pinpoint what it is, but I’ve worried about Teddy for enough years to know I need to pay attention when I get this feeling.
Shit, you should have hung up with Annie and taken his call last night. You know he needs you to be a better friend than that.
I leave the station and rush to my car, deciding to go to his and Emily’s house and check on him. Maybe he’s just sick and not answering the phone.
When I pull into their driveway, I turn off the ignition and jump out of my car, then jog to the front of the house. I ring the doorbell, and no one comes for a few minutes. Just as I’m considering using the spare key, sounds of faint shuffling make their way through the thick wood of the door then it opens.
Emily stands in front of me in sweats instead of her work clothes, and her eyes are rimmed red. She’s been crying.
“Hey, Em, sorry to barge in so early. Is Teddy here?”
Emily shakes her head, sighs, then moves to the side and motions for me to come in. I almost can’t bring myself to step over that threshold because I have this sick feeling in my stomach that I’m about to hear some bad news involving my friend. Maybe the honeymoon’s over and Teddy has gone off the rails with drinking. Or maybe I’m going to have to go pull him out of some dive casino where he’s convinced himself if he just stays a little longer, he’ll win big.
I follow Emily to the living room and sit on the couch next to her.
“I’ve been trying to call Teddy. I missed a call from him last night. ”
I feel guilty, which I know in theory I shouldn’t. Still, I don’t share that I missed his call because I was on the phone with Annie.
“Do you know where he is? Annie told me he called off work last night.”
Emily tries–and fails—to keep her voice from trembling when she says, “It’s probably because he’s with her.”
Fuck. Did she just say what I think she did? I can’t even get myself to speak, so I just stare at her. I want to leave. I want to get up and pretend that I never came here. That I didn’t just hear that my best friend might have screwed up his life… again.
“Em, I’m sure whatever you’re thinking is wrong. You know Teddy. He’s a flirt, but he loves you. We will find him and?—”
“I’m not wrong. I got a phone call yesterday from a man who said that he needed to meet me to talk about Teddy. It’s pretty bad, Jack.”
She delivers that line like I need the warning shot before she goes on.
The thing is, Emily knows how bad it can get. She’s known and loved Teddy almost as long as I have. She’s been there for the ups and downs, and we’ve both been there, trying to help each other hold on when we’ve pulled him from the edge of his various screw-ups in the past.
“I met the man at the coffee shop on Main. He… he told me everything,” she says. She’s staring so hard at the floor she could bore holes in it with her eyes.
“I’m sure whatever this guy said, he can’t be right. You just got married. Ted wouldn’t do this to you again.”
Emily sighs and then lifts her head to focus her eyes on mine.
“He’s not wrong, Jack. The woman works in the ER with Teddy. The guy is—or was before this—her boyfriend. He found texts and pictures on her phone. Showed me screenshots… Her name is Sadie…”
Shit. What the fuck was Teddy thinking? Emily has stood by him through so fucking much since they were sixteen years old and he’s going to throw that away for a quick lay? Especially after fighting so hard to get her back last time…
“We can fix this. He wouldn’t do this. Maybe he isn’t taking his medications. He just wouldn’t do this…”
“No,” she says, looking at me sadly.
“No, he hasn’t been taking his meds?” I ask.
“No, we can’t fix this. I saw the texts. He was promising her he would leave me, and that they would be together. It’s been going on for at least a month. So, no. I can’t do this again. I love Teddy. I’ve loved him for ten years. But loving him is killing bits of me every time something like this happens.”
I just stare at her for a minute, stunned. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I told him last night I want a divorce. I’ve lost so much for loving him and he couldn’t stop himself from doing this to us. I told him it’s over.”