Chapter 13 #3
of sympathy between his brows. “And that’s so unfair.” Her voice dissolved into tears. Hot, angry, aching tears. She hated
how much it hurt still. That the price of loving someone was carrying the pain of their loss forever.
“Emmy,” Gabe said on a soft breath. He wiped her tears with his thumbs and then pulled her into his chest. He held her there
while she quietly sobbed, gently swaying with the breeze, and letting her empty out all her feelings. She hadn’t cried so
hard in years. The smell of him, the warmth of his sturdy embrace, it drew emotion out of her like a toxin. She cried into
his chest until she had nothing left. Until she was drained and only upright because he was still holding her in his arms.
She pulled back and wiped the tearstains on his chest. “I ruined your shirt,” she said in a clogged voice.
“You didn’t ruin anything.”
“I invited you to Mexico to cry all over you. Probably not what you expected. You have such nice shirts. I’m sorry.” She smoothed
her hands over the fabric she’d soiled.
“I have plenty more, don’t worry.”
“Stop being so nice to me.”
He kissed the top of her head.
She stilled in his arms.
“Sorry,” he said, stiffening. She could feel his heart beating harder in his chest.
She tilted her head to look up at him. The moonlit night sky framed his face. His lips hovered inches away. All she’d have
to do was push up on her toes to kiss him. “You don’t have to be sorry,” she whispered.
He blinked his long lashes and gazed down at her. Time seemed to slow. It became sand slipping through an hourglass at half
speed, and Emmy could feel every grain. He moved closer, and her eyes had started to flutter closed when a shout in the dark
snapped them apart.
“ There you are!” Piper squawked like a gull. She appeared from the walkway dangling off Ben’s arm. Both of them looked boozy and
exhausted. “I’ve been looking all over for you!” Piper sang and launched herself at Emmy.
“Uh, hey, Pipes,” Emmy said, trying to recover from her sudden appearance and nearly being tackled.
“Hey,” Piper said. “Ready for bed?”
“Umm, sure?”
“Great. Let’s go.” She grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the villas.
Emmy shot a desperate look at Gabe. “My room is that way.”
“Not tonight, it’s not,” Piper said, and kept dragging her. “I’m not sleeping by myself down here, and I obviously can’t sleep
with Ben.”
“Obviously?” Emmy nearly tripped as she tried to keep up literally and figuratively.
Piper stopped yanking on her and pivoted to face her. She was barefoot and holding her shoes in one hand. Her white jumpsuit
looked wrinkled and ready to be peeled off in exchange for pajamas. Her lipstick was smeared outside the lines of her lips
like she’d made out with her fiancé on the drive back from dinner.
Emmy glanced back at Ben to see, indeed, red smudges painting his dopey grin.
“ Obviously I can’t sleep with Ben because we can’t see each other tomorrow until I walk down the aisle,” Piper explained in a tipsy tirade.
“And how are we going to not see each other if we wake up together?” She smacked the heel of her hand on her forehead and then grabbed Emmy’s arm again. “So it’s you
and me tonight, sis. Let’s go. We need our beauty sleep.”
Emmy stumbled after her, tripping in the sand, and throwing another desperate look back at Gabe. “Um, see you tomorrow, I
guess?” she called.
“Good night!” Gabe called with a wave. She could see the disappointment on his face even from far away.
“Piper, chill out. I’m coming,” she protested when her sister nearly pulled her arm from its socket. “Where is Ben sleeping
if you’re kicking him out?”
“I don’t know, with his brother. Or with your boyfriend. He’ll figure it out.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
Piper let out a loud, drunken honk and cackled. “ Okay , Emmy. Whatever you say.”
When they made it to the villa’s walkway, Piper pulled her along the path. She stopped at the door and turned around to face
Emmy. Her face was suddenly sobered. “Emmy, the truth is, I’m getting married tomorrow, and I feel like tonight is the last
night I’m a kid, so I want to spend it with you.”
There on the doorstep of a seaside Mexican villa under a full moon, Emmy’s heart cracked wide open. Her tears returned, and she threw her arms around her sister.
“I love you, Piper.”
Piper stiffened in surprise, unused to her emotionally reserved sister being so open, but she quickly softened and wrapped
her arms around her. “I love you too, Em. Thank you for being here. And for fixing everything. Sorry I took you away from
your boyfriend tonight.”
Emmy pulled back and wiped her eyes as she rolled them. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” Piper said, and booped her on the nose.
Inside, they got ready for sleep. Emmy borrowed a tee to sleep in and used a spare toothbrush from the hotel. They were settled
into the same bed, facing each other like they used to when they’d stay up late and swap secrets as kids, when Emmy felt an
overwhelming need to tell her sister something.
The moment Piper had interrupted between her and Gabe was one of the realest things Emmy had ever felt, and telling Piper
the truth about him would make everything real. And there in the dark, bundled in a king-size princess bed sharing air with
her lifelong confidante, she wanted it to be real.
“Pipes, I have to tell you something,” she whispered.
“Hmm?” Piper sleepily hummed.
Emmy was suddenly ten years old again with her head on her sister’s pillow.
“Gabe is Texting Guy.”
Piper pulled in a tiny, sharp breath. “What? Really?”
“Yes. We had no idea until the other day. I did invite Texting Guy to the wedding, and it turned out to be him. We were both completely shocked. Isn’t that wild?”
Emmy chewed her lip, waiting for her sister’s judgment. The pounding in her chest made her realize how important knowing what Piper thought of the situation was to her.
“No, that’s... perfect,” Piper said on a dreamy exhale. “You’re perfect. Good night, Em.”
Emmy closed her eyes and fell asleep with a smile.