Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Emmy went for pure comfort when she dressed for breakfast. Her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she’d worn her softest tracksuit and sneakers.
“Why did you let me drink last night?” she asked Madison. “I’ve got a raging headache.” She yawned as they took a seat in the open-air lobby-style restaurant. The scent of sausage and buttery bread helped her to come alive a little more.
“You didn’t drink that much.”
“I hardly slept, and today I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.”
“You barely ate anything last night. That was probably the issue.”
“I wasn’t hungry.”
Madison set her phone on the table to keep their spot, and they went up to the hotel’s buffet-style breakfast bar. She handed Emmy a plate.
“You didn’t let me ask about it all night, but I’m dying to know, what are you going to say to Charlie when you see him today at the wedding?”
“Probably ‘Hi.’”
Madison rolled her eyes. “I know that. But don’t you want a game plan for how to handle yourself when you see him again?”
“Why would I need a game plan when seeing him this year is the same as last year and the year before that?”
“It isn’t the same. This year, he’s got a date. You’ll want to look glamorous and confident.”
Emmy lumped a spoonful of scrambled eggs onto her plate. “If he has a date, then I don’t need to worry about being glamorous and confident. I’m not trying to impress anyone.”
Her sister sighed impatiently. “You want him to wish he were with you instead of her. Do I have to teach you everything about how to be alluring?”
She barely heard her sister. Most certainly, Charlie and his date were staying in this hotel.
Were they sharing a room? She gritted her teeth.
Charlie had every right to do whatever he wanted to do.
She had no ties to him. So why was she flustered about seeing him last night?
She knew why. The question loomed at the back of her mind, and she wouldn’t let it cross her consciousness, but it pushed its way through.
Deep down, she wondered: Why hadn’t he asked her to be his date?
She’d brought her sister as her plus one—not a date.
He knew she’d be there. But he hadn’t asked her.
She squeezed her eyes shut to keep her headache at bay and then pinched a couple pieces of bacon with the silver tongs on the bar.
One by one, she placed three pieces of cantaloupe next to her eggs, being meticulous about not letting them touch.
Then, she went over to the pastry corner, across from the food bar, and got herself a croissant and a little cream cheese Danish.
She turned all her focus to her food, trying to clear her head as she filled a mug with steaming black coffee and then watched the beige swirl when she added milk.
She slowly dumped sugar into the mug. Then, she got a glass of juice.
“You’re quietly introspective.” Madison eyed her as she ripped open a tea packet and dropped a tea bag into a mug of hot water.
Emmy shrugged. “Just my headache.”
She followed Madison back to their table. On her way, she kept her eye on the elevator across the lobby. Why, she had no idea. The last thing she wanted to see was Charlie’s date swooshing in, locked onto his bicep, her eyes dancing as he said something witty the way he had last night.
Madison rummaged in her purse and pulled out an envelope of ibuprofen. “Here. You look like you’re dying right now.”
Emmy ripped it open and downed the pills with a swig of juice.
“I want you to kick that headache,” Madison said, picking up her mug. “With the wedding not until this evening and a free day together, I have plans.”
Emmy set her napkin in her lap. “What are your plans?”
“I wanted to do a trolley tour, visit the Country Music Hall of Fame, maybe see the Grand Ole Opry. Growing up, we never took the time to do any of those things. Oh! And we could visit the Goo Goo Cluster Chocolate Company. Remember when Mom loved those?”
Madison’s excitement was contagious. Emmy needed to get out of her funk and enjoy herself. She’d spent too much money on this weekend to waste it. “You know what? That sounds like a great time.”
“Thank you,” Madison said proudly. “I got us a map of the city and everything. It’s grown so much since we were kids.”
“I forgot a fork,” Emmy said. “Want anything while I’m up?”
Madison shook her head happily.
Emmy got up and made her way through the breakfast crowd to the silverware station at the end of the buffet. She fiddled with the utensils, snagging a fork. While she was up, she poured herself a second cup of coffee. She needed it.
Maybe Charlie showing up with a date was meant to be.
With Charlie preoccupied, and Emmy away from her work demands, she could focus entirely on her sister.
As girls, they’d spent tons of time together, but after college, they’d been pulled in different directions.
This was a perfect time to make family her number one priority.
She hadn’t done that in a very long time.
All the hours she’d put in for Vivienne—what had they gotten her?
She’d avoided her family because she felt like she hadn’t done anything with her life, when, looking back on it, it wasn’t her fault.
She was doing her best. At the end of the day, her family had stuck by her.
They were the most important thing. She’d learned that from her mother. She’d just forgotten for a while.
Emmy turned around and almost spilled her coffee down the chest of the person behind her.
“Oh!”
She steadied the cup, a slosh of liquid overflowing and dripping onto the floor. When she looked up, it was Charlie.
“I’m sorry,” she said, giving his shirt a once-over. Thank goodness nothing had gotten on him. She couldn’t say the same for her hand that was now sticky with milky coffee.
“It’s okay.”
That fondness lurked behind his eyes, making her wonder if she’d misread it. Was he only being friendly all that time?
“How are you?” he asked.
“I’m good,” she said, while hotel guests filtered around them. Where was his date this morning? “You?”
“Yeah. I’ve been busy.”
“Me too.” That wasn’t a lie. She did have two very taxing jobs that kept her busier than when she’d worked at The Moreau Agency.
“There you are!” A smooth, assured female voice cut through their conversation.
The blonde from last night stepped up. She wore an effortlessly elegant button-down, a pair of sneakers, and a designer belt with a gold buckle that matched her earrings.
“Amelia Barclay.” She gestured for a handshake, showing off her flawless manicure.
Amelia Barclay. Even her name sounds perfect. Emmy shifted her fork and offered the option that was the driest. “Emmy Brewer.”
“How do you know this guy?” Amelia playfully punched Charlie in the arm and then wrinkled her nose at him.
“I’ve known him since childhood,” Emmy said.
“Oh, how nice,” she said, already distracted by the buffet line. “I’m so hungry.” She patted her belly. “Charlie and I have matinée tickets to Handel’s Messiah with the Nashville Symphony Chorus, so we’d better get a move on.”
“Sounds fun,” she said, but she was sure that the symphony hadn’t been Charlie’s idea.
That didn’t sound like his speed. He’d much rather hike Radnor Lake and grill hot dogs over a campfire.
Unless Emmy didn’t know the adult Charlie as well as she thought she did. Did she even know him at all anymore?
“Nice to meet you,” Amelia said, tugging his arm.
Charlie looked into Emmy’s eyes, unsaid words floating in his gaze. “See you at the wedding.”
She nodded.
When Emmy got back to the table, Madison was ogling her. “Dish. Right now. What did Miss Supermodel say to you?”
“She and Charlie are going to the symphony.” She set the fork next to her plate, then used her napkin to wipe the mug and her hand.
Madison made a face. “Charlie? Symphony? I didn’t think I’d ever hear those two words in the same sentence.”
Madison’s assessment was a relief. But Emmy was still bothered by the idea that Charlie would find Amelia his type at all.
She was more buttoned-up and refined than Emmy would’ve thought for his choice of date.
Or was that only her wishful thinking? She smoothed out her tracksuit and then picked up her coffee, focusing on the cup instead of his hand on Amelia’s back out of the corner of her eye.