Chapter 2
TWO
ONE WEEK LATER
Emily stood at the bottom of the walking trail at Radnor Lake State Park, bent at the waist and stretched, grabbing hold of one ankle, and welcoming the pull on her leg muscles. She righted herself and shifted her weight into a side lunge.
The sun was already blazing, casting its warm glow over the grass. A morning hike had been Blair’s idea. Her holistic health practitioner had suggested she lay off the caffeine and get outside more, so this week’s meet-up had been relocated from The Brewing Bloom.
“Morning,” Sienna said, coming up beside Emily. She was wearing a fashionable pair of aviators and a matching shirt and shorts set.
“Good morning,” Emily said.
Sienna held out her arms and began doing circles with them.
“I’m glad we skipped the coffee today. Yesterday, when I got one with Tyson, it turned my stomach out of nowhere.
I had to fake that they’d made it with dairy instead of oat milk.
He insisted on taking it back to the barista, but I convinced him not to bother. ”
“You still haven’t told him?” Emily asked.
“No. I don’t know how long I can keep this up, though. And once he knows, it’ll feel real, and I’ll have to deal with it. What if he doesn’t want the baby? What if he doesn’t want us? The mere thought is heartbreaking. I’ve still got a few months to figure it out before I show.”
A few months was longer than Emily had to fix her problem…
“What’s that face?” Sienna asked.
“What face?”
Sienna eyed Emily. “You have the same weird look you did when we were at the coffee shop last week.”
“I saw it too,” Blair said, crossing the grass toward them. “And you’d admitted in line that something was going on, but you wouldn’t say what it was.”
Given how close Blair’s husband was to Will, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t gotten wind of everything from Rocko. She was just going to have to come out with it. Better the news came from her than Will. Her friends had both confided in her. Now it was Emily’s turn to drop her own bomb.
Blair put an arm around her shoulders. “You can tell us.”
Emily took in a deep breath, her heart fluttering. “Will broke off the engagement.”
The words floated on the air toward her friends; their reactions slow to emerge. Then their shocked expressions caused her breath to go shallow, and she understood what Sienna had meant by her comment a minute ago: Now they knew, it felt real.
“What?” Blair’s mouth dropped open. “When?”
“A few days before our last coffee meeting.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before now?” Blair asked.
“We had enough to worry about without me dumping my problems on top of everything else.”
Blair chewed her lip. “Rocko hasn’t said anything. You’d think Will would’ve told him.”
Emily shrugged, blinking away more tears.
“I can’t believe this.” Blair looked down at the ground, pacing. “Did you see it coming at all?”
Emily shook her head. “He left a note saying our differences were troubling him. I didn’t even know we had any. But, apparently, the differences were that he thought it best to date the girl he’d met at the gym, and I guess he supposed I wouldn’t think the same.”
Sienna gasped.
“I have a month to get the house ready for sale. Even though it’s mostly ready. Our things are still in boxes. I’d kept it all empty for the kitchen remodel.” She swallowed against the lump forming in her throat. A tear slipped down her cheek, and she wiped it away.
“Where is he now?” Sienna asked.
“At his apartment, I guess—but his lease was up last week, so I’m not really sure.” She didn’t want to think about him shacking up with his little something from the gym. “He’s left everything we bought together at the house. We’re going to divvy it up at some point.”
“There’s no way Rocko knows,” Blair said. “I’m certain. Even if it’s escaped his attention to tell me, which it wouldn’t, he’d have offered for Will to stay at our house, and I haven’t seen him—not once.”
“How are you coping?” Sienna asked.
“My chest feels like I have a boulder on it.” Emily’s voice broke. “I have all the wedding plans to cancel, and I’ll have to let everyone know. It’s mortifying.”
“Oh my gosh, Em.” Blair gave her a hug and then Sienna joined in.
Trying not to make a scene with a total breakdown, Emily cleared her throat. “Let’s walk.”
The three of them quietly began to stride down the paved pathway.
“Look at us,” Sienna said as they paced along the trail leading around the bright-blue lake. “We’re all three brokenhearted for our own reasons. What a summer.”
“It’s unbelievable,” Blair said.
They fell into silence.
Emily turned her attention to the golden rays of sunshine on her face, the laughter of small children in the field, and the chirping of the birds.
She stepped in and out of shady spots on the path, trying to focus on her breathing instead of everything on her mind.
When they’d gotten far enough for the children’s voices to fade away, a warm breeze rustled the leaves in the trees, which was a welcome sound, since no one was talking.
They strolled over the Spillway Bridge to the Lake Trail when Sienna stopped.
Blair and Emily did too.
“I wasn’t expecting Emily’s news today, and I’d planned to share something good, but now I’m not sure any of us are in the mood for it.”
Emily looked over at her friend. “What is it?”
“It’s fine if you all don’t feel up to it.”
Emily and Blair faced her.
“You know the musician client I have?” Sienna always added emphasis on “the musician” when she spoke of the mystery man she sold houses for.
Under a strict nondisclosure agreement, she wasn’t allowed to tell them who he was, but given his real estate budget, he had to be incredibly famous.
Recently, he’d hired her to find a two-million-dollar house for his mother.
“Yeah?” Emily and Blair said in unison.
“I pulled a few strings and got his mom the house she wanted. To thank me, he offered me his private beach house along the Gulf Coast. It’s free all summer, since his wife surprised him with an impromptu trip to Mykonos.”
“Careful,” Blair warned, her tone lightening the mood considerably. “We’ll look up which country music star is in Mykonos and figure out who he is!”
They were always trying to guess.
Sienna made a face. “I’ve said too much. Don’t try to look up who it is. I’d like to keep selling him houses, and I’d prefer not getting wrapped up in a lawsuit, thank you very much.”
“I’m just saying, if I get on Instagram and see photos, I can’t help that…” Blair giggled.
Emily couldn’t wrap her head around an impromptu trip to somewhere that fabulous. A trip like that would’ve taken her years of saving and preparation.
Sienna held back her dark hair to keep the breeze from having its way with it. “Originally, I thought we could all take our significant others. But after your news, Em, it should be a girls’ trip,” she said as they started walking again.
“It’s fine if Rocko and Tyson go,” Emily said. “I love them both.”
“I wouldn’t want to make you the odd one out,” Sienna said. “We should go, just the girls. It might be the therapy we all need—our own beach club for the brokenhearted.”
Blair’s face filled with life. “My holistic health guy did say I should be outside more,” she said.
Sienna linked arms with Emily and then Blair. “Let’s take our weekly meet-ups on the road. We’ll be The Broken Hearts Beach Club.”
“It might do me some good,” Blair said. “I’ll run it by Rocko. He’s got a few days off from building the apartment complex they’re working on while they wait for permits, and he wanted to have a boys’ weekend to go fishing. That might work out perfectly.”
“Blair and I can work remotely,” Sienna said, “and, Emily, you’re off for the summer. We could always do Monday through Friday with the girls and then the husbands can come for the weekend or something.”
“That’s an idea,” Blair said. “I’m in.”
Emily considered the alternative: sitting alone in her apartment or the house she’d thought would one day be filled with the patter of tiny feet, happy family moments, and love between her and Will.
Running away from her problems did sound enticing.
She’d have some work to do to deal with the cancellation of the wedding, but she could do that anywhere.
Emily filled her lungs with warm air and let it out slowly. “The turquoise waters of the Gulf Coast, secluded from the world? Definitely count me in.”
“It’s open all summer. When would you all want to go?” Sienna asked.
“I can go whenever,” Emily replied, pushing her shoulders back defiantly. “I have no one to answer to anymore.” She dared not admit, however, that she’d gladly give up the freedom for the love of the man she’d lost.
“What about the sale of the house? Do you need to move things out to get it ready to sell?” Blair asked as they rounded the bend, the sapphire lake sparkling in the sunlight.
“Will can move the boxes to my apartment if he wants to sell the house right now. Why should I make things easier for him?”
“Truth.” Blair pumped her hands in the air.
“Let’s talk to the hubbies and see what they say,” Sienna said. “Tyson will be fine with whatever.”
“I’ll let you both know this afternoon.” Blair leaned on the wooden railing overlooking the lake. “I could use some seclusion with just you girls. It would be therapeutic.”
“I think so too.” Emily tipped her head toward the sunshine. Maybe there’d be a silver lining in all this pain. She’d get to spend time with the people she cared about most. It could be a fresh start.