Chapter 24
TWENTY-FOUR
Blair, Rocko, Sienna, and Tyson looked on curiously. A baseball game played on TV.
“Maybe,” she said, self-consciously pawing at the back of her head.
Will propped his feet on the coffee table next to a half-eaten bowl of chips. “You were gone a long time.”
“There was a lot to get done.”
“Did you have fun?” Blair asked, blowing on a bright-pink nail she was painting. “By the smile on your face when you came in, it looks like you did.”
“Yeah, I enjoyed it.” Emily licked her lips, feeling as if she had an invisible banner above her head that gave away the fact that she’d not exactly been doing storm cleanup the whole time. Patrick’s lips floated into her mind and she blinked them away.
Open beer bottles littered the table, and baseball highlights flashed across the TV until an update on the efforts in town came on.
Sienna unsuccessfully scrolled her phone. “Ugh. I’ve had no service all morning.”
Rocko pointed at the TV. “They just said the lines were down, and they’re working on it.” Then he started telling a story about a hurricane he’d been in back in Virginia.
Blair smiled at him innocently, waving her wet nails.
The atmosphere felt too normal. No one looked at Emily as if anything had changed.
But everything had. She’d left the beach house feeling lost and wounded, and she’d returned with hope for the future.
She sat in the chair opposite them all as if there wasn’t a tiny explosion ready to burst from inside her, as if she hadn’t just kissed someone she hadn’t planned to.
She nodded along to Rocko’s story, but part of her was still in that little kitchen, remembering how close Patrick’s face had been, how the moment had slipped past Why didn’t he?
to Did we really just cross an incredibly important line?
The ride home had been comfortably quiet, their wounded souls finding solace in that brief exchange in the kitchen.
When they arrived at the beach house, she hadn’t wanted to say goodbye.
But when Patrick said he’d see her tonight, that sent her into a wild back-and-forth with herself about whether or not she should’ve let things go where they had.
Why had Will come? This would’ve been so much easier if he weren’t there.
His presence was a constant reminder of her past, and Emily needed some time to figure out things without him getting in the way.
But perhaps she needed the tether to real life.
Without it, she could easily be whisked away to a false sense of reality where a handsome navy veteran swept her off her feet.
“Did Patrick say he’s making dinner tonight?” Sienna asked, the question seemingly sucked right out of Emily’s thoughts.
Her heart pounded. Just his name caused a flash of panic to overtake her. What was this feeling? She was anxious, restless. “Uh. He said…yes. He is,” Emily replied.
Sienna shot her a look, loaded with questions. She could always tell something was up by the most infinitesimal changes in Emily’s expression.
“So, what are we doing to celebrate tonight?” Emily asked in an attempt to divert Sienna’s attention from her inner turmoil.
“After dinner, we thought we’d sit around the pool and make some cocktails,” Blair said.
“That sounds nice,” Emily said, still trying not to make eye contact with Sienna. “Patrick said he might try to whip up something special.” His name sounded different off her tongue just then, and she hoped no one noticed.
“After all your hard work today, you should take some time for yourself, maybe have a nap and then get cleaned up,” Sienna suggested. “I brought a new shampoo I could loan you. You’ve gotta try it.”
Emily wanted to use the moment to escape them and flee to her room where she could regroup and figure out how to get through the evening.
Sienna stood up, came over to where she was sitting, and took her wrists, pulling her to a standing position. “I definitely want to show you that shampoo,” she said, dragging Emily to the stairway. “I can’t believe I haven’t shown you yet.”
When they were out of sight of the rest of them, Sienna gave her a once-over, but didn’t say anything. It was clear, however, from her shifting eyes, that she was going to have a million questions when they got upstairs.
They got to Emily’s room, and Sienna pushed them inside with a flourish, closing the door behind them.
“Spill.”
“Spill what?” Emily asked, knowing her cheeks were flaming.
Sienna pursed her lips. “You can hide nothing from me. The minute I said ‘Patrick’ you looked like you were going to throw up. I need to know what’s going on.”
While Sienna was great at reading people, what she wasn’t as great at was being quiet about things.
How she’d managed to keep her pregnancy under wraps from Tyson for as long as she had was a complete mystery.
The last thing Emily wanted was to admit what had happened between her and Patrick today.
It would make everything awkward. She’d tell her eventually, but not before Patrick came over tonight.
Sienna was sure to give away the secret to the others, and Patrick seemed to be a private person.
She doubted he’d want Emily blabbing to her friends.
And Will definitely didn’t need to know; that was a headache waiting to happen.
When she emerged from her thoughts, Sienna was waggling a finger at her. “That look. That’s the nauseous look you had.” Then she sucked in a breath. “You and Patrick didn’t…”
“What? We didn’t what?” Emily asked, barely able to manage speaking.
“I don’t know,” Sienna said suggestively. “What’s the what you’re wanting me to guess?”
“I’m not asking you to guess anything.”
“Then tell me.”
Emily wasn’t getting out of this. Not with Sienna. And even if she tried, she was a terrible liar.
“If I tell you, you cannot tell anyone, you hear me?”
Sienna flopped onto the bed with a wild smile on her face. She air-drew a cross over her heart.
“I’m serious.”
“Me too.”
Emily took in a steadying breath and swallowed. “He kissed me.”
Sienna’s mouth dropped open. When she recovered, she asked, “In the middle of the cleanup efforts?”
Emily laughed. “We went back to his house.”
Sienna’s eyes bulged with interest. “You did? What’s his house like?”
“Unfussy and quiet. Like him.”
“There’s a sparkle in your eye when you talk about him.”
Sienna’s perception unleashed a mass of invisible butterflies in Emily’s chest, which must have had an outward expression because Sienna clapped a hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh.
“You’re smitten.”
“I shouldn’t be,” Emily said, dropping down beside her.
“Why not?” There was an undefinable heaviness in her stare, as if everything depended on this answer.
It didn’t make sense to Emily. “I don’t know how to do flings.
That’s not who I am. But Patrick and I don’t live anywhere near one another, so a fling is all it is.
It’s too early to know if what we feel is lasting, and I leave in a matter of days, so we’ll never know.
” She folded her arms. “And I’ve got Will downstairs. ”
Sienna bit her lip, something flashing across her face.
“What’s that look?” Emily asked.
“Uh… Man, I hate to get in the middle of things.” She sighed.
Emily’s skin turned cold. “You’re already in the middle, so you’d better just come out with whatever it is.”
Sienna’s knee bounced. “You need to tell Patrick not to cook for us tonight.”
“Nothing’s open, and we don’t have enough food for everyone. If he doesn’t cook, we won’t eat.”
“You’d rather be hungry,” Sienna said. “And the boys brought snacks. We can get through with whatever leftovers we have and the chips they brought.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
Uneasiness flooded Sienna’s features, her chest rising and falling a little too quickly.
“Let’s just say that the celebration for my growing family might be a cover for something more.
Tyson filled me in, and Will’s planning something romantic for you—a big surprise gesture to show how sorry he is.
That’s why he came. My announcement was a happy distraction for something he’d already planned. ”
Emily frowned. “What?”
Sienna hung her head and groaned. “He didn’t tell me what it was, but I think it’s something grand.”
“You’re making me nervous,” Emily said.
Sienna bit her lip. “You should be.” She stood up and walked to the door. “I’m gonna go keep them busy, but I suggest you call Patrick right now and tell him we don’t need dinner. You need to deal with Will and whatever this thing is without the added pressure of Patrick watching it all go down.”
In a rush, Sienna exited the room, leaving Emily in a cloud of confusion.