Chapter Twenty #2
It cost them an extra forty-five minutes, but they cut through Boston on their way back.
Emmy had been there once when she was checking out some East Coast colleges.
It had been years, but the city remained familiar enough.
She’d spent a weekend there, exploring the sights and touring MIT.
Her grades had been good enough to make it a viable enough reach school, but in the end, she hadn’t been able to convince herself to stray so far from home.
Added to that, she wasn’t sure if STEM was the direction she wanted to go.
She’d kept waiting for something to tug at her, some sense of rightness or belonging—like the proverbial lightbulb going on over her head.
For years, she hadn’t felt a single tug, until the day she’d turned an old watering can into a planter in Will’s front yard. That bore some thinking on. Later.
Having confirmed that Boston was as it should be, they headed west toward home.
With each passing mile, Emmy’s nerves increased.
The fears she’d been able to forget—or at least set aside—returned.
Will sensed it, she knew. He glanced at her every few minutes, but he didn’t attempt to engage her in conversation.
Emmy twisted her fingers around in her lap and waited.
She didn’t know how close they were, but she did know that Will had predicted they’d get back to town a little before seven, in time to meet Jared and Bright.
Her eyes kept flickering to the clock on the dash as the sun sank slowly behind the horizon ahead of them.
It was almost full dark when the sign flashed past them.
Welcome to Cobalt! She’d been so caught up in the anticipation, the tightness in her chest, that she’d nearly missed it.
But it was there, and she felt her whole body go lax as she slumped back against the seat.
“I told you I wasn’t going to go driving off any cliffs,” Will said quietly, clearly noticing her relief. “I wouldn’t do anything to put you at risk. You have to know that.”
“Of course I know that. I wasn’t worried about that at all.”
“You were worried about something, though.”
“Yes.”
A beat of silence while he waited. When she didn’t say anything further, Will made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat. “Just tell me.”
“After dinner.” It would be a brief reprieve, but she refused to ruin his night right before a fun meal with friends. “I’ll tell you when we’re back home. Promise.”
“Fine.”
“It’s nothing, Will. I swear. Just set it aside for now. Jared’s going to want a demonstration of your Maine accent.”
He didn’t smile as she’d hoped he would, but he did let out a long breath that took a lot of the rigidity out of his body.
A couple minutes later, he pulled into the restaurant parking lot and found a spot.
Though he turned off the car, he made no move to get out.
Emmy waited, giving him the time he needed.
Finally, he reached out and pulled her across the divider and into his arms. She held herself still as he buried his face in her hair and inhaled deeply.
Though the position was awkward, she made no move to extricate herself.
He still smelled like salty sea air. His body rippled with strength and emanated comforting warmth.
She couldn’t fight the way she felt about him when he was holding her like she was everything that mattered to him.
Finally, he spoke quietly, his lips against her hair.
“You are not responsible for me, Emmy. Not when it comes to my mental health or my emotional wellbeing. You can’t try to shoulder every burden for me.
Let me take my share. I can handle it. Whatever else I am, I know I am a grown man who was raised with a solid support system. Don’t treat me like I’m fragile.”
“Okay.”
He pulled back just enough to look into her eyes. “Okay?”
They were still so close. She could feel the whisper of his breath on her lips.
Would he kiss her again? Would she let him?
“Okay,” she repeated quietly. She didn’t know whether she was agreeing with his previous plea or if she was giving him permission to kiss her.
Or both. All she knew was, when he pressed his lips against hers, softly and sweetly, it was more than welcome.
It felt right. He pulled away instead of deepening the kiss.
Probably for the best since she didn’t want her hormones to ruin dinner.
They got out of the car and the sounds of the lively restaurant, the bright lights, the upbeat murmur of a hundred conversations, poured into her consciousness.
Everything increased when they went through the door.
Jazz music mingled seamlessly with the clink of glasses, the shouts and groans of people watching sports on the TVs over the bar, the laughter of the patrons, and the chatter of the servers as they swept past each other or stopped to check in at their tables.
In place of traditional lighting, brightly painted mason jars had been placed over lightbulbs and suspended from the ceiling.
The walls were covered in brass instruments, Mardi Gras beads, and splashy paintings.
Emmy was, quite simply, dazzled.
When she finally finished gazing around the space, it was to find Will watching her with a soft smile.
“What?”
“You’re beautiful.”
Emmy felt heat rush up her neck to settle in her cheeks. “Th-thank you. So are you.”
Will laughed. “At least call me handsome.”
“Sure, if you’ll only accept gender-normative compliments.”
“I don’t know much about romance novels, but something tells me gender-normative is the name of the game.”
“Yeah, fair enough. But only in the mainstream ones.”
They saw Jared waving and wound their way around booths and tables to join him and Bright. His fingers were threaded through hers on the table in a casual and adorable gesture of affection.
“You guys get lost?” Jared asked.
“We were in Maine,” Will replied as he slid into the booth.
“Uh… okay. I’ll bite. Why were you in Maine?”
“Tah have the lobstah rolls, of cahrs.”
Emmy burst into laughter and heard Bright giggling along with her. Jared just shook his head, but he was smiling. “I bet they took you for a native up there.”
“Oh yeah. They all thought I was born and raised in Portland.”
“A long way to drive for lunch,” Bright commented, her eyes full of humor.
“I wanted an adventure,” Will said.
“Uh huh.” Jared gave him a knowing look. “Did you drive up there on your new motorcycle?”
“I talked him out of the motorcycle,” Emmy interjected.
Their server came by to get their drink orders, and they put their conversation on hold while they ordered.
Emmy must have read the menu a hundred times.
She couldn’t decide what to get; everything sounded so delicious that her mouth was watering.
The two-and-a-half meals she’d already eaten that day were suddenly distant memories.
“You and I can share two entrees,” Will told her. “Just tell me what you’re thinking.”
Filled with gratitude, she decided to get the catfish po’boy for herself.
Will got the shrimp jambalaya with a side of homemade cornbread.
Drinks were served and orders were placed.
Then Bright asked them for details about their impromptu coastal adventure.
Emmy couldn’t help but like the woman. She was an active listener, her attention never wavering as they summarized their trip for her.
Emmy pulled out her phone and showed off some pictures.
When that topic was exhausted, Bright told them about some new artists she’d been working with to do a collection of upcycled jewelry and handbags for her shop.
The food arrived and Emmy dug right in. It was everything she was hoping for and more.
When Will offered her a forkful of his jambalaya, she leaned forward and allowed him to feed it to her without a second thought.
It only occurred to her afterwards that the exchange was quite intimate.
When they’d spoken earlier about sharing, she’d assumed they’d put a bit of their meals onto each other’s plates.
“Aw, you guys are positively glowing,” Bright commented. “You are so good together.”
Emmy opened her mouth to correct her before she remembered that she and Will were supposed to be pretending to be in a relationship.
Fortunately, Will picked up the slack. Taking her hand, he placed a gentle kiss on her fingers and said, “I think so, too.” Emmy swallowed.
He was laying it on thick, but she couldn’t stop the flutter in her chest.
The meal went well right up until they were sharing coffee and a platter of beignets so fresh that they let out little puffs of steam when pulled apart.
“Emmy, I haven’t asked if you’re working on anything new,” Bright said.
Emmy’s mind went blank. “Working on…?”
“A writing project,” Bright clarified. Emmy’s expression must have worried her, so she added, “Unless… is it not cool to ask? Do you want to keep it a secret?”
“No! No, sorry. I just… got a little turned around. Mentally.” She barely resisted kicking Will under the table when he covered a snort of laughter by clearing his throat and sipping his coffee.
He’d gotten her into this mess. And she knew just how to take her revenge.
“I do have a new idea I’m working on, now that you mention it. ”
“Oo! Can I get the details?”
“Well, it’s a work in progress, in the early stages, you know. But I’m thinking of setting it in a small town like Cobalt. Will actually inspired me, so I think the love interest is going to be a nurse.”
“Aww, that is so sweet.” Bright laid a hand over her heart. “You need to dedicate the book to him.”
“Oh, I absolutely will.”
“So does that mean the protagonist is based on you?”
That caught her off guard, but she rolled with it. “A little. I don’t want it to be autobiographical, but if you don’t pull in some of your experiences and emotions, it doesn’t feel real.”
“That is so true.” Bright was eating it up. She leaned forward, resting her chin on her folded hands. Jared stole the second half of her beignet right off her plate and she didn’t notice. “So how do the two love birds meet?”
Emmy barely resisted cutting a look at Will. “They wake up in the same bed and neither of them remember how they got there.”
Jared barked out a laugh. “Love at first hangover?”
“Something like that.”
“I like that. It’s not something you see every day,” Bright commented. “Which one of your characters has the tragic backstory?”
Beside her, Will stiffened. Emmy bought herself some time by taking a long drink of coffee.
“What do you mean?” Will asked, his voice quiet. Intense.
Oblivious to his tone and mood, Bright circled her hand in the air as she thought.
“You know how these things go, even if you never read the books. It happens in movies, too. The guy—usually it’s the guy—is all broodily sexy and sexily broody because of his dark past. Then his lady friend helps him come to terms with his past. Usually with her vagina.
Then he loses the broody, but not all of it because that’s what makes his character appealing in the first place.
And bam.” She clapped her hands together for effect. “You have character development.”
Emmy had a fleeting image of grabbing a trombone off the wall and whacking Bright across the head with it.
That probably wasn’t going to work; she imagined the instruments were bolted down.
Besides, the damage was already done. She didn’t have to look at Will to know that Bright’s words had struck a chord with him.
Their server chose that moment to drop off the check, and Jared whisked it off the table.
“My treat,” he said, slipping his card into the folder.
“Thank you,” Emmy managed. “It was great. My first time eating here.”
“Happy to oblige. Thanks for squeezing us into your adventure today.”
“Speaking of that,” Emmy said, grasping at the opening Jared had unwittingly gifted her. “I think Will and I should get going. I’m exhausted. I feel like I haven’t slept in a week.”
They said their goodbyes, though Will’s was wooden and perfunctory. Fortunately, neither Jared nor Bright seemed to notice his change in mood. After a quick hug from Bright, they went to their separate cars. Emmy got in and buckled up. Then she waited.
Will couldn’t bring himself to start the engine just yet.
He stared straight ahead, his hands resting loosely on the steering wheel.
He could feel Emmy’s anxiety rolling off her in waves.
It wasn’t like she was to blame for Bright’s comment, but it still fell to her to fill in some gaps for him.
She would hate that. No matter what he’d said to her before they’d gone into the restaurant, he knew she still felt responsible for every hard turn his life had taken since she’d appeared in it.
“It’s after dinner now,” he said, still not looking at her. “What was it you didn’t want to tell me? The thing that was making you nervous about our road trip.”
She looked down at her hands where they rested in her lap, and he heard her release her breath slowly.
“Cobalt, Massachusetts, isn’t a real town,” she replied quietly.
“I was afraid that if we left… I thought maybe the town would disappear. If the rest of the country was exactly the same as in the real world, I thought maybe leaving Cobalt would cause the inconsistency to… correct itself.”
He absorbed this new revelation, let it roll through him, and he understood why she had wanted to keep it from him. But when compared to Bright’s earlier words, the new knowledge about his hometown was negligible. It didn’t matter that the town wasn’t real. Nothing he knew or loved was.