Chapter 14
EMERY
“This place is…cute,” Eve says, dropping her large duffel bag on the ground. My sister is only staying for two nights, and I’m pretty sure she packed half her belongings.
Klepto doesn’t waste any time investigating. He stomps over and gives the foreign object a good inspection before scampering back off to wherever he goes during the day.
“That’s a nice way to say you hate it,” I tease, grabbing two wine glasses from the cabinet.
I cringe looking around at the small space.
Between cleaning up the store and being diligent about my fake girlfriend duties, I haven’t had time to tidy up the overflowing trash or random antiques overtaking every surface of my place.
Knox would have an aneurysm if he walked in here right now.
“Hey, almost all my paycheck goes to a townhouse in Brooklyn that I’m barely at enough to call home, so I don’t have any room to judge.”
“Mhmm,” I hum, pouring us both a generous glass of whatever red wine they sell at the market on the corner. A.K.A the only place within walking distance. I miss my truck.
The thought makes my eyes dart to my phone lying face down on the kitchen counter. Knox texted me earlier to tell me my truck should be ready soon, and now that Eve is here, she can give me a ride. However, I’m dead set on keeping my real sister and my fake boyfriend far, far apart this weekend.
You see, my sister is smart. Not just doctor-smart, but the kind of smart that makes her freakishly good at reading people.
Almost like Knox claims to be. If I try to sell her some crazy story about me dating my ex-summer fling from eight years ago, she’ll see right through me.
Then I’ll have no choice but to tell her everything.
After which, she’ll drag me back to New York and possibly check me into an insane asylum.
“How is work going?” I ask, trying to shift the spotlight off me.
I hand her a glass, and we both make our way to the couch to get comfy.
If I didn’t feel like I was going to hurl from the huge secret I’m keeping from her, then I might be able to appreciate how much I miss our sisterly bonding sessions.
Sometimes we’d even bully Eli into participating, no matter how much he resisted.
When Eve sits down, she takes a huge gulp of wine, answering my question without saying anything. “It’s okay,” she sighs. “I’m almost done with my residency, which is great news, and the ER offered me a permanent position on their staff.”
“That’s amazing, Eve,” I exclaim, but slump my shoulders forward when she doesn’t share my same enthusiasm. “Or is it?”
“I don’t know,” she groans, tossing her head against the couch cushion.
“I love working in the ER. It’s fast-paced, and I feel like I’m making an impact on my patients’ lives.
But the truth is, I’m exhausted and have zero social life.
Hell, I haven’t gotten laid in a year, Ree.
I think my vagina is actually starting to collect dust.”
I crinkle my nose at that wonderful analogy. “What about that guy you went on a date with a few weeks ago? The foot doctor.”
Eve takes another swig of her wine and leans forward. “Here’s a pro tip—never date a guy who works with feet for a living. We were five minutes into the date, and he wouldn’t stop staring at my feet. I haven’t worn open-toed shoes since.”
I nearly choke on my drink. “You do have nice feet,” I say, snorting into my glass.
Eve kicks my shin and gives me a warning look. “I’m glad that you find my failed dating life so amusing.”
I laugh again, feeling so at home with Eve here. “What would you do if you didn’t take the ER job?”
“I’d be crazy not to,” she murmurs, swirling around red liquid in her glass.
“That’s not what I asked,” I say, setting down my glass and scooting closer to her. “I was crazy to quit my good-paying interior design job, but here I am hundreds of miles away from New York and feeling more on track than I’ve felt in years.”
Eve stares at me with the same serious green eyes we both inherited from our mom. She gnaws on her bottom lip in deep thought, likely overthinking what she’s about to say.
“I still want to be a doctor, but I’ve been thinking about going into family medicine. I would work at a practice, have patients that I see regularly, and still be able to have a life outside work.”
“Aren’t you worried you’d get bored?” I ask, remembering one of the main reasons she wanted to work at an ER in a major city.
“No,” she answers without her usual pause to deliberate. “I’d still get to make a meaningful impact in people’s lives, and I’d have enough energy to recognize creeps before they got me to go on a date with them.”
I nod and try to wrap my head around my career-driven sister’s revelation.
She’s always had a perfectly curated plan for her future.
First, she’d become a successful doctor, then she’d find her dream apartment in her favorite city, and lastly, she’d meet her dream guy who would make all the other pieces fall together.
And then she wanted a family. A big one.
One where she could give her kids the support and caring home we never had growing up.
I turn my focus back to Eve. I’m surprised how calm she is about everything. “Wow. That’s different for you. Are you about to have some big, reckless quarter-life crisis? Because I’ve been waiting for this day ever since you made me color-code my toy drawer because it was making you angry.”
Eve laughs, nostalgia shining in her eyes.
“Yeah, I’ve always been a little… high-strung.
I still am, but something has changed lately.
The things I used to care about don’t seem so important anymore.
I guess I got used to Mom and Dad screaming in my ear that your career is everything, but I’m finally starting to see that’s not always true. ”
“I get it,” I say, bumping my knee against hers. Everything she’s saying feels like a play-by-play of my decision to move to Honey Grove. Except in typical Eve fashion, her pivot isn’t as crazy. “Our parents really fucked us up, didn’t they?”
“Amen to that one,” she says, clinking her glass against mine. “Speaking of relationships that don’t serve us anymore, what’s the deal with Patrick?”
“What do you mean?” I ask, nerves bundling up. I haven’t told her about that phone call yet. In my defense, it was two nights ago.
“I wasn’t going to bring this up because you’re killing it without the bastard, but he texted me the other day.”
“Oh, really,” I murmur, not surprised. He used to use Eve as a bridge to me when we got into fights. I can’t believe I used to think he did it because he cared about me. Now I know he was weaponizing my family against me. “What did he say?”
“He just asked how you were doing. I ignored him, though,” she says, draining her wine glass and setting it next to mine on the table.
“Good,” I reply, folding my knees into my body and squeezing them close. “I guess he didn’t get the hint because he called me the other night.”
“Ree,” Eve says, pointing her chin down. “I thought you blocked him.”
“I may have fibbed a little.”
Eve shakes her head and lets out a huge sigh. “I kind of suspected it. You had a really hard time letting that man-child go.”
She’s right and she doesn’t even know the half of it. She doesn’t know that I waited weeks to confront him after I found out he was cheating on me. I kept all my feelings bottled up because I didn’t want to make such a huge move alone.
“Yeah,” I whisper, pulling my sweatshirt hood up over my head. “I was an idiot.”
The couch shifts, and Eve grabs both my hands. “Ree, listen to me. You were not an idiot. You were in love with him, and he knew exactly how to use that against you.”
“I know that now,” I say, squeezing her hands, “but sometimes I suffer from caring too much. No matter how much he hurt me, I still want him to be happy. I think that’s why I picked up the phone.”
Eve slides her hands back to her lap and frowns. “I know, Ree, and that’s what I love about you,” she explains with specks of warm honey glittering in her eyes. “What did he say?”
I groan and throw my head into my hands. “He wants to get back together,” I mumble, the words barely audible against my skin.
“What a tool,” Eve mutters, “and what did you say?”
I pull my bottom lip between my teeth. “I told him that we’d never be able to move past what he did, and then I hung up on him.”
“Atta girl!” my sister says, smacking my thigh. “And then you blocked his number for good, right?”
“Um, not exactly. I—” Before I can come up with some lame excuse, my phone starts buzzing on the kitchen counter. Eve snaps her eyes to me with her eyes narrowed.
“I’ll get it,” she announces, jumping to her feet. A cement block forms at the base of my stomach. I know exactly who it is.
“Wait, Eve!” I yell, trying to beat her to the phone, but it’s no use. Eve ran track in high school and most of college, and I was breaking a sweat sprinting less than five feet to the kitchen.
“If this is that douche bag, I swear I’m going to—” As soon as Eve sees the name on the screen, she goes silent. “Apparently, Patrick isn’t the only ex you didn’t block. Why the hell is Knox Cooke calling you?”
“He’s fixing my truck,” I say with an innocent smile. Except, Eve knows better.
“Then you won’t mind if I answer it then, right?” she says with a slightly less innocent smile and more of the kind that would make a supervillain squirm.
I open my mouth to answer, but she doesn’t wait. “Hello?”
She must put the call on speaker phone because I can hear Knox’s gritty voice say, “Bambi, is that you?”
Eve’s forehead wrinkles, displaying disapproval of the nickname that was forced upon me. “Bambi?” she mouths. My stomach plummets to the floor.
“No, this is Eve,” she replies with her eyes locked on mine. Her lips slowly fade into a smile, and I know she’s enjoying this a little too much. “Who is this?”