16. Emerson
Emerson
“Emerson!” Mrs. Cole shoved the tray of appetizers in her hand onto the counter, skipping around it and darting straight toward me. Gracie Cole was just like my Mama and Hen, exuberance spilled out of them in everything they did.
A grin grew wide on my face. Bending down a smidge, I opened my arms to catch her.
She leapt right in, practically squeezing the life out of me.
And I squeezed just as hard back. If only she knew just how much I needed this hug right now.
I placed her back down on her feet and she gleamed back at me.
The sparkle in her eye reminded me so much of her daughter.
They share the same exuberance for life.
“It’s so good to have you back home! Thank you for taking time out of your break to come and celebrate Hen’s graduation with us. I know Henley will be so happy to see you.” She smiled, her eyes twinkling with a hint of something mischievous.
Ryleigh bumped his shoulder up against mine, shoving a cold beer into my hand at the same time. As he lifted his own bottle to his lips, he paused, curiously evaluating the way his mother was staring up at me.
“You, okay? You look a little unhinged.”
She shot him a glare so fierce, I had to lower my head to conceal my smile. She playfully slapped her son upside his head.
“Geez, what was that for?”
“For calling your mom ‘unhinged’ in front of guests,” she frowned, motioning in my direction.
Ryleigh scoffed. “It’s just Em. He’s seen worse.”
She shook her head, but a hint of a smile flickered across her lips.
“I was just telling Emerson how nice it was of him to take time out of his evening to visit Henley on her special day.” She winked at me, and Ryleigh raised a brow. Shit.
“He came over for me, not Hen, Ma.”
“Hmm, I see.” Gracie hummed, folding her arms across her chest.
Their gazes both raised toward mine, awaiting an answer. My mouth parted, unsure of exactly what to say.
I wasn’t sure when it happened, but these past two weeks there had been a shift between Hen and me.
When I came home for a break, something sparked inside of me when Henley walked through the door.
I started to look at her in an entirely different light.
No longer just a friend, or my best friend’s little sister.
When she smiled, it warmed me from head to toe, and I found myself being drawn closer.
Though I came over to spend time with Ryleigh, I found myself hoping she caught my gaze.
Yearning for her to linger a little longer with us.
Hoping she’d sit beside me while we watched a movie.
I had no intention of falling for Hen, but this pull was becoming too strong to fight.
She was the first thing I thought about when I woke, and the last thing that flowed through my mind before I fell asleep.
Something tells me Henley feels the same shift between us.
She hovered around me when we were all together, and sometimes I swear I saw red tinge her cheeks lately when I spoke to her.
The other day while we were all watching a movie, her finger brushed against mine while we sat under the covers on the couch, and I swear I heard her breath catch.
All day I’d been gathering my courage to say something to her.
I cleared my throat, ready to answer their awaiting stares. But before I could speak, the porch door swung wide and crashed against the wall.
“What a bitch!” Henley’s boyfriend yelled. Mark stormed through the hallway, hand over his eye and blood dripping down his lip. As he passed, he shoved against me with such force that my beer bottle fell to the floor. It broke into a million pieces, amber liquid foaming across the dark oak wood.
Ryleigh snarled and chugged down the last bit of his beer. “Will you go make sure she’s alright, I’m going to go handle that asshole.”
I nodded, and in a blink of an eye he darted out the door after him.
I bent down to help Mrs. Cole clean up the mess, but she shook her head. “I’ve got this, honey. Go, find my Hen. Make sure she’s okay, will you?”
“Of course.”
Slipping through the back door, I scoured the sea of bodies. None of them Henley. Running my hand through my hair, I charged toward the one place I knew she loved most.
Henley’s hair floated gently in the breeze. Her long legs glistened in the sunset as they ebbed and flowed on the old tree swing.
“I came to check if you’re alright.” I approached her carefully, trying not to scare her.
My breath hitched when her head whipped around to meet mine. Red rimmed her eyes, and they glossed once more at the sight of me. A tear slipped down the side of her cheek, and my feet moved of their own accord.
Rounding the swing, I stopped in front of her, grasping her cheeks in my palms. “Look at me.”
Her pink lips wobbled as her gaze rolled toward mine. “Em?” Her eyes grew wide, my name a whisper on her breath.
A sharp pain radiated through my heart as my thumbs rubbed gently over her cheeks. “Hi, Hen.”
She leapt off the swing, straight into my arms. The hem of her short sage dress fluttered up as my arm wrapped around the bare skin of her thighs. God, she feels amazing in my arms.
Forcing down the desire that stirred within me, I carried her toward the lush meadow behind us. With each step, her head buried further into the crook of my neck. Waves of tremors flew through her as she cried.
Finding a spot that looked comfortable, I sat her down carefully.
The heels of her palms rubbed against her eyes, the mascara she’d worn today almost completely vanished, melted away by her tears.
Reaching in my back pocket, I pulled out my phone and scrolled until I found the right one.
“Chasing Cars” filled the silence around us and her hands slid down from her face.
“Lay down with me, tell me what happened.” I patted the grass beside me, hoping she would.
Henley’s lips pressed together, her eyes bouncing between me and the grass, until she finally decided to lie down. Before her head could hit the ground, I extended my arm out as a pillow. Her head hovered for a moment, brow raised in curiosity before she allowed herself to rest against it.
Once she’d settled, I rolled on my side, leaning my body a little closer into hers. When I placed my hand on her bare shoulder, she flinched, eyes wide with curiosity. I smiled down at her, and after a moment her body relaxed into mine. “Go ahead, Hen.”
Eyelids crinkled shut, her head gently twisting side to side.
“It’s just me. Tell me, then I can help you move past it. That little shit doesn’t deserve your tears.” Unconsciously, I growled at the end. But I noticed her eyes flickered open because of it.
“I’m e-embarrassed.” Her voice shook.
“You know you can tell me anything.”
She sighed deeply, wetting her lips before she spoke. My gaze dipped to her bottom lip, andI let it linger a little longer than it should have.
“We had made a promise,” she whispered.
My stomach churned. Fuck. I knew where this was going to go.
“He had suggested . . . Well, we had talked about graduation night being—”
“I think I get where you’re going.” I snarled through clenched teeth, making my response clipped.
She winced, hurt flickering through her eyes. Immediately, I felt like a dick.
I rubbed my palm up and down her arms reassuringly. “Sorry, keep going. What happened after?”
Realization washed over her features, and her eyes went wide.
“We d-didn’t . . . I couldn’t, that’s why h-he—”
I couldn’t help the stupid relieved grin that bloomed on my lips. “That’s why he stormed out of here?”
She nodded quickly. Dropping my head between us, I tried to contain the laughter quelling at the surface. “How did his lip get bloody? And what happened to his eye?”
“Umm . . .” Henley’s cheeks reddened, and I could see her hands playing with the seam of her dress. That’s when I noticed her red knuckles that were beginning to take on a purplish hue.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
Her meek smile sent a strange surge of pride through me. That’s my girl.
Clearing my throat, I wiped away the tears that had collected on her cheeks. Hazel eyes locked with mine, and I could feel my body falling into her gravity. Threading my fingers through her hair, I steadied myself over her. “Proud of you.”
Her lips quirk up, and I didn’t stop myself from falling deeper into her. My bottom lip brushed against the shell of her ear as I whispered against it. “You deserve someone who will take care of you, support you, uplift your dreams.”
Leaning back, I let my fingers trail along the slope of her neck and lightly caress the bare skin over her heart. “You deserve someone who is worthy of this tender heart of yours.”
The audible hitch in her breath had me clawing at my restraint.
Ever since I saw her walk across that stage tonight, I knew.
There had always been something about this girl that had felt magnetic to me.
I’d always been enraptured by the way she cared so much for the people around her.
Henley could make someone’s day brighter just by her smile or from the warmth of her laugh.
She was prismatic. A brilliant kaleidoscope of a soul. I wanted to be the one she deemed worthy of protecting her heart forever.
Henley’s pupils were blown wide, the hazel hue almost devoured by pitch black. Her lips parted ever so slightly, drawing my eyes to the plush, pink skin.
“Do you think you would be up for that role?” she breathed.
“Is that what you’d want?” I gulped, hovering just above her lips.
“I think you already know, Em.”
Sweat trickled down my back. We were so close, there was no doubt that she could feel my heart thundering against my rib cage.
Her head rose tentatively to meet mine, only the smallest space separating our mouths.
She’d met me halfway; now it appeared she was waiting on me to follow through with the rest.
Instead, fear took hold, and suddenly it was like I hit the pause button on my body.
This couldn’t happen. Ryleigh would kill me. I was in such a different spot in my life, and I’d just be holding her back from all the things she should experience.
“Em . . . please,” she whispered against my skin.
“Em?” Ryleigh’s deep voice shouted, echoing from across the field. Our bodies stilled.
Quickly, I rolled away from her, threading my hands through my hair as I sat upright with my elbows resting on my knees. What the hell was I doing?
The faint sweep of her touch feathered against my shoulder, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet her gaze.
“Are you alright?” she asked, timidly.
Here I was, about to break her heart because I was too chicken to follow through, and she was concerned about my well-being.
“You know I’ll always be here for you, right?” Glancing up, I saw she’d risen to sit like me. “That I’ll always be your friend?” The word ‘friend’ felt like acid on my tongue. Right now, I felt lower than her prick of an ex.
The sight of her body deflating made me shatter inside.
“Yeah.” She quickly jumped to her feet and started walking in the direction of her brother’s voice. I stumbled to my feet trying to catch up.
Ryleigh was walking toward us in the distance when I reached her side. “Hen, I—”
“Thanks for being a good friend, Em,” she sneered, cutting me off. There was no missing the emphasis she put on the word that I should have never uttered. One chance, and I blew it.
Her gaze was void of the heat from earlier. All that was left was the cold, icy chill of rejection. “You can go home, I’m good now.”
The dismissal stung all the way through to my bones.
Ryleigh caught up to us and hugged his sister tightly. “I took care of Mark. He won’t be bothering you anymore. Good riddance! I despised that kid, anyway.” He winked.
Turning back to the house, with his arm still around her, he looked back toward me where I was still standing frozen in place. “You coming, bro?”
“Uh . . . I’m a little tired. I think I’m just going to head home. Is that alright?”
“You sure?”
I look across to Hen, hoping for any sign she might change her mind. But nothing came. “Yeah, I’m sure. Sorry, man.”
“No worries, we’ll hang out tomorrow.” He smiled over his shoulder, and then I watched them both fade off in the distance.
Feet planted in the grass, I held my breath, waiting a few moments for her to glance back. Take one little peek. Turn and run back toward me. Anything at all.
But she never did.
Not that I deserved it.
I had her in my arms, and I let her slip right through them.
Proof that I wasn’t worthy of her heart either.