“What? Is there someone else? So soon? Please, Liam. Just leave me alone. I came back from Boston to see what was here. I see it clearly. Now I need to clean up and go back. I’m just curious… are you going to keep planning a wedding that will never happen?”
Miranda offered her vicious, bitch smile.
My blood ran cold.
She strutted to the bathroom and slammed the door.
I grabbed a bag and packed up some clothes and called Cole to ask if I could crash at his place for a few days.
He told me it was no problem.
I left the apartment.
With one bag.
I looked at the text I sent to Emily again.
If she decided not to text me back… and this whole thing was for nothing…
I really had no plan at all for what was going to come next.
Chapter Forty
Emily
I jammed a spoon into a pint of ice cream and put it on the table.
Even ice cream didn’t taste good.
Back at my place. Sorry about tonight. I love you, Em. Nothing is going to change that. I promise.
I kept thinking about Liam’s text.
And I kept reading it.
I had no idea what to do.
How to reply. What to say.
I felt as though my feet were on the edge of a steep cliff.
One more step…
I wasn’t sure what that step was.
Calling Liam? Not calling Liam?
Calling Miranda?
I had forgotten about her.
She had been in Boston, while Liam and I had been the way we once were and life felt good.
I knew he needed to take her home.
Home.
They had a home together. An apartment. A place they shared.
I should have known this was going to happen.
Worse yet, I felt alone.
I wasn’t going to call Elise.
Hell no.
She would just rip into me.
I could hear her voice already.
I told you! I was right…
My phone buzzed with a text message from Carla.
I ignored it.
Just like the last few.
Faye too.
There was only one person I wanted to talk to and it was up to me to text him back.
Until then, I crashed down to the couch and pulled the covers over my head.
I wanted to go to sleep but I was wide awake.
So I just stayed there.
And did nothing.
The ice cream melted.
My stomach hurt.
Not as bad as my heart.
I told myself I wasn’t going to ever move off the couch again.
But I had no choice when I heard banging on my apartment door.
When I opened the door, Carla jumped at me to hug me.
It was a quick hug because when she stopped, she pushed me.
“What’s your deal?” she yelled.
She and Faye came into the apartment.
“Yeah, come on in,” I said.
“Are you sick?” Faye asked.
“No,” I said.
“Then what the fuck?” Carla asked. “You were supposed to meet us.”
“I know.”
“So you didn’t forget?” Faye asked.
I shook my head.
“You just didn’t show?” Carla asked.
“Yeah.”
“Oh, Carla, look at this,” Faye said. “Ice cream everywhere…”
That pint of ice cream I had been eating was the last of many.
All of which were on the table in the living room.
“That’s breakup food,” Carla said. She grabbed my arms. “What happened with Liam? Did he hurt you? I swear, I’ll find him and cut his dick off.”
“She’s not kidding,” Faye said.
“It’s not that simple. This is my fault.”
“Your fault? How?”
I backed away from Carla and shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.”
“The hell it doesn’t,” Faye said. “We’re not leaving here until we know what’s going on. We’re your friends, Emily.”
“I appreciate that,” I said. “Look, the music thing was fun. I liked it. I can’t commit to that. That’s not me. That was me being someone else and it ended up getting everyone hurt.”
“We’re pissed at you,” Faye said. “A story might help.”
“You two are amazing,” I said. “You don’t need me.”
“We want you though,” Carla said.
They both sat down on the couch.
They really weren’t going to leave.
Lucy and Ember were easy to handle. I just told them to leave me alone and they listened. I hung up on them. I told them if they didn’t want to run the bakery then just close it. Fuck it.
Carla and Faye were different.
They were real friends to me.
Friends I had because of Liam.
Because I rekindled my love for music. But that revolved around him. It was stained with him.
“You look like hell,” Carla said. “Want me to brush your hair?”
“No,” I said as I touched my hair.
“She likes the breakup look,” Faye said.
“She won’t get any rebound dick that way though.”
“I don’t want any rebound dick,” I said.
“You say that now,” Faye said. “But you need to do it.”
“I don’t know what’s actually going on,” I said. “With Liam and I.”
“How so?”
I took a deep breath.
And I spilled my guts.
When I finished, Carla and Faye ended up arguing over the ice cream.
“I’m stressed out,” Carla said.
“I want to fight Miranda,” Faye said. “Like full on punches.”
“She should have stayed in Boston,” Carla said. “Bitch.”
“She’s…”
“A horrible human,” Faye said. “And I never took you to be like that, Emily.”
“The kind of person who steals their best friend’s fiancé?” I asked.
“No,” Faye said. “You were so good to her. And such a pushover. We met you and you were a badass.”
“That’s the point I’m making,” I said. “I changed who I was. And everything exploded.”
“I don’t think you changed at all,” Carla said. “I think you just became yourself again. You were ripped apart by your family and by this Miranda bitch. You knew all along you loved Liam. I think you knew he loved you too. And you both tried to do the right thing. Hey, that’s all fine and dandy, but sometimes life requires you to take a stand.”
“And this is my stand?” I asked.
“Why not?” Faye asked. “You love music. You’re good at it. You found a man you love. You two get to write your own love story. Screw the rest of the world and anything they think.”
“Let me ask you this, Emily,” Carla said. “You forget about Liam. You forget about us. Then what? You said your bakery probably won’t survive no matter what you do. You know that Miranda will keep fucking you over. What’s the plan? When do you get something for yourself?”
Faye stood up and walked to my guitar case and took the guitar out.