When I'd finished, wiping my cheeks and sniffling loudly, I got back in my car and started the engine, puffing out a breath to force some calm back into my buzzing body. My random thoughts slowly solidified into something reasonable, and I pulled my phone out again. With trembling fingers, I pulled up the gaming app to text Emma.
GemsNLace178576:
Hey, about that visit. You up for one tonight? Things went south with my roommate. Wouldn't stay long. Just need a night to think.
Emma responded immediately.
Emmaculate94:
SLEEPOVER! Get over here! I'm sorry about your roommate. Tell me about it when u get here. Drive safe.
GemsNlace178576:
address?
Emmaculate94:
Here’s the link to my location
GemsNlace178576:
K, I'll bring drinks.
Sniffling, I clicked the link to pull up the address and smacked my cheeks again, trying to put some life back into my face. I could stay in a hotel, but my bank account wasn't super happy with me after buying Pumpkin a shelter and putting her and Mini up in a kennel, so this was probably the better option. Plus, I didn't want to be alone. I liked Emma and I hadn't seen her since we'd gone to the movies a couple months ago. I needed a girls’ night. And clearly, Ruth wasn't it.
While I drove, I tried to process my day, but it was all honestly a bit much. The nasty not-mother-in-law, meeting Arabella, the words that looped on repeat in my head…
She is nothing. She's no one.
And now I could never look my best friend in the face again without imagining her handcuffed, covered in blood, and being chased by a naked man with a rubber knife. I tried to forget it, but even during the two-hour drive to Portland through dark streets and nearly abandoned highways, I couldn't seem to scrub the image from my mind. I was going to absolutely kill her.
I followed the GPS to the coordinates, taking an exit and then slowly meandering through pretty, shrub-lined lawns and cookie-cutter suburban houses until I found the one Emma had texted me. I knew she had been pretty stable, but for her to upgrade to a pretty, two-story colonial like this one, I was somewhat impressed. I pulled into the driveway, which led to an attached garage, and feeling a sudden niggle of doubt, I double-checked the address she had sent me and the point on the GPS map.
It was eight o'clock at night by this point, and a few children still walked through the well-lit, safe neighborhood, knocking on doors and yelling, "Trick or treat!" But Emma's porch light was off, so I didn't run into any kids when I left my car and walked down a stone-paved walkway, past beautiful bushes and leafy plants, and to the front door.
Tentatively, I knocked, holding my breath. It had been a hot minute since Emma and I had seen each other, but we did talk almost every day. It would be fine. In the background, a child screeched, followed by laughter, and then an inflatable witch on the lawn next door cackled maniacally.
When the door opened, I came face-to-face with… not Emma.
Dain, her boyfriend, opened the door and smiled. "Gemma! Hey, nice to see you."
"Oh, hey Dain," I hedged. "Is Emma here? I texted her."
Dain had a soft, round face and a blunt haircut that cut straight across his heavy brows. When he smiled at me, I'd always gotten the impression that he did it with nothing behind the lens, like he was making a mimicry of a smile rather than feeling the emotion he was trying to portray. Frankly, Dain and his watery, gray-brown eyes had always freaked me out a little, and I thought Emma had said she'd broken up with him at some point, but here he was, still in her house. "Come on in," he said, stepping aside and opening the door for me.
"Thanks." I walked past him and into a beautiful, small foyer area with the staircase leading upstairs and the main living area off to the left. The house appeared to have been built in the early nineties, so the foyer was tall and open, but the living room had lower ceilings, a fireplace, and a walled-off layout.
"Have a seat," Dain said graciously, gesturing to the olive-green couch set.
I hadn't brought my bag inside, so I plopped myself on the couch, looking around the living room with interest. I knew Dain did something in finance, and he'd made some gains in his job the last I'd heard. But this looked like a full, family-friendly house. Had Emma actually bought a house with him? Maybe they wanted kids or something.
The idea of Emma with kids made me smile. She would totally be the fun mom. But she wasn't a huge fan of anything that smacked of "belonging" to a man, and I really thought if she'd bought a house with Dain, she would have mentioned that. It didn't seem like something she would do. Then again, she had mentioned that she had a new house, so maybe it tracked.
Dain disappeared into the kitchen, but I didn't hear him call for Emma. A little worm of doubt slithered across my subconscious. I ignored it and checked my phone. No new texts from Emma. Dain came back in with two cold beers, and after handing me an opened bottle, he sat down next to me on the couch. Like right next to me. There was a whole other couch across from me, and several feet of space left on the one I had sat on, but he sidled up to me and clinked his glass against mine. "Great to have you here, Gemma."
My brow furrowed and I took a sip of the beer. "Uh, yeah. Thanks. Is Emma here, or…?"
"Oh, she said something about you needing a place to stay. I made up the guest bedroom for you already." Dain took a swig of his beer, his eyes never leaving me. "You're welcome to stay."
