Page 103 of Never Not Friends

Which is so Emma.

Instead of sleeping, I kept replaying a phone call from twelve years ago in my head. It’s easy to remember every detail.

I don’t like you anymore.

Five words I just believed at face value, because why wouldn’t I?

I was fifteen.

Emma didn’t offer anything else.

No explanation.

No justification.

And I was way too shocked and hurt to ask for one.

Now I can’t stop wondering why she didn’t tell me the real reason.

I hung up and immediately walked numbly down the hall to my mom. The moment I fell into her chest, I started crying. She led me to the ground so she could sit against the wall with my head in her lap. My tears spilled onto her jeans for at least an hour.

The only other time I had cried like that was when my dad had left. The breakup felt just as intense as his abandonment.

Emma was my entire world. The girl I was certain I was going to marry.

And she’d just said she didn’t feel the same way, completely destroying me.

Until last night, I never had a reason to believe anything different about how we ended. But this new information has tilted my whole world off its axis.

I push away from the kitchen counter and check the microwave clock again.

8:53 a.m.

Emma is supposed to be here a little before nine to set up for the bridal shower.

Juliet said for me to leave the key under the mat before heading to my mom’s house for the morning. The townhome is supposed to belong to Emma and twenty other women today as they celebrate my impending marriage.

I should already be gone.

But my need for answers keeps me here.

Waiting for her.

A car door slams outside, sending a rush of adrenaline through my body. I head to the front door, swinging it open with purpose.

Emma’s wrestling a giant balloon arch out of the backseat of her car.

I run over. “Let me help.”

She jumps, clearly not expecting to see me.

Her eyes flick to the side then back to the balloons. “I got it.”

“Just let me help you.”

Our shoulders bump and brush together as we finagle the ridiculous decoration through the car door.

“How did you fit this in here?” I grunt.