I open my mouth to say something, and even though I don’t know what I was going to say, I know it’s not a denial.
We’re long past that.
But my words are cut short when there’s a noise down the hall. Emma’s door opens, then her feet are padding down the hall to the bathroom, and I step away, quietly following him to the kitchen for coffee.
And we both do so with smiles on our faces.
Unfortunately, it’s not just Valentine’s Day I don’t spend with Jesse, but most of Sunday, the next day. I drop by in the morningfor coffee, but soon after, I’m headed to Wren’s to decorate. I tried to get her to skip or postpone our annual get-together, since this year she actually had someone to spend the holiday with, but Wren’s guilt that we’ll feel left out now that she has a man in her life runs deep, and there was no dissuading my stubborn best friend.
Still, Jesse and I text back and forth all day, but when I get to his parents’ house, Emma whispers to me that her dad’s in a bad mood, something I pick up on quickly. When I first got there, he tugged me into a corner for a quick (sweet, not hot,ugh) kiss, so I’m pretty sure he’s not mad at me. He also seems to find every opportunity to casually touch me or talk to me, almost like he’s grounding himself with my presence. But after dinner, we’re all in the den when Jesse gets a call and abruptly stands, heading outside.
I wait a few minutes, but when he doesn’t return, I quietly go to find him. I make it outside just in time to see him grab a small planter that holds marigolds in the summer and toss it, hitting a tree. The terracotta shatters impressively.
“Pretty good aim,” I say with a raised eyebrow. He turns to me, then sighs. “Everything okay out here?” He glares at me, and I bite back a smile. “Your mom really liked that planter, you know?”
“I’ll get her a new one.”
I nod, then sit on the edge of the patio table with my arms crossed on my chest, watching as Jesse paces back and forth.
“You gonna tell me why you’re murdering perfectly innocent planters?”
“Kim canceled.”
My heart drops at the disappointment that’s about to hit Emma, but I resolve to fix it.
“Okay, so I’ll do another girls’ day. No big?—”
“She canceled her fucking birthday party.” The small bit of hope I’d fostered dies out, and anger floods my veins. He sees it on my face and nods before explaining. “She texted me this morning with some big tale, I don’t know. I didn’t even bother to read it, but she said she wasn’t going to be able to be there for the party. Stupid of me to hope she wouldn’t be a fucking cunt.”
He sounds so angry, and the worst part is knowing it’s not only at Kim, who is the only person who deserves his wrath right now, but at himself for falling for it. “Kim gave her invites and everything to give to her friends. Said she was renting her hotel rooms for a big sleepover, making a big thing out of it. I didn’t think to double-check…”
My stomach sinks at his words, remembering Emma telling me she has a big birthday sleepover next weekend. I never got around to asking Jesse about it or how I could help, but now I’m thinking I should have.
“Right after she texted me, I called up the hotel in town she said she had booked rooms in, and I was waiting for them to give me info on what was already planned. They called to tell me that not only did Kim never book the rooms she told Emma she was reserving, but the hotel is fully booked now, soIcan’t do it.”
I step closer, unsure of what to do or how to help. The only thing I’m sure of is that I want to touch him, so I do that, closing the gap and placing a hand on his chest. He looks down at me with forlorn eyes and shakes his head.
“I should have fucking known. I should haveknownnot to trust it. But she can be so convincing when she wants to be.” He lets out a sad laugh. “I really thought that thisone timeshe’d be there for her.”
The hopelessness in his voice pulls me into him. When I do, he crushes me to him, burying his face in my neck. My mind is reeling as I try to piece things together and formulate aplan, caught between wanting to track down Kim and get into a fistfight with her.
“I’m so fucking tired of this, Hal,” he says into my neck. His voice cracks, and it pulls at something in me as I rub his back, biting back my own emotions. He needs a safe place to vent to, and I’m determined to be that for him.
“I know, babe.”
“It’s so unfair to her. She deserves…fuck. She deserves better. It’s my fault.”
I shake my head, putting my hands to his cheeks, forcing his head off my shoulder to look up at me.
“No. No, Jesse. It’s not. It’s hers. She’s a fucking bitch, a waste of space who doesn’t deserve to be in the same stratosphere as Emma, but that isn’t anyone’s fault but hers.”
He pulls back, eyes pained as he takes in a deep breath. The anger is gone from his face, leaving disappointment and sadness.
“How am I going to break it to her?”
Now it’s my turn to step in when he needs me, just like he did for me the day he found me in the woods.
“I’ll handle that. Do we have the info for the girls who are supposed to be coming?”
