She shot it back to Mom, who rolled her eyes. “You two are both grounded,” she said, setting us off again. Poor Mom. It wasn’t fair. There were three of us and only one of her. Sometimes she was one of us, but really, it was usually her against the sisterly trifecta.
Caroline groaned again. “Mommy dearest, we love you. Mommy, we need coffee.”
“Ohhhhh,” I groaned. “I need Kyle.”
“You needKyle?”
Shit. I shot up in bed to see Mark standing in the doorway.
This was impressive. My makeup from last night must have been everywhere, my mascara caked under my eyes. “I mean, you know, I need coffee from Kyle.”
Mark eyed me warily, but he didn’t say anything else. “When you didn’t meet me for our run, I got worried.”
“Sorry,” I said, smoothing my hair out of my face. I was trying to be charming as I said, “I was not, in fact, ready, ready, ready, ready, ready to run.”
Caroline sort of rolled off the bed and onto the floor. I wasn’t sure she was going to get up, but then I saw the crown of her head appear over the top of the mattress. “This is so bad,” she groaned. “Why did you make me drink so much, Emerson?”
“Should I come back?” Mark asked.
“No,” I said, patting the space beside me on the bed. “I need you to hold me.”
Mark loved to cuddle. But I was usually wiggly and had a lot of energy, so mostly I didn’t feel like it. Today was his lucky day. He climbed into my bed and wrapped his arms around me. “My poor girl,” he said, kissing the top of my head. “Those big, bad sisters made you drink too much.”
“I heard that,” Caroline shot back as she crawled across the floor. “I might not be able to walk, but my ears are half functioning.”
“Mark, it’s so bad,” I said. “I mean, I’ve never been this hungover. I will never recover.”
He kissed my head again. “You smell like the bathroom at a bar.”
“Oh, no,” I groaned, trying to pull away from him.
“It’s OK,” he whispered. “I’d rather be with you when you smell like a bar bathroom than with anyone else freshly showered.”
I sighed, letting my head sink onto his chest. This was why I loved him. It wasn’t only that he worshipped me and made me feel like I was the head cheerleader again. Actually, maybe itwasonly that.
“Em, baby,” he said, stroking my hair. “Do you love me no matter what?”
I yawned and looked up at him adoringly, looking down before I spoke so as to spare him my dragon breath. “Of course I do, sweetheart. I love you more than anything in the whole wide world.”
“I have something to tell you,” he said.
The normal Emerson, the one whose senses were not dulled by obscene amounts of alcohol, whose head was not pounding, stomach not churning, whose mouth did not feel like the Sahara, would have jumped out of bed, put her hands on her hips, and said,What do youmeanyou have something to tell me?
Hungover Emerson didn’t have the energy. “If you slept with someone else, I’ll kill you,” I said lazily. I knew he hadn’t slept with someone else. Mark had worked really hard to get me back. I was pretty sure he wouldn’t jeopardize our relationship now.
“I didn’t,” he said slowly, “but you’re going to wish I had. It would be easier to forgive. And far less permanent.”
OK. Now old Emerson was coming back. My heart started to pound, which was not a positive addition to the list of symptoms. I needed less pounding and more water in my life.Easier to forgive and far less permanent.
“Oh, God. Did you get a bad tattoo?” I gasped. “Or an STD?”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m terrified of needles, and I practically put a condom on before I’ll kissyou.”
Both things were true. I was out of guesses. Again, normal Emerson would have been bubbling over with them like a fresh bottle of champagne. Hungover Emerson felt like she had an anvil on her brain.
He cleared his throat. “My mother is coming to Peachtree.”
“Of course your mother is coming,” I said, attempting a laugh but falling short due to the pain in all my extremities. “We’re getting married, for heaven’s sake. She’ll want to be here to plan the rehearsal dinner.” I snickered at the thought. “She will absolutely hate that we’re getting married on the sandbar.”
