Right after Derek died.
Emma had never told Clara about her crush, but she knew Clara had suspected the truth. And so, when Clara slept with him, it had felt like the ultimate betrayal, when Emma’s world was falling apart and Ryan still looked at her like she was a little kid.
“That’s too bad,” he said.
She shrugged. “Gabby and I have gotten really close, though.”
“Yeah, you two definitely seemed to hit it off.”
On the bar in front of her, Emma’s phone lit with an incoming text message.SOS.
“Uh-oh,” she said.
Ryan glanced down at her phone. “Someone in trouble?”
“Yeah, Jessica. She needs me to rescue her from her date.” Emma glanced over at her friend’s table, where Jess was still smiling and nodding along to whatever Ruben was saying. Emma tapped her fingers against the bar for a few seconds, formulating her plan. “Could you help me sneak out the back?”
“Sure,” Ryan said. “Why?”
“I think I need to walk in through the front door like I just got here. I’m going to pretend to be her sister.”
Ryan’s brow furrowed. “But you look nothing like Nicole.”
“Her date doesn’t know that.”
“How about you go over to her table as yourself, but pretend you’re shitfaced, and your date ditched you, and you need a ride home.”
Emma scrunched her nose. “I suppose I could do that.”
He leaned back with a smile. “Show us your chops.”
She stood, wavering in her stupid ballet flats. Why hadn’t she worn heels? They’d have made her job so much easier. “Wish me luck.”
“You got this.”
She gulped several deep breaths until the oxygen rush made her dizzy then she staggered toward Jessica’s table in the back.
Jessica looked up, her eyes wide. “Emma? Are you okay?”
“Oh my God, Jess…I’m so glad you’re here! I, um…” She swayed to the side, righting herself just before she fell flat on her face.
Jessica glanced over at her date, who was staring at Emma like she was some sort of freak show attraction. “Can you excuse me for a moment, Ruben?”
“Uh, sure,” he said.
Jessica stood, hooked her arm through Emma’s, and practically dragged her into the ladies’ room. “Are you really drunk?”
Emma shook her head with a giggle. “Not even tipsy. But you can tell Ruben that I’ve had a few too many after my boyfriend ditched me, and I need a ride home.”
Jessica grinned. “You really do rock.”
“So what went wrong with Ruben?”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “The man’s been talking about his ex-wife ever since we sat down. He’s clearly still hung up on her. I thought he was going to burst into tears when he was telling me about their storybook wedding in Hawaii.”
“Ew.”
“Yeah. And he willnottake no for an answer about us driving out to this place he knows about after we leave here to look at the stars. I am not going anywhere with this dude to look at the stars…or anything else.”
