“God.” Emma sighed, pushing a few strands of hair from her face. “I’ve spent the past few hours eating myself up inside because I thoughtyouwere in love with him.”
Nadine’s eyes grew wide again. “Me? And Knightley. Are you serious? Why would you think that?”
“How could I not? You always bring him up and light up when he’s around, and you said you wanted to visit LA, and you seemed so sad when he left! And I’ve seen you… talking with him. I just assumed!”
“Of course I felt all those things. Becauseyouwanted to talk about him.Youlit up when he came into the room. Andyouwere sad when he left.”
It was true. Emma did feel lighter when he entered the room. And it had felt like a crushing weight when he left for California. But she had barely been aware of those feelings herself, let alone that they were obvious to anyone who took the time to look. And meanwhile…
“You’ve been falling for Mateo this whole time and I never even noticed,” she said as guilt swelled in her chest again.
“To be fair, you did think he was gay.”
Emma couldn’t help but laugh. “I thought he was!”
“Well, I mean, he’s bi, so you weren’t completely wrong,” she said. “I didn’t know that, though. I just thought he was this incredibly hot guy who was kind and nice and loved to flirt and also happened to be gay.”
“So what happened?”
Nadine tried to bite back her grin but failed miserably. “We did it.”
“WHAT?” Emma practically screamed.
Nadine nodded proudly. “Last night. After the salon closed,he and I were cleaning up and I was just telling him how awful online dating has been and how hard it is to find a nice guy who wants the same things I want and… he kissed me. And he kept kissing me, and it was amazing, and then suddenly we were in the stock room, you know the one at the end of the hall where they keep all the developer and foils and…” Emma nodded quickly and motioned for her to keep going. “Right, so suddenly we were back there and it was…” Her smile widened. “It wasreallygood.”
Emma’s mouth fell open again. “Are you serious?”
“I could not be more serious.”
“So, what are you two now? Dating? Are you exclusive? Should we invite him to Sunday dinner or—”
Nadine held up her hand. “No. No labels. We’re having fun. That’s what I want right now. I deserve happiness on my own terms, remember? And so do you.”
Emma’s heart swelled. It seemed like a lifetime ago when she first introduced herself to Nadine, back when she was looking so lost on the street. Emma had felt she was doing her a service, that she was going to save her. Funny how the opposite came to be true.
She leaned forward and enveloped her friend in a hug. “I’m really so lucky I met you, Nadine.”
“I’m lucky I met you too,” she replied softly.
Emma sighed, releasing her and leaning back into the sofa. “I’m the worst. Let’s be honest.”
Nadine laughed. “Definitely not.”
“Have you forgotten that I pretty much made you break up with Marty? Then I pushed you on some egotistical, womanizing barista. I missed every sign about Mateo while completely misreading your feelings toward Knightley. I’m an awful matchmaker.”
“Maybe,” Nadine said. “But you’re an amazing friend. I am having the time of my life right now, and I credit a lot of that toyou. You opened my eyes so much. It was only a matter of time before I broke up with Marty. And the Zane story just gets more and more hilarious as time goes by. But when it comes down to it, I love being single. Iloveliving in New York. Yeah, I’m making mistakes, but that’s okay. I’m figuring it out. And that’s because you made me believe that I could. Without you I probably would have already crawled home to my parents’ house. It’s good, Emma. I’mreallygood.”
Emma let out a deep breath. “I’m glad.”
“Good. Now, when are you going to tell me every single detail of what happened with Knightley?”
Emma grinned. “As soon as we order some takeout and open a bottle of wine.”
Nadine squealed and clapped her hands.
CHAPTER 34
For the fifth time in thirty minutes, Emma checked the progress of dinner. She paced the kitchen, watching Fran carefully stir the risotto. The roasted chicken was still warming in the oven. The spinach salad was prepped on the countertop. It was fine. Everything was fine.
