“I’m not so sure about that, but I’ll take it.” She looked as awkward as Emmy felt. “Look… you don’t owe me a damn thing, but I’m going to ask you to meet me sometime. Just to talk. I have a couple questions, and… it would ease my mind if you’d answer them. I’m sorry. I know this is weird. If you want me to go, I’ll go.”
Emmy found herself shaking her head. She’d expected a bitchy snob, and that had been on her. It hadn’t been somuch a women-hating-women thing as a presumption that anyone who dated Andrew had to be as bad a person as he was. She chastised herself for that. After all,shehad dated Andrew, hadn’t she? And she wasn’t nearly that bad of a person. To prove it, she smiled genuinely at Riley—social media stalking had long ago provided her name.
“I’m off at eight. Do you want to grab coffee?” She thought about how most people didn’t consume caffeine at all hours of the day. “Or… a decaf alternative?”
“Coffee would be great. Thank you. Sincerely.”
“I haven’t answered your questions yet.”
“You’re giving me the time. I’m already more grateful than I can say. Where should I meet you?”
“You know Coffee Fix?” Emmy asked. “They’re open late.”
“Yes, I do. Eight o’clock?”
“Make it a quarter after. It’ll take me a few minutes to finish up my shift and get there.”
“I’ll be there.”
*
She was there. Emmy decided to order a half-caf latte, figuring she’d feel less awkward with a drink, and also the ordering and waiting for it would give her time to settle. What could Andrew’s girlfriend possibly have to ask her? That question had rolled around in her head all through the remainder of her shift. It was time to find out. Taking her drink, she joined Riley at the table.
“Thank you again for meeting me,” Riley said.
“It’s no problem.”
“Okay, I’ll jump right into it.” Riley paused. Frowned. “Or I won’t. I don’t even know where to start. Or how. Um… okay, you know that I am seeing Andrew. He’s your ex.”
It wasn’t a question, but Emmy said, “Yes.”
“You broke up with him?”
“Uh huh.”
Riley leaned forward, her expression serious and a little pleading. “Can you tell me why?”
That threw her for a loop. “You want to know why I broke up with him?”
“Yes. If you feel comfortable telling me.”
“Why didn’t you ask Andrew?”
“I did. Several times. To the point where he accused me of nagging. And I’m like… I’m like listening to my gut, okay? It’s like… the topic of our exes came up, and I told him all about my most recent ex. I fully unloaded on him. Just—” She opened her hands and turned them over to mime dumping a heavy load. “I figured he’d reciprocate a little, you know? The funny thing is, I wouldn’t have found it so important if he hadn’t acted all evasive and stuff. He told me he’d been seeing you for a while, how you met, all that. But then when it came to the breakup, suddenly it was all vagueness. He said you ‘wanted different things.’” She did air quotes to add emphasis. “I pushed a little, and he said you weren’t ready to commit.”
Emmy couldn’t help the snort. Riley jumped on it.
“See!” She pointed. “See! Right there. Okay, so…” She took a deep breath, laughed at herself a little. “Sorry. I’ve been working myself up into a tizzy over this. The thing is,Andrew is pushing for Serious with a capital S. And I am like… eighty-seven percent there with him. But my gut told me I shouldn’t take another step forward with him until I knew more about you.”
Emmy sipped her coffee as she considered. It was an awkward and strange position to be in, but she didn’t blame Riley for wanting to know what went down. Andrew had screwed himself with his own evasiveness. She knew that he must have been caught unprepared by the question. If he’d known it was coming, he would have come up with a comfortable lie, and Riley wouldn’t be sitting across from her right now.
“Okay. Here’s what I’m going to do,” Emmy said. “I’m going to tell you my side of things as objectively as I possibly can. And I want you to promise me something.”
“Sure. Whatever. As long as it’s not illegal. I’m aiming for a promotion at work.”
The laugh was a surprise, but welcome. Emmy shook her head. “Nothing illegal. I want you to promise me that if, after you hear what I have to say, you decide it’s no big deal for you, then that’s fine. You promise that we can both walk away from this with no hard feelings, no judgments, and if you want to move forward with Andrew, you go for it. Don’t hold back on my account.”
“That’s fair. That’s absolutely, totally fair.” Riley looked earnest and eager. Emmy wasn’t sure she was the best judge of character, but she appeared to be committed to this. The question was, how would she react when she knew the truth? Despite what she’d said, Emmy realized she’d be a little crushed if Riley reacted with an, “Oh, that’s it? Psht. That’s nothing.” Then again, she never hadto see this woman again after they parted ways, so it was no skin off her back.
