I smiled despite myself. “I just… don’t know where to start.”
“Is this about Jay?” she finally asked.
I bit my lip. “Maybe.”
Emily gasped. “Oh my gosh. What happened?”
“Well,” I said, hesitating. I had yet to tell anyone we were official. And I was a little worried about how she might react. “We’re… sort of dating.”
I should’ve expected the choking, gasping sound that came from the other end of the line.
“Are you serious?” Emily squealed. “Oh my gosh, Hope, why didn’t you start this conversation with that!”
I laughed, feeling a delightful giddiness spread through me. “I just didn’t know how to say it.”
“Okay. Okay. Start talking. Immediately.”
I told her what happened. Not everything, of course, but enough. I told her all about the conference, about Jay standing up for me in front of Dr. Pike and how he’d given me his mother’s manuscript and I confronted him about it. Then I told her he’d confirmed we were dating and I relayed how our first week together had been pretty great. We’d somehow managed to balance our relationship and work, and I’d worried it wouldn’t be possible.
“I just realized I was the one overthinking everything, and I didn’t want to keep holding back from something we both wanted.”
Emily laughed. “You’ve always been a pretty intense overthinker, Hope.”
“Am not,” I insisted with a pout, but if I was being honest, I knew I was.
“This is so good. I can hear how happy you are.” Her voice quieted from her typical rambunctious, bubbly voice to something softer, more subdued, and that was rare for her. “This is what I was hoping you’d find, Hope.”
“Me too,” I admitted. “Never did I think I’d meet someone in Big Bear. But he’s changed everything.” I bit my lip and fiddled with a stray thread on my shirt. “He’s been urging me to go after Pike. He helped me submit a complaint against him to the dental board.”
“Wait,” she said. “Hold on. You’re actually reporting Dr. Pike?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I submitted the complaint a few days ago.”
There was a moment of stunned silence. I was worried I might’ve caused her to have an adrenaline crisis in this conversation. I probably shouldn’t have dropped all these things on her at once.
“Hope,” Emily said gently, “that’s huge.”
“I know.”
I looked past the railing then down to the deck below. Jay was outside in an old T-shirt, sleeves pushed up, cleaning the grill.
Something started fluttering in my stomach.
“He doesn’t know I submitted it yet,” I said.
“You should tell him,” Emily said without hesitation.
“Yeah, I was going to this morning,” I admitted.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” she said and I chuckled.
“I’ve missed talking to you. I wanted to update you on everything first.”
“Go,” she said. “You can give me a deeper debrief later.”
“We’ll talk soon.” I stood, already moving toward the door. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said. “Call me later.”
