Page 38 of The Truths We Find

“Three minutes!” he yells. “He’s only older by three minutes!”

I can’t stop laughing, which makes Emmett hold up his middle finger at me. Perfect timing as our server comes by to take our drink orders.

“We’ll do your bottomless bloody marys please,” Emmett says in a fake posh accent.

“I’ll be right back with those.” The server nods and walks away.

“Thank God you didn’t say mimosas or I was gonna say we couldn’t be friends again,” I quip.

“Duh. That was the first thing we bonded over. Bloody marys reign supreme over mimosas.”

“I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too, D.”

He reaches over and places his hand over mine on the table. The warmth of his touch seeps through me, and I feel my shoulders loosen—the tension I’ve been carrying since last night melting just a little. I needed this. My friend, finally back in my life. I want to tell him how sorry I am for cutting him out, but before the words can find their way past my lips, the server returns with our drinks.

Emmett holds up his glass. “Cheers to old friends, good memories, and still looking damn fine.”

I laugh. “Cheers to that.” I clink my glass to his before taking a sip. “So, I want to hear everything you’ve been up to for the last ten years.”

“Hun, we’re gonna need a lot more drinks for that.”

Emmett and I talk and eat for the next several hours—catching up on our lives and reminiscing about memories from the past.

“Do you remember the time Gavin was working late, so we went to that bar in the South Side, and the house band decided they were going to play ‘Wagon Wheel’ every thirty minutes?” Emmett says.

“Oh my God! Yes!” I groan. “Didn’t they do it for like three hours before eventually admitting they wanted to see how long it would take for people to catch on and start booing them every time it played?”

“Joke was on them. We all ended up turning it into a drinking game. Anytime they sang it, we all took a shot.” He shivers. “So. Much. Alcohol.”

“I bet the bar made a killing that night though.”

“I know I did.” He winks. “I went home with that dancer.”

“You’re welcome for that. I introduced you, remember? She was a classmate of mine.”

“Oh yeah! If I remember correctly, that was the start of you being my wingman.”

“Haaaaaveeee you met Emmett,” we say at the same time.

We both break out in laughter.

I feel like that night really bonded Emmett and me. After I introduced him to that girl, I thought he was joking about me being his wingman. So, I started quoting a well-known pickup line from the show How I Met Your Mother whenever we went out, just to see what would happen. Funny enough, it was actually a great icebreaker with people who knew the show, and it became a regular thing I would do for Emmett.

“Maybe I do need to move out here,” he says. “We can get the team back together again.”

“Unless it’s an after-work drink at Doolies, I don’t really go out anymore.”

“What’s up with that? You’ve always made time for your friends and having fun.”

“Life happened. I’m busy with work and need to be home with Sam—at least when he’s stateside.”

“Need?” He glares at me.

I roll my eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“No, Dani. I really don’t. If Sam were a supportive guy, he would encourage you to go out, be social, have a life. Not lock you up in your house and keep you for himself.”