Page 40 of Modern Persuasion

"Oh! No, no, no! Don't worry. The Queen of Book Tours is taking over."

"Emma?"

"Yep, she is going to take Christi's place, and she's amazing."

I had dinner with Christi, Louisa, Emma, and their family the night before the accident. It was uncomfortable, but I finally got to meet Mary. Mary may look like Emma, but they are nothing alike. Emma sat there in silence, looking irritated and a bit drunk. I waited for Emma to do something rash like she typically did when drunk. I didn't really know what to say, nor did I have a chance to say anything. Mary talked all night. Even Tommy, her husband, kept his mouth shut, but he was probably used to this. Nobody got a word in unless they asked a direct question. I wondered if Emma even liked her sister. I was surprised when, as we were leaving, I heard Emma tell Louisa not to call me Freddy. Emma knows that she is the only person who has ever been allowed to call me Freddy.

I sat in my hotel room bathroom and drank for about thirty minutes before calling Patrick and telling him everything.

"I'm about to get on the plane. I'll be there for dinner," Patrick said without hesitation.

The original plan was for him to meet me in Boston, the first tour stop outside of New York City. Now that I knew Emma was taking Christi's place, I was relieved Patrick would be there. More than anyone of my friends, he knew how heartbroken I had been when I returned from Chicago. He would help me stay focused now that I spent a week with the woman who had broken my heart.

"While I am very excited to finally meet the she-beast who destroyed you," Patrick said as soon as he found me at the airport, "I'm going to keep the two of you apart as much as I can. I will stay with you through LA like we planned. I emailed Christi during the flight. She thinks she can be mobile by the time you get back to New York at the end of the month. I will evaluate the situation when we get to LA and decide if I need to stay. Hopefully, she won't want to make trouble, and we can focus on just getting your book sold."

"Can you just do all the talking? I really don't know what I will say if I have to talk to her."

"Just talk to her when you have to talk. Keep it simple. I'll be your go-between."

Louisa, Mary, and Tommy were back to pick us up for dinner. Apparently, while drunk at dinner the night before, I had agreed to have dinner with them again. We ate quickly on 10th Ave, and the dinner was less stressful without Emma there. It was a good thing that Tommy was good company.

"We have to show you Columbus Circle and get dessert!" Mary said.

"You have a book signing there tomorrow!" Louisa said.

"We must get Emma first," Mary said with a wink.

I had a momentary thought Mary was trying to set me up with her sister. That was how I ended up standing in Emma's small apartment. It wasn't what I expected, but I should have. The apartment was about five hundred square feet, and the six of us made it feel crowded. It was modern and full of books. There were a few family pictures, including one of her mother, that I had looked at often when it sat in our bedroom. It always amazed me how much Emma looks like her mother. Even looking at Mary, I can see their mother in both of them. Part of me wanted to meet her older sister, Elizabeth, to see if she too resembled their mother. There was no evidence of another person in the apartment. Emma seemed to live alone surrounded by her books and family - the reasons she had insisted she couldn't say yes to marrying me.

I wanted to touch her, even just her hair. There was some weird shift that night. I saw a side of Emma I had never seen before: overly accommodating. At first, I assumed it was to avoid me when she agreed to sit with Mary while the rest of us went for ice cream. I couldn't help letting my very intimate knowledge of Emma guide me through the night. She seemed to appreciate my decision to get her something decent to eat since we had pulled her away from whatever dinner plans she had. Maybe it was a date with someone. Maybe it was just eating alone. I didn't want to know, but I was obsessed with imagining the possibilities. When we got back, I realized she genuinely liked Mary. I saw her smile at her sister and laugh with her.

"I'm in love," Patrick said in the hotel bar later that night.

"Tommy is straight, and you're both married," I said before taking a long drink of my beer.

"Tommy is nothing. I love Emma. I'm sorry, I'm the worst friend on the planet, but I am. I am! I love her. If she had rejected me, I would have been worse than you were. I understand everything now. She has already broken my heart by being a straight woman. I'm going to adopt her like a puppy."

"Please, don't do anything," I said as I motioned for the bartender to bring me another drink.

"Victor is going to flip over her. Sammy is going to love her," Patrick continued in his stream-of-consciousness monologue. "She's nothing like I expected. Louisa is what I expected from Emma. Louisa is like all those little pixie, blond girls you seem to like. Emma, she is a goddess... a tall, brunette, green-eyed goddess. That jaw, those shoulders, those BOOTS! This is true love, Fredrick. Also, if Louisa calls you Freddy one more time, I am going to smack her."

"Please don't do that either."

Patrick sighed and drank his vodka tonic. It calmed him down, and he was able to focus again. "Emma has agreed to minimal contact. I'm going to say this now, and I want you to hear me. Are you ready?"

"Sure," I said with a shrug.

"She is still in love with you."

I scoffed. "No, she isn't at all."

"I bet you a hundred bucks that before this tour is over, she will be in your bed and naked."

"You've clearly lost your mind."

"Take the bet then."

"You're on. There is no way she would even consider letting me touch her, let alone get her naked and into my bed."