Chapter Eight
Emerson scooped noodles from the wok into two large bowls. She tucked a pair of chopsticks into each and brought them to the futon where Will sat waiting. She handed Will one of the bowls. “Bon appétit.”
“Thanks.” Will sampled her food. “Your cooking has improved.”
Emerson smiled. “It’s amazing what having free time can do for one’s skills in the kitchen.”
“Touché.”
They ate in silence for a few moments. Emerson figured now was as good a time as any to broach the subject of Will’s arrival. “So, is everything okay? You know I love you visiting, but this trip feels out of the blue, even for you.”
Will glanced up at Emerson, then back down at her bowl. “I’m in between jobs and I wanted to get away for a while.”
“Is that it?”
She continued to look down. “I got fired.”
Emerson studied her sister. In a lot of ways, they couldn’t be more different. Will never suffered from the ambitious, over-achiever streak that dominated the first twenty or so years of Emerson’s life. She never finished college, she hopped from job to job. But even then, Will didn’t typically cross the line into irresponsible. That included getting fired. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“I just did. I. Got. Fired.”
Emerson worked to keep her patience. “You don’t owe me an explanation. You never have to explain yourself to be welcome here. I’m asking because I care.”
Will rubbed her eye like she might be wiping away a tear. “I know.”
Emerson reached over and squeezed her arm. “Talk to me.”
Will sighed, confirming there was more to the story than she’d initially disclosed. “Kai and I had been fighting a lot. I walked out on one of those fights to go to work and she followed me to the store.”
“And caused a scene.” She’d only met Kai a couple of times, but everything about her set off alarm bells in Emerson’s brain. She was arrogant, short-tempered, and Emerson was sure she drank too much. Saying as much to Will set her off, so Emerson had let it go.
“Yeah. The first time, my boss cut me some slack.”
Emerson felt her spidey sense tingle. “The first time?”
“It happened again when she came to meet me for lunch and thought I was flirting with a customer.”
“Are you serious?” Emerson fought to keep her voice calm. As far as she was concerned, only two types of people behaved that way—those with the maturity of a fourteen-year-old and those who were abusive. The idea of her sister involved with someone who was either filled her with rage.
Will looked almost sheepish. “I know. Things between us had gotten pretty bad.”
Emerson narrowed her eyes. “How bad?”
Will looked away. “At first we just fought. You know, the usual kind of stuff. One of us forgot to pay a bill on time or didn’t stop at the grocery store.”
Emerson let out a disgusted snort. Those were the things of mild irritation, not fights. Emerson wondered if the ‘one of us’ was always Will. “And then?”
“Then it was her accusing me of hiding things, seeing other people.”
“And were you?”
“Of course not. I mean, I meet a lot of people at the store. Being friendly is part of my job.”
Emerson’s jaw tightened. “And she had a problem with that?”
“Only that one time. Usually, she’d freak out when one of my regulars saw me when we were out and said hi. She was convinced something more was going on.”
“I’m sorry, Will, but that kind of jealous and possessive thing is bullshit.”
Will looked so defeated, Emerson’s heart broke. “I know. She always apologized, though, convinced me it was because I was so attractive, that she didn’t think she deserved me and was convinced she was going to lose me.”
Emerson didn’t want to ask the question burning in her mind, but knew she needed to. “Did she ever hit you?”
Will sat for a long time before she answered, looking at her bowl. “Only once.”
Emerson pushed down the bile that threatened to rise in her throat. Being outraged wouldn’t help anyone at this point. If anything, it might make Will clam up entirely. “What happened?”
“She’d been drinking. We both had. I made a joke about something, I don’t even remember what now. It set her off. She started yelling, then I did. She was in my face and I pushed her, not hard, but enough to make her step back. She backhanded me. It wasn’t a punch; it didn’t even leave a mark.”
“Will.” Emerson’s voice was louder than she wanted it to be.
“I know, I’m making excuses. I’m sorry.”
Emerson took a deep breath. She couldn’t let her anger make Will think any of this was her fault. “You don’t need to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I did plenty wrong, but I know what you mean.”
“Is that what made you decide to leave?”
“In retrospect, I wish it had. Kai was horrified, though, and begged me to forgive her. She spent the next week showering me with gifts and attention. I told myself it was the heat of the moment, you know?”
Emerson couldn’t imagine ever wanting to speak to a person again after something like that, but didn’t say so. “So, what made you leave?”
Will shook her head. “The second time she caused a scene in the store, it was last week. My boss called me into his office and said he had to let me go. He couldn’t tolerate that sort of thing.”
Emerson was pretty sure that was illegal, but now wasn’t the time to go there. “I’m sorry, Will. I bet that was really hard.”
Will chuckled. “It definitely sucked. The worst part was how apologetic he was about it, like it wasn’t my fault.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was, in the fact I let her get away with it. Anyway, he seemed to feel sorry for me. That’s what did it. Kind of a dumb thing to bring me to my senses, isn’t it?”
As much as Emerson wanted more of the details, as much as she wanted to get Kai’s number and track her down and beat the living shit out of her, that’s not what Will needed. Will needed to know she’d made the right decision in the end, and that she was going to be okay. “It doesn’t matter what did it, only that it did. We all have to get to those places in our own way.”
Will nodded, then took a big, intentional bite of her food. “Right. And my focus now is on the future.”
“That sounds like a plan, but cut yourself some slack. Give yourself time to regroup. You know you’re welcome here as long as you want.”
“About that.”
“Yeah?” Emerson got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that Will planned to take off as quickly as she’d arrived.
“I was thinking I might try to get a job in town.”
As close as they were, Will had always been very adamant about living her own life—independent and apart from Emerson. “Really?”
“I might need to stay with you a little longer than we initially talked about, but I promise I won’t be a total mooch.”
The worry in her stomach became a hopeful swelling in her chest, laced with excitement. “I’d love for you to stay in town. You’re welcome here as long as you need.”
“I’ll chip in for rent and stuff. I’m not completely broke.”
“Don’t worry about that for now.”
Will nodded. “Thanks, Em.”
“Of course. Thanks for telling me everything that’s been going on. I’m sure it’s not easy to talk about.” It was hard for Emerson to admit that Will would hesitate to confide in her, that her avoidance of Kai might have made it even harder for Will to talk about it. But they were talking now and she wasn’t going to let that kind of stuff come between them again.
They finished eating and Emerson washed the dishes while Will took a shower. By the time Will emerged, hair wet and wearing a tank top and boxers, Emerson had opened up the futon and was making it with her spare set of sheets. Will walked over and they finished it together. “This is perfect. Thank you for letting me crash here.”
“I meant what I said. You are always welcome.”
Will glanced across the room to Emerson’s bed. “It kind of feels like old times.”
Emerson chuckled. “Something like that. Can I get you anything?”
“I’m good.”
“I don’t have cable, but we could Netflix a movie if you wanted.”
Will smiled. “I’d love that, but not tonight I think. I’m beat. If you want to watch something, I don’t mind. I can sleep through anything.”
“Don’t I know it. I’ll just read for a bit.” Emerson started to walk toward her bed, then paused. “I’m really glad you’re here.”
Will, who’d started pulling back the covers to climb into bed, stopped and walked over to where Emerson stood. “Me, too.”
She threw her arms around Emerson and squeezed. Emerson returned the hug and they stood like that for a long moment. As much as they’d had their differences, and as differently as they’d handled their parents’ death, they were sisters. Emerson knew better than to think that the distance between them would magically disappear, but she allowed herself to be hopeful.
Will broke the hug. “Night, Em.”
Emerson smiled. “Night, Will.”
Will settled into the futon and Emerson switched off the main light. She climbed into her own bed and picked up her book. She barely read a page before the snores started on the other side of the room. Will had made a joke about old times, but Emerson truly couldn’t begin to count the number of nights this exact scene had played out during their teenage years. Will, home late after yet another basketball game or soccer match, would tumble into bed and fall asleep almost instantly. Emerson would lie awake, studying or reading or sketching.
At the time, Emerson resented Will’s athleticism, her outgoing personality, her popularity. She’d also resented Will’s ease with boys, a fact that exacerbated Emerson’s fumbling attempts at coming to terms with her sexuality. It wasn’t until Will went away to college that Emerson learned the flirting and dating and making out had been Will’s way of covering up her own attraction to girls.
Emerson had a flashback to the week before she left for college—she and Will sat their parents down and came out together. Despite the anticipation and anxiety, the whole thing had gone surprisingly well. The days that followed were some of Emerson’s favorite memories, not because anything special happened, but because there were few other times she remembered feeling such a sense of family harmony.
She let the memory, and the bittersweet pang that came with it, wash over her before turning her attention to her book. She’d never been a reader of romance, but Lia had lent it to her, insisting she give it a try. Between the fact that it was set in Provincetown and it featured a doctor and a cop, Emerson relented. And she’d be damned if she wasn’t completely into it. She read a few chapters, until her eyes grew heavy, then turned off the light and fell asleep to the reassuring sound of her sister sleeping nearby.