Chapter Twenty

Between Betty, the Spice Girls, and my real best friends, I survived the weekend. Actually, I thrived. My girls won their game, which meant we were headed for the playoffs. So, they might have been a little—or a lot—disappointed that the S-word hadn’t shown up. And that he would be breaking his promise to them that if they won the league championship, he would personally pay for the entire team to go to the amusement park in Edenvale.

But it was the first time I’d ever heard any sense come out of Gwendolyn, who, by the way, wore a bikini top to the game on Saturday, but I digress. When the girls were mourning what was probably for some of them their first crush, Gwendolyn blew on her freshly painted nails she’d done while I was doing warm-ups with the girls and said, “My little darlings, there are two things you can count on in life, shoe sales, and that men will disappoint you.”

Amen. Gwendolyn and I had different shoe tastes, but when my favorite brand of running shoes went on sale, I was a happy girl.

I wasn’t happy, though, that as of Monday evening when I got home from work, a certain duffle bag was still on my front porch and my housekey hadn’t been returned. I hoped he had to return to his bee and ant infested place to get some other clothes. While he was there, I hoped he got stung a few more times. The least he could do for me was to remove any reminders of him from my life. That stupid duffle bag was a symbol of the pain I was doing my best to hide from. But his handsome face kept popping up in my head and heart.

I had to tell Dustin today when he called to talk that I was consciously uncoupling with someone who I didn’t know I was subconsciously coupled with. He didn’t know what that meant, but he hoped I got it straightened out soon because he was hoping I was still considering applying for that position out there because he wanted to take me out, if and when I flew out for an interview. He wasn’t even afraid that I was cursed. He obviously didn’t know better.

I was torn about applying for that position in Alabama. Between tornadoes and humidity, I wasn’t sure Alabama was the place for me. I mentioned to Dustin that I was thinking about moving to Fiji. After he got done laughing, he promised me that Alabama had some of the most beautiful beaches I would ever visit. He offered to be my tour guide. The poor man was a glutton for punishment. He had no idea we would only become friends or worse. Look at Sawy . . . I meant S-word and me now. And my friends were begging me not to go, especially Jenna, who wanted me here to share in the joy of her baby. I wanted that too. And I guess now I didn’t have to worry about awkward family gatherings because I no longer had a family, real, step, or otherwise. I rubbed my heart.

How had it come to this? My poor mother was probably in heaven blaming herself. Who we really needed to blame was Dr. Alvarez, my mom’s optometrist who had retired. Had my mom not needed a new eye doctor, none of this would have ever happened. I wouldn’t have just had the best and worst year of my life. It still would have been the worst, because Mom still would have climbed that ladder, but Josephine wouldn’t have come to the funeral if the best part hadn’t shown up. I’d still have my family, and I would have had one less person to mourn.

Perhaps I was to blame. I should have given more credence to the curse. I should have known better than to have tried.

I scowled at the duffle bag one more time before I entered my garage. If it wasn’t gone in a few days, I was tossing it in the garbage.

It was a good thing I was already meeting Bridget for ice cream; I needed some, stat. Though I had to admit I was a tad hesitant to go now. It’s not that I didn’t like her—I really did—but I wondered if I should cut all ties with anyone associated with you know who. And I wasn’t too sure how Warren would feel about me accusing his son of stealing and cheating. Deep in the pit of my stomach I knew it was him. I was sick thinking Ashton might do it to more guests, or worse, my sisters. I figured it didn’t hurt to have more friends, so I agreed to meet her at a cute shop named Ice Cream Social and decided I wouldn’t talk about either son or what had happened last Friday. I mean, it’s not like you know who was talking to them, and I had a feeling Ashton wouldn’t want to say a word about it either.

I knew Bridget and I would be lifelong friends when she ordered a brownie sundae and told them to go heavy on the hot fudge. We were soul sisters. I ordered a Dr. Pepper float, heavy on the DP and ice cream. At first it was going great with pleasantries of how are you? and how was your business trip? Easy answers. Okay, so I lied when I told her I was fantastic. I did my best to keep her talking about her job as a court reporter. You didn’t meet one of those every day, I guess unless you were a lawyer or judge, but as I was neither, I found it fascinating. She’d been the assigned court reporter for some pretty scary cases.

After my tenth question, she finally reached her hand across the table and rested it on mine. “Do you want to tell me why Sawyer called his dad demanding to meet with him?”

I stared down at my half-eaten float and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess he wants to talk.”

A small laugh escaped her. “We figured that much out. The question is why he’s blaming his dad for taking you away from him.”

My head popped up. “I don’t know what you mean,” my voice cracked.

She patted my hand. “What’s going on, honey?”

“Have Sa . . . I mean, have father and son met yet?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Oh, this is bad. You won’t even say his name.”

“I know it’s juvenile. I’m just trying to forget about him.”

“How’s that going for you?”

I gave her a crooked smile. “Not so well.”

“I’ve been there. Those King men, they get under your skin and take your heart hostage.”

I nodded. That’s exactly how I felt.

“Did you guys break up?”

“Why does everyone keep saying that? We were never a couple.”

“Uh-huh.” She grinned. “You two weren’t fooling anyone except maybe yourselves.”

I took a big bite of my ice cream soaked in Dr. Pepper. Food at its finest. Bridget waited for me to revel and then swallow.

“Have they talked?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Not yet. I think Warren is a little afraid. He wanted to get some background information first.”

“So, you’re his spy.”

“I’m his partner and your friend.”

“I could use a few more of those after last weekend.” The tears I had been so good about not shedding filled my eyes. I regurgitated the entire ugly affair, but made sure she knew I didn’t divulge the conversation we’d had before I went to Alabama. “I didn’t tell Sawyer,”—there I said his name—“what you told me. I only recommended he talk to his dad and get the full picture. And I’m sorry if you and Warren hate me now for thinking Ashton is a cheating thief.” I leaned back in my seat and let out a deep breath.

Bridget dropped her hot fudge covered spoon in her mostly eaten dessert bowl. “You had quite the weekend, didn’t you? I’m so sorry about your family and Sawyer. Don’t worry about Warren and me; we aren’t going anywhere.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, what you’ve said about Ashton isn’t all that surprising.”

My brows jumped to my hairline. “It’s not?”

She hemmed and hawed a bit. “Warren has been worried that Ashton wasn’t exactly truthful about why he got divorced and had to leave Vegas in such a hurry. He asked to borrow a pretty good sum of money when he got here.”

“Did Warren give it to him?”

Bridget shook her head. “He gave him a few hundred dollars and a place to stay until he started working for your dad.”

“Does Warren know what kind of trouble he was in?”

“Not exactly, but Warren overheard a few conversations that made him think he owed a lot of money to a lot of people.”

“Is Warren in contact with Ashton’s ex-wife?”

“We never met her. They weren’t married that long. It was one of those quickie Vegas weddings. We offered to come visit them or to have them visit us, but Ashton always had some excuse as to why that wouldn’t work.”

This was fantastic freaking news. Ashton had portrayed his marriage and divorce much differently to me. He’d acted so heartbroken. He’d even cried and said they’d known each other forever, so it came as a shock to him when she left him with nothing.

I was at a complete loss for words. There was nothing I could do. My family had made their choice, and it wasn’t me. “I don’t even know what to say.”

Neither of us had to say anything because, lo and behold, a blonde goddess entered unexpectedly. That pretty much summed up my life anymore, a series of unexpected events. At first, she didn’t see me, which I was grateful for and hoping to keep it that way. I watched Shelby walk with purpose in her heels and tiny wrap dress across the tiled floor to the counter. Both teenage boys manning the ice cream scoops began fighting over who would serve her.

Shelby charmed them, “Now boys, I’ll take two scoops of your nonfat peach frozen yogurt, so you can both help me.”

I couldn’t be friends with someone who came into an ice cream shop and ordered nonfat frozen yogurt. Why was that even a thing? What joy would you get out of eating that? Apparently, Shelby must have gotten some pleasure out of it because as soon as they handed her the paper bowl with two very generous scoops, she took a large bite, closed her eyes, and sighed as if she’d had a bad day. When she opened them they lasered right in on me. I probably shouldn’t have been staring at her from our small table near the entrance.

“Oh, my goodness.” Shelby began prancing toward me. “Emma, sugar, this is an answer to my prayers,” she spoke loudly. “I’ve been wondering if I should call you and here you are.” She landed in front of us and looked between Bridget and me. “Oh, I’m so sorry, I’m interrupting you.”

I couldn’t help but be nice to her. There was something about her, and dang if she wasn’t polite. “That’s okay. This is my friend Bridget.” No need to mention how she was affiliated with my former friend.

Shelby gave Bridget a warm smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Any friend of my friend Emma is a friend of mine. This woman saved me from the fullest bladder I’ve ever had.”

Bridget gave me a curious smile. Mine in return said I would tell her later.

“Do you mind if I join y’all?” She didn’t wait for our response—she set down her frozen yogurt on our table and grabbed one of the white wooden chairs from a nearby table. She sat down and let out a deep breath. “Mylanta, has it been a day. I’ve been feeling awful all day.”

“Are you sick?” I asked.

She reached out and took my hand. “Darlin’, I am heartsick. I owe you an apology.”

“What for?”

She took another bite of what I assumed was basically orange colored ice. No way that nonfat crap had any flavor. The way she savored it, though, made me wonder. She swallowed and breathed out. “I’m a horrible, awful friend.” She looked between Bridget and me. “This might be a delicate, private situation.”

I was more than perplexed. “I’m sure whatever it is you have to say, you can say it in front of Bridget.”

Shelby’s shoulders relaxed. “Okay, then here it goes.” She reached out and took both my hands. “Emma, why didn’t you tell me that you and Sawyer were a thing?”

For not wanting to talk about the man, that was all I was doing. I pulled my hands away from her delicate, perfectly polished ones. “That’s because we weren’t.”

Bridget rolled her eyes.

“Now, Emma, I know that to be an untruth, and here I was going on and on about him and fawning all over him. My goodness, you must hate me.”

Oh, I had tried to hate her, but how do you hate pure, sweet perfection? “I don’t hate you. Like I said, there was nothing between us.”

Bridget coughed out, “Liar.”

Shelby gave her a dazzling smile. “I knew it.”

“How do you know that, Shelby?”

“Well, on Saturday I asked Sawyer to dinner and I was thrilled he said yes because he’d turned me down before.” She bit her lip. “This was before I figured it all out.”

I was suddenly feeling ill. I knew I shouldn’t care that he had dinner with her, but I did.

“There we were in that nice chateau up on the mountain. Lovely, by the way, and the food was fantastic. I could tell he wasn’t himself from the beginning, so I did my best to cheer him up by . . .” her face tinged pink, “you know, never mind.”

My mind was swirling with unsavory possibilities. She was lucky I didn’t kick her stick legs under the table.

“My point,” Shelby continued, “is all that sweet man talked about was you, Miss Emma.”

I tucked some hair behind my ear. “What did he say?” Not like I really cared, but I thought I should at least ask to be polite.

She pursed her pretty pink lips together. “First, he was kind of angry, which surprised me. He was lamenting something fierce about you just not understanding, though he wouldn’t say what about. Then as the night went on, every little thing reminded him of you. Like when he looked over the menu and said, ‘If Emma were here, she’d want to me to order the shrimp scampi so that she could order the ribeye and we could share.”’ Shelby flashed me a smile. “He did order that shrimp scampi and only ate half of it.”

“He did?” That sounded good right now. I wonder if he had the other half boxed up to go. What a dumb thought. I shouldn’t care.

“Yes, ma’am. That should have told me all I needed to know,” she added, embarrassed, “but I kept thinking you were stepbrother and stepsister. Then today it all clicked when he was downright ugly with some of our staff today and not as caring and personable as he normally is with his patients. It started reminding me of when I found out that my fiancé had been cheating on me. I’m ashamed to say how unpleasant I was to be around.” She placed her hand across her chest.

I couldn’t picture her being anything but sparkling and kind.

“I started thinking back about all the times I’d seen you together and I remembered the first time I saw you two together at the café and I thought you were a sweet couple before I knew about how you were related. Sawyer doted on you. I realize now he did that a lot. He always wanted to be near you, make sure you were taken care of. My Ryder used to do the same for me.” She began to tear up.

My eyes started leaking too. He really had doted on me. Had I been reading him wrong this entire time?

Shelby took my hand. “I’m so sorry, Emma. You must think I’m a hussy.”

“I don’t think that at all.” Okay, so maybe I had, but I didn’t now. “Sawyer and I were never really together, and we never will be. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“Oh, but I do. I was going on and on about him that night in the tent. And there you were being so nice to me and listening to my personal pain and teaching me how to pee in the woods.”

Bridget snorted a bit. I was liking her more and more. Any woman who could snort was a winner.

Shelby took a breath and held up her hand as if she was taking an oath. “I promise from here on out, I will only have a professional relationship with Sawyer and I will do everything in my power to see that you two are rightfully back together like you belong.”

“No. No. That won’t be necessary.”

“It is absolutely necessary. That’s what best friends are for.”

When had we become best friends?

“Shelby, really, there’s nothing you can do.”

“Oh, honey, you have no idea what I can do.”

“Whatever it is, I’m in.” Bridget gave me a wicked grin.

I shook my head. “Ladies, if neither of you have noticed, my last name is Loveless. It’s my curse, and nothing anybody does will ever change that.” Not even my mom could.

Shelby gave me a coy smile. “You know what my memaw used to say about curses?”

I shook my head.

“She said they are nothing but self-fulfilled prophecies—they only work if you believe them.”

Well, I was a believer.