Emma: Friends and Lovers (F&L Story #1)

Emma: Part 9 (final)

On the way home, Eve was silent. Michael, contemplative. And I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. Well, Eve got her wish. I told Michael, and now he hates me. Earlier, as we loaded up Eve's vehicle and waved farewell to the happy new parents, he said not a word to me. Once, I thought he might, but no...he clamped his mouth shut and shrugged.

Eve whispered, "It'll be fine. You'll see. Everything will work out."

I couldn't share her faith. I just lost my best friend. Proverbial karma bug chomping at the bit again.

Once inside the city limits proper, Eve's cell phone rang. "Mom, calm down. What's wrong?"

I cocked an eye opened and listened. "No...no, I'll be right there. I promise. Give me ten minutes."

"What's going on?" I asked when she exited off the interstate immediately.

"It's Carey again," she said, heavy in tone. "He relapsed. It doesn't look good." Carey was Eve's younger brother. He'd been battling bone cancer since a teenager. His past remission lasted three years.

"Oh, Eve, I'm sorry. What do you need?"

"I'm meeting Mom and Dad at the hospital. You'll have to take the car and drive Michael home. Is that okay?"

"Of course," I said, grasping her hand. "I'll come back for you afterward."

"No, no," she said. "I don't know how long I'll be there. Mom can take me home later."

She parked outside the front entrance of the Baptist Hospital, gave me a quick hug as we parted and dashed inside. Michael took the front seat. "She going to be okay?"

"Yeah," I said, maneuvering out of the parking lot. "This is nothing new to her. I just hate that I can't be there with her."

"We can go back," he said. "I'll call a cab."

I gave him an appreciative smile. "It's not that. Eve doesn't want me there," I explained. "Her family is kind of close knit. Carey's illness has always been closed off from everyone else. They don't want to deal with well-wishers when he relapses."

"I see," he said. "That must be hard on Eve. She's too social of a person to have to worry alone."

"We all have our quirks," I commented and eased the SUV onto the freeway. Soon, I pulled into Michael's neighborhood and stopped outside his home.

"You want to come in for a minute?" he asked, not making any obvious motion to leave the car.

My lungs filled with false bravery as I inhaled deeply. "I think we should say good-bye here."

"No," he said after a moment. "No good-byes."

My lips curved up in a weak smile. "I'm sorry, Michael. I'm scum, soiled, a bad person. And I can't bear it that you know these things about me. I wish things were different, but they aren't."

"We'll always be friends, Emma," he said gently. "Nothing will ever change that."

I nodded. "Friends." I reached behind his seat and grabbed his bag. "But sometimes, friends need some time apart." Thrusting his bag into his hands, I focused on a point outside the windshield, waiting for him to leave so I could go home and drown myself in a vat of chocolate ice cream.

He didn't move. "We've had five years apart," he pointed out.

A small laugh escaped my constricted throat. "Which is kind of the reason we're in this situation."

"Come inside," he insisted. "We can talk about this."

Talking was not what I wanted to do. If I were honest with myself - and strong enough - I'd admit that I really wanted to haul his cute, tight butt to the backseat and make some new memories that I'd only have to chase away again later. I groaned. Did I not just tell him that I've been the embodiment of copulation these past few years? In reality, Michael had always been the only man I've ever wanted. But knowing that, and still sleeping with all those men...well, my conscience would never be clear. It was as dingy and grimy as my welcome mat, if that weren't ironically descriptive enough. Pond scum had a clearer reflection.