Summerville: Book 3 of the Saving Summers Series

Chapter 10

"Did Connor not tell you about his dad?" Emma asked.

"He did." Jay confirmed. "How do you know about that."

"It doesn't matter. And you let him go?" Emma asked in disbelief.

"What was I supposed to do, Em? He seemed really excited, okay. He has been miserable as fuck after he was kicked out by his mom. He barely ate those first days. Besides, his dad paid for his crimes, I am sure he is a better person." Jay explained.

Emma raised an eyebrow.
"Do you believe that?"

Jay pressed his lips into a thin line.
"I don't but I should. I refuse to believe all my friends have shitty parents like this is some sort of curse."

Emma cringed. Shitty parents seemed like a common theme between most of the teenagers in the town. She sighed.
"How did Connor even find his dad?"

Jay shrugged.
"I think he reached out online or something. Connor's face has been everywhere recently so..."

Emma shook her head. Hopefully if she succeeded in getting Connor back in school, his mom would welcome him back home.

"Hey..." Jay began as he reached his hand out to hold Emma's. He traced small circles on the top of it with his thumb.
"Everything will be okay. I will check up on Connor myself everyday if I have to."

Emma let out a chuckle. She did not know when she started caring so much about Connor, especially after what he did to Jay.
"Aren't you mad that I'm worried about the guy who almost ruined your life?" She asked.

Jay smiled.
"That would mean being mad at that big beautiful heart of yours and I can't do that." He said with the softest tone. His blue eyes glistened as they stared at Emma. She felt comfort and safe looking at Jay. A feeling that faded for sometime after Ray appeared.

All of a sudden, Emma felt another pair of eyes on her. She looked at the entrance of the patio and saw Marcus standing in the sliding doors doorway, his hands in the pockets of his suit pants.

Emma quickly pulled her hand back from Jay's. She felt like a kid who was just caught with her hand in a cookie jar.
She got up from her chair.
"Marcus, you here." She said.

"Yeah... Peter's plus one." Marcus stated. Peter approached the doorway with two glasses of the non alcoholic champagne.

"Hey Em." He chirped and handed one glass to Marcus.
"Let's get us a table."
The two boys walked past Emma and said their hellos as they also passed Jay.

Emma went back to her seat, engulfed in guilt. Marcus was at the party as someone else's plus one and not hers, this was not a good look on her part. Not to mention he caught her holding hands with Jay.

"Finally got myself some food. There's actually a buffet in the kitchen." Ethan said as he came back to the table, a plate of chicken wings in one of his hands.

No response from Emma or Jay.

"Is everything okay?" He asked looking at them.

"Peachy." Jay simply stated.
Emma looked at him and noticed his face was a slight shade of red. She realized how pulling her hand back from his must've hurt him in a way.
"I'm sorry." She said. "I panicked."

"We are best friends, Em, holding my hand should not be weird." Jay stated.

Emma did not know how to respond but she knew for a fact her holding hands with Jay would be weird and disrespectful to Marcus. No guy would want his girlfriend holding hands with another guy, best friend or not.
"I was just surprised okay? I didn't think Marcus would be here." Emma said. "I think I should go talk to him and apologize."