He nodded, and the pain in his expression sent a knife slicing through her chest. She couldn’t stand hurting him, but hadn’t he done the same to her when he kissed Claire?
Her eyes snapped to his lips, and she recalled how he’d tasted like those delicious candy apples. That had been the most romantic, intimate, exhilarating experience of her life. Had those candy apple kisses meantanythingto him?
The lump in her throat doubled in size, and tears filled her eyes.
Stay strong, Emily. He cheated on you! He deserves your silence.
“Please,” he said, his words rasping from his throat. “I can’t take this. We need to talk later. It’s tearing me apart.”
“Fine. Sure. Whatever.” She tried to sound like she didn’t care, but she cared so much that she was ripping apart at the seams.
Jake released her hands, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Don’t give up on me. Promise me.”
She grabbed her bag and ran up the porch steps as her tears broke free and raced down her cheeks.
Jake gripped the wheel of his mother’s Camry while he drove his parents to the Chapmans’ house. His mother’s discussions about the weather and the orchard were background noise while he steered down the road.
He peeked in the rearview mirror and spotted Emily following in her Jeep. He’d tried to convince her to ride with them, but once again, she’d given him the cold shoulder and muttered something about having to get back to the house to prepare for Saturday. He had no clue what she had to do, and when he’d asked, she’d ignored him and climbed into her vehicle. She was still ghosting him in person—completely blowing him off—and the pain in her eyes was slowly chipping away at his heart.
His world had been turned upside down, and he wasn’t sure which end was up anymore. He’d gone from wanting to confess his love to Emily to begging her to talk to him. He couldn’t figure out how everything had gone sideways in the past twenty-four hours.
And this is why you shouldn’t have ever kissed her. All you did was ruin your friendship!
Jake tried to convince his mother that it wasn’t a good night for them to go to supper, but his mother wouldn’t concede. No matter what he said, Mom insisted that they had to go. He was determined to get it over with and get out of there as quickly as possible.
At a red light, he studied the reflection in his rearview mirror. Emily’s face was masked by her sunglasses, but her mouth wasfixed in that same glower he’d seen since that morning. He tried to rack his brain and analyze what he’d done to hurt her, but he came up empty.
“Did you hear what I said, Jake?”
“Huh?” He shifted to face his mother in the back seat. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
Mom’s expression turned worried. “Are you okay, sweetie? You’ve been acting strange all day.” She tapped her chin. “Come to think of it, so has Emily. Did you two have an argument?”
Jake hesitated. “We have some things we need to discuss.” He paused. “That’s why I didn’t want to go to the Chapmans’ tonight.”
“Oh. Well, I’m sure you two will work it out later. You always do.” She brightened. “Sherry sounded so excited when she called and invited us. She said she has some news. I can’t wait to find out what it is. Do you have any idea?”
He shook his head and turned his attention back to the windshield. He had no clue what Sherry had planned, but he was certain he knew who was behind it.
The light turned green, and Jake continued the short journey to the Chapmans’ sprawling brick colonial on the other side of Splendid Lake. He parked in the driveway behind their BMW SUV and then helped his father out of the passenger seat and up the stairs.
As soon as they reached the top step, the door opened and Sherry greeted them. “Come on in!” She beckoned them into her fancy foyer, which ended at a sweeping open staircase that Jake knew led up to a gallery of expansive bedrooms. “We’re ready for you in the dining room.” She pointed toward the hallway.
Dad waved off Jake’s help, and Mom took his arm and guided him toward the dining room.
Jake lingered in the foyer and shoved his hands in his pockets. Emily finally emerged through the front door, and she stopped short of him. “You can’t avoid me forever.”
Her golden eyes challenged him.
“My goal is to get us out of here early, and then you and I can go to my place and talk. Deal?”
Her hand flew to her neck, and her fingers began absently moving her mother’s rings back and forth on her necklace while she stared at him.
“Em, say something to me,please.”
“I hope you two are hungry.”
Jake turned toward the end of the hallway, where Claire stood dressed to the nines in a little black dress, silver high heels, and more makeup than he’d ever seen her wear. Her blonde hair was done up in a fancy-looking twist, and she posed as if she were a model awaiting her turn to strut down a runway.
