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“Why? Everyone changes after high school. I mean look at you. You’ve changed…” He raised his eyebrows. “A lot since high school.”
I narrowed my stare as his flicked from my lips to my chest before traveling quickly back up to my eyes. He only grinned when he realized that he’d been caugh
t.
“Yes, you’re right. My hair is long and blonde again,” I said so we could pretend that was the part of my body he was referring to just now when he talked about changes. Emmett laughed.
“Actually, yeah, that’s a pretty huge change. I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason I didn’t recognize you that night we – ”
“Ah, ah.” My cheeks burned as I stopped Emmett from talking about the night we almost had sex for God’s sake.
“Oh. Right,” Emmett laughed, swiping his thumb across his bottom lip in a way I wish I didn’t find so attractive. “Change of topic.”
“Yes. Let’s go back to how you’ve changed since high school,” I said awkwardly as Emmett smirked.
“Fine.” He nodded. “Well, for starters I don’t play football anymore, and that was a pretty big part of my identity back then,” Emmett said. “Plus, I’m way more responsible now since, you know. I have a kid.”
I choked on my water. “You do? Oh God, when did that happen?” I asked, wondering how the hell I hadn’t heard about this. Emmett eyed my reaction for a second before giving a slow chuckle.
“Yeah… I was talking about Ozzy.”
“Oh.” I exhaled hard as he snorted.
“But good to know that you’d react to me having a kid with that kind of horror.”
“Oh my God, I’m sorry. I just… can’t imagine you being responsible for another human life,” I said, giggling at the mere thought of it. Emmett frowned.
“Hey, believe it or not, I’m a good caretaker. And someday, I’m going to be a damned good father.”
“Oh – of course you are!” I said, swallowing back the last of my laugh because Emmett looked surprisingly offended. “I mean you’re a good dad to Ozzy, obviously, and you did have pretty much the best possible role model in the dad department,” I added – but the second I did, I felt something twist in my chest.
Crap. I froze, blinking down into my lap when I realized that what I felt was a sudden guilt.
Because I had known that Emmett’s dad died unexpectedly about ten years ago. It was about a year after our big fight, and I was still at the height of loathing him and indulging in my pissed off teenaged angst, so I didn’t fly home for the funeral. I’d bought the ticket but never showed up at the airport, and since it was still one of my biggest regrets, I’d pushed the memory to the back of my head.
Till now.
“Emmett…” I started weakly, but he cut me off.
“It’s okay, Aly.”
I looked up to see Emmett wearing a look so earnest it almost hurt even more.
“No… it’s not. You messaged me on Facebook that week, and I didn’t even answer,” I murmured, feeling gut-checked by that memory. It had resurfaced out of nowhere to shame me so hard I shuddered. Fuck. “Emmett, I’m so sorry. Regardless of what happened between us, we were always like family, so that was the worst time I could have possibly ignored you.”
“It’s fine, Aly. We were kids and we were both in the eye of our own storm,” Emmett said. When I cocked my head at the expression, he smiled sheepishly. “Oh, that was just what my mom said back then. She said however bad I was feeling, it didn’t mean that you didn’t have pain of your own to deal with. Everyone’s got their own lives to live. And honestly, it was better for me to learn that sooner rather than later.”
I nodded, overwhelmed by the mix of emotions. Guilt aside, I was amazed that Emmett’s mom had been able to sympathize with me. I was also kind of heartbroken to know that Emmett had even talked to his mom about my absence at the funeral. I had always imagined that he was just happy-go-lucky Emmett, and no problem ever stuck to him for that long.
But that clearly wasn’t the case.
“Thank you for being so understanding,” I finally said, my voice small. “Like your mom explained, I was just… going through such a hard time because of that whole thing between us and – ”
“About that – ”
“No.” I looked up at Emmett and shook my head fast. “Let’s not,” I decided. “Right? I mean it’s our first time having dinner together as adults, so shouldn’t we just… try to enjoy our night instead of talking about the past?” I rambled my question.
There was a conflicted look on Emmett’s face but I had a feeling he could read the desperation in mine, so after a good three seconds of silence, he nodded.
