AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah,” I say. “I know that now. Didn’t know that then.”
There’s a pause, and then my sister shakes her head. “At any rate, Mom, you’re still nuts if you think these two would make a good couple. It’s like you don’t know either one of them at all.”
Mom waits until she has my attention, then says, “Or maybe it’s like I do know them both perfectly.”
Mack wraps a protective arm around Emmy. “Emmy is definitely not a three-dates-and-out kind of girl.”
Mom touches her nose and says, “Bingo!”
“I’m going to go get the pie!” Emmy stands, but when she does, she knocks her full water glass over and the cold, wet drink spills across the table.
I jump up out of my chair, but not quick enough, and the water lands right in my lap.
Emmy gasps, Mack busts out laughing, and I stand there, looking like I just wet myself.
“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” Emmy’s cheeks are a new shade of bright red, as others from the table jump up quickly to move plates out of the way.
“Oh, Emmy!” Jeannie says. “You always were the clumsy one.”
At that, Emmy’s face falls. “I’ll go get a towel.” She rushes off to the kitchen.
And because I don’t love standing in a room with people staring at conspicuous places on my body, I decide to follow her.
I find her standing in the kitchen, her back to the door, her arms over her head, shaking her hands. She seems to be doing the same deep breathing she was doing at the market.
“You really have it out for me, don’t you?” I ask, my tone light.
She spins around, dropping her arms. “What? No! It was an accident, I—”
I hold up a hand. “Emmy, I’m joking.”
“Oh.” She frowns. “Well, it’s not funny.” She pauses, then looks away as she points down. “You look like you wet your pants.”
I smirk. “It’s kind of funny.”
Slowly, a smile crawls across her face. “Fine. Kind of.”
I smile back at her.
She tosses me a dish towel.
“I think it’s a little late for this,” I say. “The damage is done. There’s water dripping down my—”
“Hey, Whoa! I don’t need to know that,” she cuts in, and then, her eyes find the tile floor. “And I’m sorry for what I said in there.”
“What did you say in there?”
She shakes her head. “No. About what I didn’t say.”
I stare. I’m not sure what she means.
She looks up. “I didn’t say out loud that we were friends.”
Ah.
I shrug. “No big deal.”
But then, she gets quiet. “We were friends, weren’t we?”
