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No sooner had I ignored that call when the phone started to ring again. It wasn’t often Tristan attempted to do it like this, but he occasionally would make that second call if he desperately wanted to speak to me. I’d fallen for it a few times.
Fortunately, this wasn’t one of those times, and a smile formed on my face at the name on the display. I didn’t hesitate to slide my finger across the screen to answer the call.
“Hey, Em,” I greeted my best friend, Emily.
“Hi, Rhea.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’d like to say there’s nothing much happening, but I actually have a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about,” she informed me.
Pushing off my forearm that had been resting on the countertop, I sat up straighter. “Well, I just had my customer walk out the door, so I’m all ears.”
“Perfect. First up, I wanted to let you know I talked to Brooke last night, and we are all set to go for your birthday celebration in two weeks,” she shared. “Brooke and I are taking care of all the arrangements. You just need to get yourself looking smoking hot and ready to go out for a night of fun. We’ll pick you up.”
My grin grew. I loved these girls.
I’d met Emily in elementary school. We were in the same second-grade class together and had forged a lasting friendship that year. Even though we didn’t have the same teacher in third grade, we remained the best of friends. And when we wound up together in fourth grade, I didn’t think it could get any better. But Brooke moved to our school district that year, and it was like she’d been with us from the start. The three of us were inseparable right up until we graduated from high school.
And to this day, Emily and Brooke were the only people who weren’t blood relatives who had stayed in my life. I loved them as if they were my real-life sisters. As an only child, it was nice to know I’d found friends who felt like family.
“I’ll be ready to go,” I promised. “I can’t wait to have a little celebration. This winter seemed to drag on forever.”
“Tell me about it. I live for your birthday, because it feels like the official start of spring for me,” she returned.
“Technically, since it’s on the 21st, sometimes, it actually is the official start of spring for everyone,” I reminded her.
She laughed. “That’s true.”
“So, what else is there?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said you had a couple of things you wanted to talk to me about. I was just wondering what else besides my birthday celebration you wanted to discuss,” I clarified.
“Oh, right. Yeah. Well, it’s just that I’ve had a hell of a week, and I was thinking I’d like to do something fun this weekend, if you’re up for it. When I spoke with Brooke yesterday, she said she was more than happy to go along with whatever we decided to do.”
My body tensed slightly. “Are you okay? Did something bad happen this week, or was it the normal stress of work?”
The silence stretched between us, which did little to ease any of the concern I’d been feeling.
Following that extended pause, Emily finally spoke. “Work generally causes me some kind of stress, so that’s nothing out of the ordinary, but there was one thing that sort of sent me spiraling that had nothing to do with my job.”
“What happened?” I pressed, eager to lend a listening ear. “Is it something with Ryan?”
Ryan was the guy Emily met about six months ago. The two of them had been dating, and she seemed to be very happy with him. I didn’t want to assume the worst, but I couldn’t imagine what else could have been happening in her life.
“I guess if you consider me finding out late Wednesday night that Ryan is already married with two kids as something happening, then yes, it’s something with Ryan.”
I gasped. “Are you serious?”
“Deadly.”
“I… I… How did you find out? What… I don’t even know what to say. What did he say?” I stammered, too stunned to formulate anything that felt even remotely coherent.
She sighed. “I can’t get into all of it now when I have to head back into work. Do you think you’re up for getting together tomorrow night?”
Even if I had other plans, I’d have been canceling them immediately. “Absolutely. Do you want to stay in or go out?”
