Listen for the Lie(68)

I was correct, turns out. Large men in cowboy hats gawk openly at me. An ancient country song plays softly over the speakers. It’s peak Texas in here.

Emmett’s at a tiny table in back, a full beer in front of him. He takes a sip as I approach, and then makes a face as he sets it back down.

I laugh. I can’t help myself. He’s just really cute sometimes, in a little-boy way. I’d forgotten that. It had made him seem a little goofy when we were kids—not the kind of guy I wanted to date—but it’s endearing now.

He looks up and a smile flickers across his face. “Hey, Lucy.”

“Not a good beer, I take it?” I slide into the seat next to him.

“I don’t actually drink much. Not a fan of the taste. But it felt like the thing to do today.” He takes another sip and grimaces again. I hold back my laugh this time, since he seems miserable.

I raise my eyebrows in question, and signal to the bartender that I’ll have the same as him.

“Is this my fault?” I ask.

“No. Well, not exactly.”

“The podcast?”

He sighs. “I hate that fucking podcast.”

The bartender delivers my beer to the table. I take a drink. Emmett’s looking at me expectantly, like I might agree, but I don’t actually hate the podcast.

“She’s upset?” I ask, treading carefully. I don’t actually know what Emmett’s upset about. Maybe that Nina was cheating on her husband? Or sleeping with her former best friend’s husband? It’s all a bit of a clusterfuck, but nothing that actually involves him.

He lets out a short, humorless laugh. “She is definitely upset.” He takes a longer sip of his beer. No grimace this time. He’s toughening up. “She’s still sleeping with Matt.”

I stop with my glass halfway to my mouth. “What?”

“Not all the time, but yeah. There had been some signs that she was cheating on me. I didn’t want to believe it, but then that episode came out and she sort of broke down and admitted it.”

On the bright side, it turns out I never should have been jealous of Nina. Her choices are just as stupid as mine.

“She said they had a connection…” He rolls his eyes and sits back in his chair. “Their connection is drinking. They’re both drunks.”

Nina pounding that margarita floats through my memory.

“She’d been doing really good in recovery, and she said it helped that I didn’t even like to drink that much. She wasn’t tempted, you know? But Matt…” He shakes his head and takes another sip of his drink. “I hate Matt. I’ve fucking hated him since I met him.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “Seriously?”

“Yes. I tried to be nice because he was your husband, but he’s such a cocky asshole. And now after what he did to Julia and to—” He cuts himself off suddenly, red crawling up his neck.

I don’t help him out.

He looks away. “I just really hate him. Actually, I was considering going over there and punching him, but I thought this might be a healthier option.” He gestures at me.

I smile. “I’m always happy to get together to talk about how much Matt sucks.”

He leans forward, resting his jaw on one hand. I can imagine how his stubble must feel when you touch it, and I almost reach out and touch the other side of his face.

I look down at my beer instead.

“It was stupid, dating Nina.” He wraps his fingers around his glass. He has great hands, but I already knew that about him. “She’s not the same person she was in high school, and I knew that. I knew she had issues. There just aren’t a lot of options here.”

“Why did you stay?” I ask.

“I don’t know. It was supposed to be temporary, after college. But then you have an apartment and a job and it just seems so daunting, moving to another city. I kept putting it off and putting it off, and now I’m almost thirty and I guess this is where I live now.”

“It’s not too late. Look at me. I up and left.”

His eyes flick up to mine. “I always admired that.”

“Yeah? I think most people thought it was stupid.”

“No, it was brave. And smart. No one likes you here.”

I let out a surprised laugh. “Wow, Emmett, don’t hold back.”

“You know it’s true.” He smiles, and a silence settles between us that feels more charged than comfortable.

A lot of moments between the two of us had felt charged, especially as my marriage started to fall apart. One moment in particular comes back, making my heart pound.

“You can talk to me, you know.” Emmett had me cornered in the upstairs hallway. Downstairs, I could hear Matt laughing with our friends.

“I know,” I said softly.

“About anything.” He jerked his finger in the direction of the living room. “Including him.”

I took in a tiny breath and tried to keep my expression neutral. I tried to smile reassuringly, but it was hard when Emmett was looking at me like that. He didn’t usually look at me like that. Like he wouldn’t mind if I pushed him into the bedroom right now.

He put a hand on the wall behind me, so close suddenly that I could smell his soap. I rose up on my toes, and that was all the invitation he needed. His mouth covered my own, his body pressing against mine.