She swings down like she was born on crutches and heads to the front door.
I pop my trunk.
And five minutes later, when Emma finally answers Laney’s knock, I have one full human-size hamster ball blown up.
“Um, hi.” Em glances between us like she’s having regrets about opening the door. “What’s going on?”
“I love you and I miss you and I’m sorry, so I’m blowing up your hamster balls so we can fight it out,” I blurt.
She blinks at me, then at Laney, and then at the hamster balls.
“Are those the present Theo gave me for my wedding?” She says it so softly, I almost can’t hear her.
But I do.
And I nod. “I’m so sorry, Em. If it’ll make you feel better to pop them and throw them in my face, I don’t care. If you want to just shove me down the hill while I’m in this one, I don’t care. Whatever it takes. I miss you. And I’m worried about you. And I want to make it up to you, and I—”
“I’m not mad,” Em says, and her voice cracks. “I don’t want to—Sabrina. I’m mortified. The entire world saw that I’m an idiot who let myself be gaslit by a man who only loved me because it meant he won. And you would’ve warned me, but you knew I wouldn’t listen because I was an idiot. I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve either of you. How can anyone love someone as stupid as I am?”
“Em—” Laney starts while Emma crumples to the ground.
“Oh, god, Em.” I abandon the hamster balls and charge up the rickety steps to the trailer. The generator is barely pumping out enough heat to keep this place warm, which tracks.
Theo hates the heat as much as Grey apparently hates the cold.
He wouldn’t have minded the temperature.
Emma, meanwhile, is practically turning blue under her massive quilt.
“Get back in the car,” I tell Laney. “Em, get shoes. We’re going to—to—”
I look at Laney. Her house? Busy neighborhood.
My house? Busy neighborhood.
“Theo’s house,” Laney confirms.
“I don’t understand why he doesn’t hate me,” Emma sobs. “I almost married a guy who made him go to jail.”
“Because he knows people make mistakes, sweetie.” I pull my friend into a hug. She’s at least half a foot taller than me when she’s standing up, but here on the ground, we’re on level hugging height. “And we love you and we’re worried about you and we want to be here for you and you are not stupid. You lead with your heart and that’s my favorite thing about you.”
“My heart—h-hurt you,” she gasps. “It p-picked wrong.”
“Your heart went where it thought it could do the most good,” Laney says.
Em sobs harder.
I stifle all of the frustration in my entire body that I can’t make this better for her and hug her even tighter. “Fuck those people who make assumptions about you because of that fucking video, Em. Fuck Addison for posting it. Fuck everyone who’s hurt you. Fuck them all. Let me fix it. Let us fix it. Please.”
“I put everyone else second when all they wanted was for me to see that I deserved better,” she sobs. “All you wanted was for me to wake up and realize I couldn’t fix him. I don’t deserve you.”
“Emma.” Laney thumps her crutches until she’s close enough to drop them and balance right to squat and wrap us both in a hug too. “Enough. You deserve both of us and so much more. Sabrina’s right. We’re getting you out of here and out of your head. First Theo’s house, and tonight, we’re going out.”
“Laney, no, I absolutely cannot—”
“Hide from all of the people in this town who adore you and are worried sick about you for one more day,” Laney interrupts.
“And if a single one of them says the word viral video, I’m spilling every secret I’m desperately trying to forget I know about them,” I tell her. “And then I’ll quit gossiping. Soon. I swear. I—”
“No, don’t change,” Emma says. “Too much has changed. Don’t you change too.”
“I’ve missed you.” And I’m about to cry too. I hate crying. Hate it. “I’m so sorry, Em.”
“No, I’m sorry.” Her tears are dripping in my hair, and I don’t care. “I’m sorry I pushed you away. I’ve been so embarrassed, and I’m faking everything being fine, and nothing is fine.”