Page 87 of Save the Date

“Why not? I know you think you’ve moved on, but as someone who has spent a lot of time with you recently, I can assure you you have not.” Emma watched as Matt’s mind attempted to reject this uncomfortable news. She needed to help him see the truth. “You talk about Kelly all the time, Matt. It’s like she’s still living in your head with you. Like you never let her go. And that’s okay because she clearly never let you go either.”

Matt sighed, his resolve to forget the past weakening. “I’ve never been divorced before. I didn’t know how much it was supposed to hurt. Or how hard it should be to move on.” He looked at Emma, his face painfully hopeful. As if he couldn’t sustain another blow but was somehow still willing to fight. “You really think Kelly and I could make it work this time?”

“In my professional opinion, you can’t guarantee anythingwhen it comes to love,” Emma replied truthfully. “But in my personal opinion, yes. Absolutely.”

Matt rubbed his face, still slightly in shock. “This is insane.”

“I think you meanbananas. Insane is derogatory for people with mental illness.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I should have told you that a while ago, but I was too busy forcing things.” They smiled at each other.

“Let me drive you home.”

“That’s okay. I’m going to call an Uber. There’s somewhere else I need to go first.”

Matt raised his eyebrows.

“If it works out, I’ll fill you in.”

“Okay,” Matt replied as he climbed back into the driver’s seat.

Emma walked around the car to say a proper goodbye. “I’m sorry I dragged you into all of this.”

Matt reached out and took Emma’s hand. He gave it one sweet kiss before letting it go. “Don’t apologize. Unless Kelly kicks me out.”

Emma laughed. “I highly doubt that will happen.”

Matt crossed his fingers and closed the door. She watched as he drove off down the road. In less than six months, she’d lost another fiancé.

Except this time, Emma knew exactly what to do about it.

Thirty-One

ONCE MATT HAD DRIVEN AWAY, EMMA QUICKLY REALIZEDshe didn’t have strong enough service to call an Uber, so she had had to make the perilous trek down the mountain on foot. Not a single passing car had offered her a ride, but two separate ones had honked angrily and loudly questioned her sanity.

They don’t know the half of it, Emma thought as the reality of her actions began to sink in.

Had she really just made the ginormous decision to blow up her personal and professional life because her seat belt felt too tight? Or had the seat belt’s sudden tightness been a signal that she was feeling trapped and needed to free herself of a situation completely of her own making?

By the time she reached the main road and had cell service, Emma had decided on the latter. So what if her audience was going to lose all respect for her and her book was likely to get canceled? Emma had done the right thing for herself—and for Matt. Amanda Sharpe would be proud of her, if she remembered Emma at all. Daytime TV had a lot of guests.

When she finally made her way to Will’s apartment building, she was tired, hungry and more than a bit sweaty. As Emmaprepared herself to knock and open herself up for yet another potentially brutal rejection, the door swung open.

But instead of seeing Will, Emma found herself face-to-face with another woman. She was about Emma’s height with short blond hair, large green glasses and a sleeve of tattoos on her right arm.

“Oh, hi,” the woman said, not at all fazed to find a stranger on the other side of the door as she reached down to grab a package from the welcome mat. Clearly this woman didn’t have a high startle response like Emma, who would have screamed.

“Hi, I was just looking for Will.”

“Will? There’s no Will here. It’s just been me and my birds for the last ten years.” As Emma started to question her entire reality, the woman laughed. “Sorry, couldn’t resist. Let me get him for you. I’m Camila, by the way.”

“Emma.”

“Nice to meet you,” Camila said as she went back into the apartment and shouted, “Will? Emma’s here to see you.”

“What?” Will’s surprised voice rang out. It didn’t sound happily surprised either.

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