Page 27 of Save the Date

“No. He laughed at the offer and quickly hung up.”

“Wow,” Emma exclaimed. “That’s really embarrassing for you.”

“I know! I had to change insurance.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I would have gone to your birthday party.”

Will grinned and she felt her stomach do a flip. He was a combination of all her teenage crushes come to life. IfTeen Beatwas still a thing, he could have been on the cover. She couldn’t believe her luck, that in all the Jewish/Chinese restaurants in all the world, he was here with her.

Now if only she could figure out a way to legally keep him until one of them died. Then she could really relax.

Twelve

“I DON’T WANT TO BE PRESUMPTUOUS, BUT DO YOU HAVEany interest in going to my place to watch a movie?” Will asked as they walked out of the restaurant over an hour later. “Or maybe a sitcom we’ve each already seen ten times?”

Emma tried not to show how utterly thrilled she was at the prospect of taking things to the inside-each-other’s-apartment level. “That depends.FriendsorSeinfeld?”

“Ah. The Sophie’s Choice of our generation.”

“What if we went rogue and—”

Before Emma could finish her pitch, her right leg collapsed out from under her and she screamed in pain. “Oh my god! Oh my god!”

On the ground, Emma could see that her right kneecap was poking out the side of her leg. It was both disgusting and excruciating.

“Are you okay?” Will crouched down next to her, confused and shaken.

“I think I need to—”

WHACK. In one fluid motion, and completely on instinct, Emma hit her right hand against her patella, shoving the dislocatedknee back in place. She felt immediate relief as the pain went from an eleven to around a six. She could handle a six.

“What just happened?” Will asked as if he had just seen an alien abduction or the passage of universal health care in America.

“I think my knee dislocated.” Emma lifted herself into a seated position. She tried not to think about the fact that she was on a disgusting city sidewalk.

“Is that normal?”

Emma laughed, a little hysterically, as tears from the shock and pain started to roll down her face. “I don’t think so.”

“Okay, so we will get you to a doctor. Yes. That is what we will do.” Will’s panic was clear despite his new robotic-sounding voice.

Emma could only nod her agreement because she was now fully sobbing. She was keenly aware there were globs of snot coming out of her nose, but she didn’t have the energy to do anything about it. If Will couldn’t take her at her most vulnerable, well, she would understand.

“Can you stand up?”

“I can try.” She put her arm out for Will to help her up. Her right leg felt weak and definitely injured, but with Will’s support she was able to hobble.

“I’m parked like a block this way. Can you make it, or should I come back to get you?”

Emma’s heart sped up at the thought of being left alone—even for a few minutes. What if a murderer came and she couldn’t run away? Given how many terrible things had happened to her in a row lately, she couldn’t risk being bludgeoned to death on a sidewalk.

“I can make it. We just have to go slow.”

Will nodded and tightened his grip around her waist. It was the most physical they had been with each other so far, and even though Emma was still reeling from her dramatic collapse, shecouldn’t help but notice that her shirt had bunched up and his fingers were touching her bare skin. Even through the moderate pain, she knew she wanted more of this later.

“My car’s not huge, but maybe we can fit you in the back seat.” Will stopped in front of a dark green, two-door Mini Cooper.

“That’s your car?”

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