Page 81 of Save the Date

“Like your girlfriend talking to her ex every day.”

“I don’t think that would bother me.”

Emma let out a mixture of a scoff and a laugh, which perfectly described how she often felt around Will. “You’re impossible.”

“Or am I exceedingly simple, and that has somehow become confounding in today’s day and age?”

“No, it’s definitely not that,” Emma replied with a grin. “But I’m starting to think you don’t have a realistic understanding of what it means to be in true partnership.”

The sound of two gunshots suddenly reverberated through Emma’s head. Both her and Will instinctively ducked, afraid for their lives.

“Sorry,” Anika’s voice said through their headphones. “I was playing around with sound effects. You know,shots fired.”

“I like the instinct. Hated the result,” Will said, rubbing his ears.

“I think I had it turned up too loud,” Anika replied as they watched her tinker with some knobs through the glass wall. “My bad.”

Emma and Will caught eyes and laughed. For a second it felt like they were on the same team again.

“You were saying…something rude, I believe?” Will had a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

Once again, he surprised Emma with his lack of defensiveness. Most people would have taken their imagined near-death experience as an excuse to change the subject.

“I wasn’t trying to be rude,” Emma explained. “I just noticed a pattern and then I mentioned that pattern in a rude way due to poor social graces.”

“Strange apology accepted. Although you do seem to forget that I was in a four-year-long relationship, so clearly I knowsomethingabout partnership.”

“Mm-hmm,” Emma said unconvincingly.

“What now?”

“It’s nothing. Just a hunch.”

“Like a good hunch or one that makes me look bad?”

“We can move on.”

Will groaned, his curiosity getting the better of him like always. “Well, now you have to tell me.”

“Okay,” Emma said, sitting up in her chair. “You say that your ex left you out of the blue for a fellowship in England, right? And that she didn’t even ask you to come?”

“Right. Thanks for bringing that up.”

Emma ignored his sarcasm, determined to not be distracted by Will’s wit. “When you first told me that, I thought,Wow, what a bitch.But now I wonder if she was just operating underyour relationship rules. Where everyone is out to protect themselves and neither one of you is expected to consult the other about big life decisions, because doing so would mean losing your individuality. And when I think of itthatway, it’s likeof courseshe took the fellowship andof courseshe never asked you to come because she knew you’d say no. You weren’t going to give up your life plan for anyone. Even your long-term, live-in girlfriend.”

Will squinted his eyes as if that would help clarify things. “So you’re saying it’s my fault that she left? Because I created an environment where she felt like she couldn’t even ask me to come?”

“It’s just a hunch. But basically…yeah.”

“Fuck,” Will replied, the fire fizzling out of him. “You might be right.”

***

Emma stared at her phone, debating whether to check in with Will. Even though he had agreed with her rather harsh assessment of his love life, she still felt bad for being so blunt. They weren’t allowed to text or call anymore, but a kind email from a concerned colleague wouldn’t break—

“He’s here,” Matt said, startling Emma out of her internal debate. She looked up from her seat at Le Pain Quotidien and saw their wedding photographer making his way toward their corner table. Phoenix Cody, with his man bun and hulking figure, had come highly recommended by the only one of Jackie’s friends who was over thirty when she got married. Matt had liked his documentary style, which was good because Emma had already paid Phoenix’s initial deposit before they had even met.

“Matt and Emma, I presume?” Phoenix asked in deep register with a touch of Southern twang. According to his website, Phoenix had come to LA by way of Louisiana to fulfill his lifetime goal of “capturing people’s souls on the most meaningfulday of their lives.” He also modeled on the side and had some sort of brand affiliation with a juice company.

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