Page 85 of Only You and Me

Emily reaches across the small table between us and grabs my hand. And I sit on the porch holding hands with my sister, who looks heartbroken with her sad eyes and a near constant frown on her pretty face.

We sit quietly for a long time and my mind wanders back to the night Ben and I went to Fitz’s to talk about Emily not staying there alone. There was something different about them that night. I had considered whether something was going on with them but, with all that was happening with the stalker, I figured it was just in my head.

Now I’m pretty sure my first instinct was right. Especially when I say goodbye to Emily and, as I’m leaving, she asks me to check on Fitz for her. I’ll do that for her—for them both—but I also want to know why my sister has been crying, and I’m pretty sure Fitz can tell me.

Twenty minutes later, I’m standing on Fitz’s porch, pounding on his front door. When he opens it, I push past him and stomp through the mudroom and into his main living area. He follows.

I whip around to face him. “Why is my sister sad and crying?” I can hear that my tone is demanding, but when I look closer, I see his disheveled hair, untrimmed beard and sagging eyes, and I try to soften my tone. “And why do you look like shit?”

“Hello to you, too,” Fitz answers, sarcasm dripping from his voice. I shoot him a glare just before regret flashes over his face. Fitz isn’t the guy who talks to people like that. He’s almost always measured and kind in his speech—unless something has him really thrown off his axis.

His shoulders sag, and he walks away from me, heading toward his kitchen. I follow.

“What do you want to drink?”

“Grape soda, please.” I purposely try to take the bite out of my tone.

He hands me the can and I remind myself this is the Fitz I’m used to, the best friend who stocks this grape soda just for me. We head out to his deck and take seats. The popping and fizzing that accompanies us opening our cans is the only sound for several minutes.

“I need to talk to you about something.” Fitz glances over at me and I’m already looking at him, waiting with quiet anticipation for what he’s going to say. “Uh, when Em was here… uh, well, things, um?—”

“Do you two think I’m stupid? Or blind, for that matter?” I’m not mad, but there’s a tension in me—and my voice—knowing that I may not like what I hear next.

“What? No, of course not.”

“Look. You know I’m typically blunt, so I’m just gonna say it. Did you get involved with Emily when she lived here?”

Fitz leans forward and lets his head drop between his shoulders, staring at the ground. When he finally turns his gaze to me again and looks me in the eye, he says, “I swear I didn’t mean for it to happen. We were going to tell you. It’s why we invited you over that night you showed up with Ben. But then it didn’t feel right to tack that on at the end of everything you shared with us.”

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I ignore it.

I stare at Fitz for several uncomfortable seconds, giving my brain time to process this. How have I been so wrapped up in my world that I missed the two people I love more than anything were falling for each other right in front of my nose?

I sit back in my chair and focus my gaze straight ahead into the darkening starry night.

“I knew it. That night, I could see something was different between you two.” I pause for a few seconds. “Really, I’ve known it for a while, I think. I just couldn’t put my finger on what had changed until I saw you two together that night. Saw how you looked at each other, reacted to each other.”

Fitz leans back and practically whispers, “Is she okay?”

My heart aches for the obvious pain in his voice. “No. She’s not. She’s really sad. Apparently, she’s been staying in a rental holed up crying whenever she’s not at work.”

“Fuck,” he mutters.

Again, my phone starts and again, I don’t answer.

“You know, Emily has had a crush on you since she first met you. For the first few years, I didn’t realize there was something there on your end as well. It wasn’t until she and Teddy broke up that summer after she graduated from college that I started seeing it. The way you watched her when she was in a room, how you smiled when she talked. How you were just as protective of her as I was. I thought maybe something would happen with you two, that maybe I should give you permission, but I opted to sit back and see how it unfolded. Then it all just got weird right after Thanksgiving that year. I could see your discomfort around each other, and I didn’t have to ask either of you to know something happened.”

“God, was it that obvious?”

I shrug. “To me it was. But you and I have a friendship that transcends words. I know you almost as well as I know myself. And thank God for that, because neither of us are big talkers. We just get each other.”

My phone buzzing relentlessly in my pocketagainis distracting me, so I hold up a finger, telling Fitz to hold on, and pull the phone out of my pocket.

I guess Ben’s home from the store and has realized I’m not there.

I stand, walk a few feet away, and answer the call.

“Benjamin, quit calling me. I’m fine.” I’m too curt with him, I know that.

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