Page 14 of In Your Dreams

My dad is pretty great, though. He even offered to keep Aiden busy so I could enjoy the evening with Emma. He’s actually been incredibly helpful at every turn since I got back here. My mom has too, of course, but he’s really taken on being a role model for Aiden and I’m so appreciative of that.

So after a very long three days, I’m on my way home from the store with a couple of bags of junk food, two bottles of wine, and a large pepperoni and mushroom pizza, per Emma’s request. Based on our text exchange earlier, I should get home right before she arrives.

I’m pretty excited about tonight. Honestly, I didn’t have a huge selection of friends when I was married, and no one close. Everyone I knew was the wife of my ex’s business associates or an occasional mom I met at Aiden’s school. Those links never tend to run all that deep so I’ve been largely deprived of what I’d call “girl time”. I think it will be good for me and to catch up with Emma in general. I promised her I would at my party and beyond that, I want to. I’ve missed her.

Once I manage to get everything inside, I pop the wine in the freezer because I’m a heathen according to sophisticated people. I’m sorry but a room temperature glass of burning grape juice is not delicious. Chilled burning grape juice though? Delicious.

No sooner than I’ve unpacked the bags onto the counter, I hear a knock at the front door and based on no other information, I know it’s Emma.

I skip through the livingroom to the door and swing it open.

“Poppy!” Emma squeals.

“Emma!” I squeal back.

She pulls me into a big bear hug, wrapping her arms around me tightly. I squeeze her back as tight as I can. And we just stay that way for a while.

When she finally lets go, she’s got the biggest smile on her face. That was something I always loved about Emma. She always had this big toothy grin she’d plaster on and somehow it never felt forced or faked. Especially when it was for her friends.

“Ok, girl, let’s get to dishin’,” she says. “Where’s the wine?”

Inside the kitchen, I grab two coffee mugs and the wine while she piles the snacks on top of the pizza box. Then, we head upstairs.

“Just like old times, headed to your room with snacks and this time we didn't even have to sneak the alcohol,” she says.

“Shhh,” I say. “My parents still don’t know about that. They still think Theo took it.”

“Oh my god,” she says, laughing. “Why doesn’t he just tell them?”

“Because he’s the best brother ever,” I say. And that’s not a lie. He’s kept my secrets from our parents to this day and I know he’ll continue to do it all the way to the grave. And it’s a two-way street. I keep his. To this day, my parents don’t know he’s the one who bent their front fender. I told them it was me and I always will.

Once we’re both changed out of the restrictive clothing of what I call “the day people” and cozied into our pajamas, we settle onto the bed, full glasses of wine in our hands and the pizza between us.

We start from the beginning, picking up right when we started to drift apart. She covered it all. Her time at university to become a vet, the boyfriends that came and went, and when her daddy died.

“I feel awful for not being there for you,” I say. “I should’ve come back.”

“Don’t do that,” she says. “It’s okay. You were a wide and a mother already. You were needed.”

“No,” I say. “It was Wayne. He never felt like visiting. He just wanted to pretend Cardinal Falls doesn’t even exist. Maybe he felt like it was beneath him. Or hell, maybe he felt like I was, too. I don’t really know. It’s how I started to feel, though.”

“Ugh, that’s so shitty. I really hope that wasn’t the case but given how little I know about him, I can’t really say,” she says. “But I’m glad you’re here now, whatever the path that brought you back here.”

“You think things happen for a reason?” I ask, taking a sip of my wine.

“Oh definitely,” she says. “I think you end up where you’re meant to be.”

Emma looks at me, an earnest expression written on her face. Maybe she’s right. Maybe no matter what happens in life, you end up where you were always meant to. Fate is weird though. It calls into question free will and destiny and how if that’s the case, what’s the point of deciding anything? I can’t go down this rabbit hole right now. I have bigger things to deal with.

I take a bite of pizza, the flavor of the cheese and sauce pairing well with the wine. Emma picks up a slice, following suit. For a few moments, we’re content just chewing and being together. It’s nice when your friendship can withstand the test of silence, not feeling the urge to fill every moment with noise.

“So onto the main reason I’m here,” she says.

“Parker.” I say his name and a little smile takes over my mouth. I can’t even help it.

“I assume you’ve been texting this week?” She asks.

“Yes,” I say. “He sends me a ‘good morning’ text and a ‘goodnight’ text daily and there’s usually a few sprinkled in between. Sometimes it’s just a meme or random funny question.”

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