Page 4 of Flare
Looking back now, she wondered if she should have asked Eddie to prom instead of waiting for him to do it. In retrospect, as a junior, he was probably too shy to ask out a senior.
What’s he like now?Emily wondered.
She tried to picture an adult Eddie and found she couldn’t. The only image that came to mind was of a tall, skinny teenage boy with kind eyes and a gentle laugh.
Emily stared down at her phone and wondered:When was the last time I had coffee or dinner with someone other than Andrew or his family or his colleagues?
Sure, she was engaged now, but what would be the harm in catching up with Maggie’s cousin? They were old friends, after all.
And she needed a break from wedding planning consuming her life. Lately, she had spent all her free time worrying about how to meet Grandma Katherine’s standards.
She began typing a friendly response to Maggie, something about being happy to show Eddie around Spokane, when she heard Andrew’s home office door open and close upstairs.
“Emily?” His voice preceded his heavy tread on the stairs.“The Zoom meeting got canceled.”
“I’m in here,” she called.
He appeared in the living room doorway, loosening his tie with one hand. His gaze immediately zeroed in on the phone in her hands.
His expression darkened.
“Who’re you texting?” he demanded, crossing the room in four long strides.
The momentary bubble of warmth from Maggie’s message popped, leaving only the familiar anxiety in its wake. Emily’s stomach twisted. She knew Andrew wouldn’t like her answer.
“An old friend from high school. Maggie Swanson,” Emily said. Her fingers clenched involuntarily around her phone.
Andrew extended his hand, palm up. Not a request—a command.“Let me see.”
Emily hesitated only a fraction of a second. It was long enough for his expression to harden, but not long enough to qualify as defiance.
Andrew didn’t like it when she defied hisrequests.
She dropped the phone into his waiting palm.I have nothing to hide, she told herself.
It didn’t help the dread twisting through her chest.
The narrowing of Andrew’s eyes as he scanned Maggie’s text and Emily’s half-written reply told her everything she needed to know about what would come next.
She tensed.
“Maggie Swanson?” Andrew asked, scowling.“How do you know her?”
“We were best friends in high school,” Emily explained quickly, trying to head off Andrew’s reaction.“Her family owns a ranch and a bakery in Bearpaw Ridge. It’s been a few years since we really talked.”
Emily watched him warily, already knowing what he was going to ask next.
Her heart began hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. Her cheeks flushed with heat, and she knew she looked guilty as hell.
She recognized his expression—the one that transformed his handsome features into something cold and unreachable. He looked like that when a male coworker hugged her at a charity event, when a male barista wrote“have a great day!” with a smiley face on her coffee cup, when she acted too friendly to a male server or store clerk.
“Eddie Swanson,” Andrew said slowly, each syllable dropping like a stone into still water.“Who the fuck is he?” His blue eyes lifted from the screen, and Emily noticed they looked strange, like they’d been dusted with gold glitter.
It had to be a trick of the light.
“Maggie’s cousin,” Emily protested, her words coming out breathless and rushed.“Maggie doesn’t know I’m engaged. We haven’t talked in ages. And Eddie’s just an old friend from high school.”
The corner of Andrew’s mouth twitched downward.“So, this Maggie person, who supposedly was your close friend, doesn’t even know you’re getting married? You never mentioned me to her?” His voice was heavy with sarcasm.
