Page 7 of After Everything
Please call me.
We need to talk.
I'm so sorry.
I love you.
Each one made my stomach turn.
I stared at his name on the screen. Then I opened my contacts and scrolled to Jess.
My fingers hovered over her name. I should call her. Tell her what happened. But the thought of saying it out loud, of making it real by putting it into words, made me want to throw up again.
I texted instead.
Can you come over?
The responsewas immediate.
omw
everything ok?
I stared at the question. How did you even begin to answer that?
no
Three dots appeared. Disappeared. Appeared again.
be there in 20
I dragged myself off the bathroom floor. My reflection in the mirror looked like something from a horror movie. Eyes bloodshot and swollen, mascara smeared down my cheeks, hair matted on one side from sleeping on tile. I looked like I'd been hit by a truck.
I felt worse.
I splashed cold water on my face, brushed my teeth, tried to make myself look human. It didn't help much. I pulled my hair into a bun and gave up on the rest.
Downstairs, the wine stain was still there. Dark and accusatory. I stared at it fora moment, then walked past into the kitchen.
David's suitcase was gone. So he'd actually left. Part of me had wondered if he'd just sit in his car all night, waiting for me to change my mind.
The thought made me feel nothing. Shouldn't I feel something? Relief? Sadness? Something?
I made coffee on autopilot. The machine hissed and gurgled, filling the silent house with the only sound besides my own breathing. I poured a cup and took a sip, but it tasted like nothing.
The doorbell rang twenty minutes after Jess's text.
I opened the door, and there she was. Jess. My best friend since college, the one person who'd stuck by me through everything. She was still in her scrubs—mint green, which meant she'd come straight from her shift in the ER. Her dark blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she had that particular kind of exhaustion that came from twelve hours of keeping chaos at bay.
But the second she saw my face, all of that disappeared. Her eyes went wide, then soft with concern.
"Oh, Emma."
She pulled me into a hug before I could say anything. I stood there stiffly for a moment, then something in me broke again and I was crying into her shoulder, gasping out words that didn't make sense.
"He… Sarah… five months… I found?—"
"Okay. Okay, I've got you." Jess held me tighter. "Come on. Let's sit down."
