Page 6 of Mine with Extra Lime

Emma: Hey

I blink twice, wondering if it’s a mis-text…is that even a thing?Why would Emma be texting me at 10pm on a Thursday? I haven’t spoken to her in years. Sure, I’ll admit, I have checked out her social media profiles from time to time—yeah, she’s still stunning—but that’s the extent of it. After screwing things up years ago, I knew she had moved on and is now married with kids of her own. My curiosity peaked, I reply.

Dylan: Hi there.

A few minutes pass and I resign to the fact that it was a fluke—she didn't mean to message me. I head to the kitchen to grab a beer, setting my phone down on the counter. As I open the fridge, I decide a bottle of water is probably a better option, especially if there’s a chance she messages me back. I twist the cap off and throw it in the trash when my phone lights up. I pause before opening it, hoping that there’s even the smallest chance that it wasn’t an accident.

Emma: Sorry to bother you so late! My friends and I were out at dinner and one of them got a hold of my phone and drunk texted you. I am so so sorry!!!

Disappointment hits me harder than I thought it would. It was just a drunk text, nothing more.Who else did they text?A pang of jealousy hits me, but then remember she is married, and I have no right to be jealous. I finish my water and throw the empty bottle in the recycle bin, when my phone lights up and buzzes again.

Emma: Sorry, I must sound so incredibly rude! Let me start over. Hi Dylan. Please accept my apology for my friends drunk texting you. How are you? How are the girls?

She knows I have daughters? I know we are friends on social media, but was she checking up on me? I’ll admit, a wave of relief crashes over me as I read her message. She might want to talk to me after all.No, she’s married. She may be your first love, but don’t you dare flirt with her.

Dylan: I’m well, girls are doing great. How about you? How’s life?

I sit down on the couch, contemplating my next move.

Emma: We don’t have to do this, I feel awful bothering you so late.

What does she mean,we don’t have to do this?Is it because she’s married? It’s an innocent conversation, so that can’t be it. Who knows if it’s really her, or if it’s her friends messaging me. I type out a quick reply.

Dylan: The Emma I know wouldn’t stand down from a conversation with an old friend. How do I know this isn’t just her friends drunk texting me?

Emma: Well, for one, we haven’t spoken in over a decade, so I don’t see how we are old friends. And two, I can prove it.

She sends a picture with a cheers to the camera, sandwiched between two women.Wait, is that Lily?I zoom in. Sure enough she is out with Andrew’s wife and another woman I don’t recognize. There are two limes in her drink and laugh to myself—she’s still the same gin and tonic girl I knew back then.

Dylan: A girl after my own heart, still my favorite.

What are you doing flirting with her?! She’s married…isn’t she?I take a closer look. She isn’t wearing a ring in the photo and there's a tan line from where her wedding ring should be. I don’t know what to make of it.Could she be recently divorced?A new message pulls me from my thoughts.

Emma: It’s still mine, with extra lime. My ex-husband hated that I drank gin, said it smelled like pine needles, so I’m just in the habit of only drinking one when I’m out with the girls.

Emma: Anyway, sorry about my friends, again. Hope you have an amazing rest of your night!

She confirmed it. She’s divorced, but then why did she rush away from the conversation? Emma was always the one that got away and I’ll never forgive myself for what an idiot I was years ago. I had the perfect woman and I left her for someone who wasn’t half the woman she was. If I have even the smallest chance of being with her again, I have to go for it. I scroll through my contacts to see if I have her number. I don’t—why would I? it’s been ages. I open the messenger app again and hover my finger over the phone icon in our chat. I pause for a few moments, take a deep breath, and hitcall.

Chapter five

Emma

MomentsafterIputmy phone in my purse, there’s a weird ringtone coming from it that isn’t mine. I look up at my friends, both of their eyes wide. I fish out my phone. “Dylan,” I whisper more to myself than to my friends. “He’s…calling me?” I turn my phone to show them.

“Pick it up,” they say in unison.

I take a deep breath and answer the call, putting it on speaker. “Hello?”

“Hey, E. Sorry, I probably shouldn’t be calling. I know you said you were out with friends." My heart stops.Did he just call me E?I haven’t heard that in years, everyone just calls me Em for short. He was the only one who ever called me that. All of the air has left my lungs.

“No, no, that's totally fine. We were just leaving.” My friends both give me a thumbs up. “So…what’s up?”

He pauses for a moment, then says something that feels all too familiar, a ghost of my past. “Well, I wanted to see if you were available to grab a drink or dinner to…discuss a few things.” I can hear the smile in his voice, he knows exactly what he’s doing. Lily’s hand flies to her mouth as Riley whisper-shouts “Yes!”

I hit mute and point my finger at them. “Come on you guys, be cool!!!” Unmuting my phone, I echo our conversation from almost two decades ago, “That depends, is it a business thing or a date thing?”

He chuckles. “Well, if you’re currently not seeing anyone, what are your thoughts on it being a date?”

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