Page 57 of Never Kiss Your Brother's Best Friend

She comes closer. She always comes closer. Like I’m hard of hearing or something. But I know that’s not actually why she does it. Darn it. I never had that talk with her.

“No, I’ve already eaten. I just wanted to let you know what the rest of the afternoon looks like.” She twirls a strand of hair, saying nothing else for a few seconds, just continuing to look at me.

“Ok, go ahead. I’m listening.”

“Right, the schedule. So, you have a one o’clock with Mrs. O’Neil’s cocker spaniel. Apparently, he ate a few pairs of socks and isn’t feeling well. He may need some X-rays. Then at one forty-five, you have a—”

But she never finishes. She spent so much time staring at me that she didn’t notice Buddy at my feet. When she moves even closer to show me her notes—which is unnecessary because I can see farther than six inches away—she trips over Buddy and falls directly into my chest.

I have no other choice but to grab her so she doesn’t smash into the counter. She plays it up as much as possible, flipping to her back and giving me eyes.

“Oh, Sterling.”

“That’s Dr. Cole to you.”

At that exact moment I hear another knock on the door and look in that direction, still holding Sarah in my arms. Emma peeks around the corner while saying, “Hey, Sterling, I got your favorite—”

But when she see Sarah in my arms, she drops her bag to the floor. Then turns and rushes back out of the room.

I pull Sarah up and release her from my grip. She giggles. “Well, that was awkward.”

There’s no time to deal with her now, but I will make time when I get back. First, I need to find Emma. She’s gone by the time I get to the lobby. My receptionist says she left in a hurry, without saying anything.

Of course she did.

I throw open the door and scan in all directions but she’s nowhere in sight. This is not going to help with her trust issues. I want so badly to cancel the rest of my afternoon and go after her, but that’s not an option.

I can’t call my patients and say, “Come back another day, I need to go on an Emma hunt.” But as soon as the clock hits five, that’s exactly what I’m going to do, and I won’t stop until I find her.

***

There are only a few people Emma could be with that I can think of, so I spend any breaks I have texting all of them, Peter, Linda, Mia, and Zoe. I fill them all in on what Emma thinks she saw and how she took off.

It doesn’t matter that we’re not officially more than friends. They all know Emma well enough to know she’d be upset by the circumstances. None of them have heard from her, though, so I’m starting to worry.

I know she could just be off by herself somewhere or back at the hotel, but that’s not like her. She normally looks for support when she’s upset.

The moment I close the clinic for the night, I get in my car to start driving to any spot I can think of that she might be. I’ve been at it for hours with no luck and now it’s starting to get dark.

Finally, I get a call. “Hey, Sterling. It’s Mia.” She’s whispering. “Emma showed up here about twenty minutes ago. We’ve been talking with her about what happened... Or what she thinks happened. We’re out back at Zoe’s house. Why don’t you just stop by? I’ll make sure she doesn’t leave.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Mia. I really appreciate you letting me know. I was going crazy worrying about her.”

“Of course you were, you lov— You really care about her. We all know that,” she says.

I ignore her color commentary and let her know I’m on my way. But she’s not wrong. Although, I am certainly not going to tell Emma I love her right now, I do. I always have and that’s not going to change, ever.

It’s the quickest trip I’ve ever made across town to Zoe’s house. She lives in a cute little neighborhood where I know there are lots of kids running around, so I make sure to slow down once I enter it. But before that, I don’t think I hit my brakes once.

I pull slowly into the driveway, hoping Emma doesn’t hear my truck.

I decide that Buddy is my best bet to approach the situation, so I carry him around the side of the house. I peer over the fence and see all three girls huddled around a fire pit.

Gently, I opened the fence gate. Then I put Buddy down and watch him click clack his way over to join everyone. When he sees Emma, he stands on his hind legs so he can put his front paws on her lap.

“Awww,” all three of them say at the same time.

Emma lifts him up, “Hey there, where did you come from?”

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