Page 48 of The Summer I Destroyed You

I need a beer. Who can meet me at Beck’s?

Harrison

Sorry. Out of town.

Beck

Wish I could, but my lovely wife has just informed me that we’re watching Love, Actually. Also, I live ninety minutes away.

Kate wants to watch Love, Actually? Did you marry a different Kate than the one we know?

Beck

Apparently she was joking. We are watching a movie about a female vigilante who traps rapists in a basement and tortures them.

Okay, that lines up.

Caleb

Fell asleep on the couch. Twins woke us up at 4 today and Lucie’s already asleep. Give me fifteen minutes and I’m there.

Beck

Liam’s never getting married if you keep telling him stories like that, dude.

Caleb

Harrison’s getting divorced, and you just married my ex-wife. If that hasn’t scared him off, nothing will.

I’m halfway through my first beer when Caleb walks in, unusually disheveled and deeply in need of a shave.

“You look like you’re coming off a four-day bender,” I tell him.

“I feel like it,” he says, pouring himself a beer from my pitcher. “When Sophie wakes up, the whole goddamn house wakes up. She makes sure of it.”

Despite all this, though, Caleb radiates contentment. I want that contentment for myself, and I’m highly unlikely to achieve it if I keep pining after Emerson fucking Hughes.

I fucking hate that she slept with him.

You’re here to stop thinking about Emmy. So stop thinking about her.

“Still can’t believe Kate and Beck eloped,” I say. “Is that weird for you?”

He runs a hand through his hair. “It’s weird but I’ve gotten used to it. I’m a little too focused on my own wedding to give it much thought.”

I nod. “How are the plans coming along?”

“Getting there. I’m just excited we’ll finally meet Harrison’s mystery girlfriend.”

I know nothing about Harrison’s girlfriend, except he’s clearly whipped as fucked. He’s in LA every weekend, and I don’t think she’s come up here once. “He RSVP’d for both of them?”

Caleb shrugs. “Not yet, but I assume he’ll bring her…I mean, God, he’s dated her for like six months, right?”

“Has he even told us her name?”

Caleb frowns. “I’m not sure he did. Anyway, since when are you free on a Saturday night? This is prime time for you.”

It’s a testament to how little I’ve seen of my friends this year that he’s even asking the question.

---