Page 23 of For Emery

“I don’t really know. He was drunk and angry.”

“Jeez. So, what now?”

“I have no idea.”

“Girl, you’ve talked about Jordan Grady every day since I met you,” she reminded me, as if I needed reminding.

“I know. But the way he looked at me was different.”

“You guys haven’t seen each other in four years. Give him a minute to let it soak in you’re back in his life.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not the same girl you were when you showed up in Arizona four years ago. He’s gotta get used to that.”

Was she right? Had I blindsided him? If the tables had been reversed, would I have been just as surprised?

Alabama was a huge campus, but I knew we’d be crossing paths again very soon. And this time, I needed to be ready.

Grady

“What do you mean there’s no Emery Pruitt?” I asked Sabrina when I met her outside the history building the next morning.

“Leigh called. There’s no Emery Pruitt enrolled here.”

What the hell?

“Do you think she changed her name?” Sabrina asked. “You know, to start over once she left?”

I shrugged. “It’s possible. She disappeared from social media.”

“You could just ask Flip,” she offered.

“And you could just fuck off.”

She chuckled. “I figured you’d say that—well not exactly that. So, I asked Leigh to check if there were other Emerys on campus with different last names.”

“And?”

Sabrina typed something into her phone. “I forwarded you the schedules for the two Emerys on campus. Let’s track them down.”

My brows shot up. “You’re helping?”

“I seem to remember you staying in the library with me last year helping me find the truth about Crosby.”

I nodded as I pulled out my phone and looked at the schedules she’d sent. “It says she could either be inside here.” I hitched my thumb over my shoulder. “Or, across campus in the English building.”

“I can stay here. I don’t have class for another half hour.”

“Thanks.”

“Should I talk to her if I see her?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Just call me.” I took off across campus. It was noon, so the sun’s brutal rays beat down on everyone. My hike would require a shower as soon as I got home. It was that hot in Alabama in August.

I reached the building. Too impatient to wait outside, I threw open the front door and jogged upstairs to the third floor, searching the room numbers for 318. The room was in the corner and the narrow vertical window was my only means of seeing inside. I scanned the rows for Emery.

Nothing.

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