Page 6 of The Love Chase

“Emma,” I called after her.

“Nope,” she repeated. “No. I’m not speaking to you.”

What?

My stomach plunged to the earth. Had Wyatt’s warning been warranted? Why didn’t she want to see me? Sure, we hadn’t talked in a while—months, really—but our friendship was stronger than a little distance and time apart. Wasn’t it?

Emma’s long legs were fast, but mine were faster as I caught up to her side just as she tripped on a hole in the ground. I reached out, wrapping my hands around her waist so she didn’t faceplant into the dirt, her can of pop bouncing to the ground before rolling away. I grabbed it before too much could spill, knowing it was like precious gold to her. When I went to hand it back to her, Emma’s eyes were squeezed tightly closed.

“Emma,” I said softly, infusing an apology into my voice, even though I had no idea why she was acting like this. “Walking is easier if you do it with your eyes open,” I crooned in her ear. I didn’t miss the way goosebumps pebbled on her arms.

That’s new.

Emma didn’t move, her entire body tense as a bow string. I let go of her and stepped so I could see her face, which was flushed from the heat of the day, putting a rosy glow on her cheeks. She kept her eyes squeezed shut.

What is going on? Why is she acting like this?

“Em.”

“No. This is a dream. You’re not real. This is all stress-induced. A hallucination,” she said, rambling like she always did when she was feeling stressed.

A hallucination? Why wouldn’t it be real that I was here?

Her hands were clenched into fists like she was genuinely angry to see me again. I knew it was hard for her when I left Meridel a couple years ago, but…she couldn’t be that mad.

“I assure you, it’s not,” I replied, wishing she would look at me and see the sincerity in my eyes.

Emma just shook her head.

I bit my lip to keep the words in, but they were too powerful. “I thought you’d be happy to see me.” I thought you would’ve missed me as much as I missed you. Seeing her now, that feeling of home snapped through me with even greater strength than before. What’s that about?

Her eyes snapped open, glaring at me with genuine anger for the first time I could ever remember. She studied me for several seconds, her gaze roving from my head, over my vintage band T-shirt, and down to my cowboy boots that were already filthy from the mud and dirt.

Finally, she blinked, clearing the emotion from her face. “What are you doing here, Liam?” She sighed. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“Last I checked, I am. I live here, remember?”

Emma shook her head again, knocking some of her curls loose. My fingers twitched at my sides to brush them out of her eyes.

“No. You live in California. Remember? You left us to follow your dreams.”

She said us but it definitely sounded like she meant I left her. There was a definite bitter undertone to her words that I wanted so badly to erase. The fact that she was so angry at me made my heart ache while simultaneously making my hackles rise.

If I were honest, I supposed I always expected to come back some day and pick up our friendship right where we left off, and she’d be waiting for me, like always.

But maybe I had been naive.

I tried to smile, infusing it with mischief like in the old days. I watched her shoulders tense, and she took a tiny step back.

“I moved back to Meridel.”

For a moment, Emma was frozen, her chest utterly still as though she’d stopped breathing.

Another moment passed before she snatched the can from my hand and took a long drink of her Cherry Coke like it was a strong drink at the end of a hard day, finishing off the can before shoving it into my chest. Our hands brushed as I grabbed it, and Emma flinched away from the touch, avoiding my gaze.

Before I could say another word, she walked away.

Emma

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