Page 38 of Embers of Love

“Hello?”

Josephine jumped. She was expecting the call to go to voicemail. A beat passed without her saying anything.

“Josephine, I know you can hear me, you’re the one who called.” Becky sounded more exhausted than angry. “I’d like us to talk.”

“Uh, right, we should—we should talk,” Josephine stammered. She was a bit nervous. This was not how she’d expected this discussion to go. “Tonight?”

“Yes? I hope that’s not too inconvenient. We could meet somewhere around the pier, close to the beach.”

A small part of her wondered if she was going to be murdered and thrown in the ocean. She quickly squashed that line of thought.

“Sure, I’ll meet there…what time?”

“Is eight-thirty okay by you?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“See you then.”

Becky hung up. Curt, but far more polite than she had been the last time they spoke to each other.

“Well,” Josephine said to herself. “Have to prepare myself for that encounter.”

She was five minutes early to the pier. There was a bit of a crowd; she had no idea how she was supposed to find Becky, but apparently the chief didn’t have such troubles.

“Over here.”

Josephine flinched and whirled, finding Becky behind her. Her friend was dressed in casual clothes, a rare sight. Becky wore a black t-shirt over brown cargo pants and sandals. Her hair was a bit lighter in color than Ember’s and not so messy. It was tied in a neat ponytail. And she looked extremely stressed.

“Hi,” Josephine said nervously.

“Let’s sit.” Becky led her to a bench, somewhere less crowded.

Josephine had no idea how to break the initial silence between the two of them. Thankfully, Becky did, and surprisingly enough, she started with an apology.

“First, I’d like to apologize for my actions last time.” She looked down at her hands. Her fingers were interlaced, moving over each other.

“I overreacted.”

Josephine nodded. “In a way, I kind of understood.”

They lapsed into silence once more. This time it wasn’t as awkward as the previous one.

“How’s Ember doing?” Josephine ventured cautiously.

“Not good,” Becky replied bluntly. “She ran into a burning building again, claiming she heard someone in there but there was no one in the building. The floor collapsed right underneath her, she almost died. Only reason she is still alive is pure luck, nothing else.”

It was one thing to hear that Ember was suicidal from gossips, it was another to hear it coming from her mother.

“She’s always had no fear, but it has gotten a lot worse ever since the…”

Ever since we stopped seeing each other.

“Well, basically I think she is being self destructive. She has even less thought for her own safety than she ever did.”

“I think you should reach out to her,” Josephine suggested.

“Already tried.” Becky sighed again, looking as though she’d aged years in an instant. “She wouldn’t talk to me. Or anyone for that matter.”

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