Page 67 of The Snowball Effect

All right, Emma still noticed how Regan leaned into her. But it felt… nice. It felt like camaraderie.

“Andthen, by the time we got back to the car – it had beentowed!” Regan said the word as if the very existence of a tow truck was offensive to her. “So, you see, even though the trip was my idea, the fact that we were stranded in the middle of Nowhere, Maine really resulted from freak accident after freak accident!”

“That’snotthe way I heard it from Sutton.” Emma was unable to stop chuckling at the outrage in Regan’s tone.

“And that’s because Sutton was traumatized by the series of events, and that’s fine and all, but it did mess with her ability to recount the tale correctly,” Regan countered.

Before Emma could respond, she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket and pulled it out. It was a little late for either her grandmother or Allegra to be contacting her, but –

Emma honestly hadn’t realized what a genuinely good mood she’d been in until that moment when the laughter died on her lips and her stomach churned as she read Kimberly’s name on her screen.

Regan immediately noticed the change in her body language, pausing a few feet away from their door as she glanced down at Emma’s phone. “Everything okay?”

“It’s fine,” Emma claimed, and it mostly wasn’t a lie.

She hesitated with her thumb over the red decline option, unable to bring herself to actually turn the call down.

She’d dodged Kimberly’s attempts to reach out for the last week even more doggedly than she’d been doing before. And it had nothing to do with Regan or her mom’s belief that they were together.

For some reason, the return of Mr. Cuddles to her life and the insistent image of her mom’s desperately earnest expression as she’d offered the bear to Emma had made this need to avoid her become even more intense. Even more vital.

And yet, conversely and bafflingly, it also made Emma feel terribly about her avoidance. The watchful eyes of Mr. Cuddles sitting on her bookshelf made her think about the times her mom would puppet the bear and sing ridiculous songs until Emma laughed so hard she could barely breathe.

That feeling took over as she flicked her gaze to Regan. “I think I need to take this.”

Regan watched her carefully, nodding. “Sure. Whatever you need to do.”

Emma took a deep breath, held it for a few moments, trying to quell the nerves in her stomach… then answered.

Before she could say a word, her mom spoke. “Emma? Did I catch you on the first try?!”

Despite Regan starting to meander forward, tugging out her keys to unlock their door, Emma knew that she could still hear everything Kimberly said, given the decibel her mom talked at.

Still, she supposed she would give it to Regan – she was fiddling with her keys and making it appearsomewhatlike she wasn’t absolutely riveted by what was playing out on the call.

“Yeah. Seems like you did,” Emma replied, feeling the way she often did with her mom – painfully awkward. She wished she knew some other way to be; she had when she’d been younger, but over time, that had shifted. Leaving… this.

“I won’t keep you long – unless you want to chat?” Kimberly asked but then continued on without waiting for an answer. “It’s just been over two weeks since I saw you, and I didn’t want to let too much time pass before we confirmed those dinner plans! So, like I said, I won’t keep you; I just wanted to know when you and Regan will be available. Maybe sometime this weekend? I could even do tomorrow, if you’re free?”

Regan immediately zipped her gaze up to stare at Emma as soon as she’d heard her name. So much for pretending like she wasn’t eavesdropping.

Emma froze where she stood, her stomach twisting at the reminder. Right. Her mom –andher gram – still believed she was in a relationship with Regan.

And Emma had been so focused on everything else playing out with Regan – their argument, then subsequent friendship – that she hadn’t exactly had the time or energy to think of what the hell she was going to say to her family about it.

The stupidest, most ridiculous lie, honestly. And the stupidest, most ridiculous thing was it still seemed easier to let her mom believe than tell her the truth.

Emma slowly started speaking, shaking her head at that thought, “Uh. You know. About that. Regan and I – we actually aren’t…” She heaved a sigh, her stress mounting as she dragged her hand through her hair and blinked at the ceiling.

Should she tell her mom she and Regan broke up? Was the truth – that she’d lied in order to find another excuse to put off spending time with Kimberly – even a viable option? It felt too cruel at this point. Especially since Kimberly had seen them with her own eyes, keeping up the charade.

“We aren’t available tomorrow, unfortunately, because I have work,” Regan answered, her voice coming from right next to Emma.

She snapped her eyes open, looking down at Regan, who was pushing up onto her tiptoes to get her mouth closer to Emma’s phone.

The result was their shoulders pressing tightly together, as she breathed in Regan’s fresh scent.

“But maybe Saturday?” Regan suggested, sliding her gaze to Emma’s, eyebrows lifted in question, waiting for her to give her agreement.

---