Page 40 of Just Enough

“Nope,” Dad agreed.

“The hell?” I muttered. “She can do what she wants.”

“Would you want your girl hanging out with another guy?” Dad asked with a grin.

When I didn’t answer, he asked another, “You didn’t bring Tammy with you?”

Well, fuck, they were going to corner me. “We broke up.”

“Hmm.” There was a certain slyness in Dad’s voice. “She was a sweet girl, but I didn’t feel that you two would make it.”

I studied those two and their perceptive eyes and glances toward each other.

“Y’all got something to say?” I asked them both.

“No,” Nolan mumbled. “Do you?”

I thought about what they were up to for a moment before I replied. “It’s not like you don’t already know.” I rubbed the back of my head self-consciously.

They glanced at each other and started grinning. “Don’t worry, Junior, I already know,” Dad said sympathetically.

Nolan nodded. “It’s always been obvious on my part too, and I was a drunk.” That made them both laugh in a way that was obnoxious.

Emily finally came back into the kitchen, and they straightened up. Only my mood grew worse when I took in her expression. “I’m going to head back to the apartment.” She glanced at me, then averted her gaze just as quickly.

“Don’t go running home just because he’s mad,” Nolan told her.

She sighed and walked over to give him a hug. “Dad, please don’t.”

“I’m not saying anything,” he told her.

“Bye, Ben.” She waved at my dad.

“Stay and have some more coffee with us,” Dad held up his coffee mug to her.

She laughed, finally meeting my eyes, and then there she was averting them just as quickly. She just walked out without saying goodbye to me. I felt my mood getting increasingly worse at the thought of her being in another shitty relationship.

I stood up. “I guess I’ll head home and let Mom know I’m here.”

“Good idea,” Dad said. “Emily probably wanted you to follow her out.”

What had the world come to? Was I so obvious and pathetic that our dads were pitying me and trying to help?

I just left without another word. She was stepping off the porch when I caught up to her. “Emily.” I caught her by her giant black jacket and turned her around. “Everyone gets a goodbye but me?”

“I was waiting on you to follow.” Even she knew that I’d follow. She hugged the jacket around her, and my heart pounded at such a simple gesture. I wanted to be that jacket. I wanted to hold her in my arms. Her eyes roved over me until she said, “Is Freddy coming?”

I ignored the comment about my mood, but he was out. “Do you have to leave when he tells you?”

She looked offended. “What? No!”

“He doesn’t like you hanging out with me. Does he?”

“None of my boyfriends has liked me hanging out with you.”

“And they were all asses.”

“Roger’s not like that,” she said with a sad tug on her lips. “He’s actually a great guy, and I know it bothers him. He didn’t ask me to leave, he just asked me when I was coming home. I’m trying to be considerate of him.”

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