Page 9 of Emma's Element

“You seem very close. How long have you known each other?”

“We went to college together,” Emma answered. “During our freshman year, we both happened to be in the mailroom at the same time. I was excited to find a real letter and not more flyers in my mailbox. After opening it, I wasn’t so excited anymore.” Jolene doubled over in mirth.

“What was in the letter?” Marcus asked, grinning at Jolene’s laughter.

“It was a picture of someone’s . . . um . . .”

“It was a dick pic,” Jolene supplied, wiping away the wetness her hilarity had caused. Emma cringed, still remembering how horrified she’d been to see the contents of that envelope.

“Jolene noticed my traumatized expression and, once she’d seen the letter, she burst out laughing. Her laughter was infectious, and I was soon laughing right along with her.”

“Ugliest dick pic ever.”

Emma giggled. “Waste of a good stamp. I remember you said how unfortunate it was for the owner since it was so . . . misshapen.”

“Oh my God. It was bent.” Jolene held up a crooked finger as an illustration. They all laughed.

“Never did find out who sent it.”

“Thank God for that. Why he wanted to share that ghastly member, I’ll never know.”

“It was an instant friendship from that moment on,” Emma said, smiling fondly at the memory. “I’m so grateful to have her as a friend.”

“Bless your heart,” Jolene crooned, giving Emma a quick hug before leaving the room to check on their burgers.

“What about you?” Emma asked as he continued to wander around the room, looking at all the photos Jolene had on the walls. “You must have a ton of friends.”

He shrugged. “Not really. Wait . . . is this you?” Emma noticed he’d evaded the question. There was a story there, but she let it go as she went to see what picture he was looking at. She groaned.

“Ugh. I forgot she had that.” It was a picture from one of the fencing competitions she’d taken part in years before. In it, she held her mask and weapon in one hand and her medal in the other. She’d placed first in her category.

“What was your weapon?”

“Épée,” she answered.

“That’s what I was going to guess.”

“You know fencing?” she asked, stunned. Not many people knew much about the sport, let alone the different weapon categories.

“Don’t act so surprised. I have many talents.” She rolled her eyes, making him laugh. “I took lessons for a role I had,” he explained.

“Wait . . . I remember that one.The Three Musketeers, right?” He nodded. “The swordplay of the seventeenth century was slightly different than it is in the twenty-first.”

“True, but the basics are generally the same. Pointy end goes into the bad guy,” he joked.

Emma laughed. “Well, that’s true.”

Marcus looked back at the picture. “Your hair was long,” he stated.

Jolene arrived with their food, and the three of them sat around her conference table and chatted. Jolene, of course, had been thrilled when Marcus asked her to tell him what Emma had been like in college. She proceeded to share all manner of embarrassing stories.

Eventually, Emma had had enough. “Well, as fun as this has been, I should be getting home. Early day tomorrow and all.”

Marcus stood. “I’ll take you.”

“There’s no need. I can walk from here.”

“Then I’ll walk you.” She was about to protest again, but he held up a hand to stop her. “No argument. My mother would be very disappointed if she knew I let a girl walk home at night unescorted.”

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