Page 24 of Embers in Our Past

I grind my molars. I already know this. She better get to the part of why. She’s not even from Boston, so why is she interjecting herself into Clay’s circle of friends?

As if reading my mind, she says, “I met Rios at your house one of the times I came into town. He was at a barbecue you had a while back. River was there, and a few of the guys were hanging out. I thought it would be good to have his contact if anything ever happened in case of an emergency and I couldn’t get a hold of you.”

I try to think back, but we’ve had a few gatherings in the past, and I was on my journey with IVF. I was dealing with so many things with Clay and trying to have a baby I wouldn’t even think twice about mixing all my friends together in a social setting and forgetting about it until now.

She continues. “I reached out to him and sort of asked about punching the best-friend card to see if he was interested in trying to get you and Clay back together again.” I’m about to protest when she adds, “I know, I know, I overstepped. But you have to understand, it was hard to see you miserable. Hearing you heartbroken on the phone is one thing when you were in Boston, unable to fulfill your dream to become a mother. But seeing you here in Cali without Clay? You have no idea how hard it was for me to see you like that.”

I see it then. My best friend has tears in her eyes. There’s no joking in her expression staring back at me. The humor is gone, and the act I was putting on when I was living on the West Coast was a failure, and she saw through my facade. She saw my pain.Shit.I bow my head.

“I’m sorry, Abby. I know I did something unforgivable last night, sending you on a date with another man. But I honestly did it to push you back into the arms of the man I really think you deserve to be with.”

“But why did you have Rios set me up with a firefighter of all people?”

“Hold on, what?” She worries her brows, mid-chew.

“Yeah, the guy you had Rios set me up with was Tucker Malloy, another firefighter. He doesn’t work in Clay’s house, but he’s only about twenty miles out of town. They know one another. He’s Rios’s best friend,” I explain.

I think the screen is frozen because Marissa is staring back at me silently.

“Marissa, you still with me? Did I lose you?” I start to touch my screen to see if I lost signal.

“I’m sorry, I think I heard you wrong. Did you say Rios set you up with another firefighter?” She laughs, but it sounds sort of maniacal like she’s losing her mind.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I said,” I respond, putting my phone back against the wall.

“That motherfucker.” She grabs her laptop and begins to log on.

“Um, Marissa, what are you doing?” I ask, panic lacing my tone.

“What do you think I’m doing? I’m texting Rios.”

“Why?”

“To give him a mouthful,” she says. “Please tell me you did not run into Clay. Oh, no. Please tell me the night ended early. No, no, no. Shit.” She looks over at me. “Fuck, Abby, what happened?”

Her eyes are wide, panic taking over.

“Put the laptop aside and let me finish. There’s still a lot more to say,” I explain to her.

She puts her computer aside, but I can tell she is itching to give Rios a piece of her mind.

“Malloy took me on a terrible date to a hot dog stand. It turns out it was on purpose. Rios was sort of a prick who purposely chose Malloy to take me out. He cornered Malloy to take me out to prove a point. I guess Malloy has a thing for Rios’s sister, and when you called asking to reconnect Clay and me, Malloy was with him, so he thought up this plan. Malloy went along with it because he didn’t want to disappoint his best friend. In doing so, he hurt Rios’s sister. It’s a whole thing for them, and unfortunately, Clay and I got caught up in it.

“Malloy felt bad and confessed the whole thing to me when we were out. But then we still had the rest of the date to fulfill, which meant going to the bar Clay was. By then, I knew what was going on. I mean, I didn’t want to hurt Clay, but I also can’t lie and say I wasn’t a little interested in seeing him,” I admit and look up to see Marissa’s reaction.

“Oh my gosh, Abby, you didn’t!” She throws popcorn at the screen.

“What do you mean? That was what you wanted!” I yell back.

“Yeah, but you went in knowing exactly what I was doing, you dirty girl!” she says, a smirk playing on her features.

“Well, what do you want me to say? I mean, I was curious, and I sort of wanted to make him jealous. I know, I’m a horrible person.” I bury my face in my hands.

“No, you’re human, Abby. I get it!” she admits, but it doesn’t make me feel any better saying it out loud.

“Well, the moment we walked into the bar, my stomach plummeted. I swear, the look on Clay’s face said it all. I swear, I broke his heart. I saw the way he looked at Malloy and me, and all I saw was his heart shattered across the floor. I made a huge mistake walking in there with another man. I felt awful. And I was thinking if he saw me with another man, he would finally be able to let me go and move on. But it still didn’t make me feel any better.” I throw my head back and groan. “Why am I such a ball of conflicted emotion!”

“I think you’re fucking psychotic, really,” Marissa chimes in, and I swing my gaze at her and give her the bird. She laughs and winks at me.

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