Page 87 of Miles Apart
Everyone deserves a best friend who forces a girls’ night and doesn’t take no for an answer. Justice called after work and told me to clear my evening of nonexistent plans the second I said, hello. We ordered each other’s favorite food for the video call that, hopefully, does not include a hot seat with my name on it.
“You want to tell me what’s wrong now or after we eat?”Spoke too soon. Justice pulls out her Greek chicken platter from the bag and positions the phone across from her on the dining room table. “I know, Em.”
Know what?
I follow her lead with my shrimp dish, careful to sidestep any hints about my love life or lack thereof. “What makes you think something is wrong?” I uncork a bottle of merlot to wash down the lie and shrug. “Carter came by the office,” I offer.
Justice frowns, and it’s a fight to not laugh at how much she looks like a Mowry twin without trying. “Isn’t Congress in session?”
“It is.”
“Weird, but that’s not it. You’ve been distant. We haven’t spoken much in the last couple weeks, and I want to make sure you’re okay.”
Am I okay?
Relief eases through my chest on an exhale. She doesn’t know about Terrence’s vow renewal.
“Em.”
“Yes?” I snap my attention back to Justice, whose brow furrows. She eyes me with a questioning gaze, pleading for me to open up. I bite my lip and look away. I miss him, and I hate that I do.
“Don’t hide yourself, Em.” I drop my lashes to conceal any hurt that might be visible from fourteen hundred miles away. “You’re my best friend, my sister. I know when something bothers you, and it’s okay to name it. I won’t push you, but I’m here if you need me. Okay?”
A stab of guilt buries itself in my chest. I hate keeping this secret from her. Justice and I tell each other everything. The good, the bad, the messy. I wanted to talk to her about Miles, but the potential of what could go wrong kept me from shouting it from the rooftops. Everything is different now that the very thing I fought to keep from exploding in face shattered my heart in the process.
“I fell for someone.” My voice cuts through the silence. “He opened my eyes and heart to a world around me I ignored for a long time.”
“Sounds beautiful, Em.”
I brush away a tear and push out the words before my voice breaks. “Everything I thought I’d lose letting him in, I gained. Until he proved me wrong.”Damn you, Miles.The torment I’ve tried to ignore the last few weeks overwhelms me. “I don’t want to feel this anymore, Jay.”
He left me when I told him not to let go.
Tears spill down my cheeks. I don’t sob. I don’t scream. The pain weighs me down, and I don’t know how to carry it.
Justice weathers the storm with me. She doesn’t speak or tell me it’s okay. She doesn’t make promises about it working out or finding someone better. She sits with me, the same way I sat with her.
I wipe my face, embarrassed I allowed myself to feel for him.
“There’s a red-eye I can take to reach you by morning,” Justice says.
“Not necessary, but thank you. Can you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“I need to forget and don’t want to bring this up again.” The only way to do that is to revert to how I was before Miles and close the door to my heart for good. Love and forevers are for people like Justice, not me. “Promise me we’ll never talk about this again, and pretend I never brought it up. I need that, Jay.”
She considers my request, her internal conflict about prying for more to heal the wound evident in her stare. “Okay. I promise,” she says through a watery smile she holds up for me. “Movie time.Jason Takes Manhattan?”
My favorite.
“I love you, Jay.”
“Love you more.”
Chapter 41
Emma
