'Where do you get off-'
'Kevin!' Russ interrupted. 'Maybe it's time to go.'
Daphne narrowed her eyes at Kevin, then plopped onto the futon and crossed her arms over her chest. 'I think it's time you left, stalker-boy.'
Russ grabbed Kevin's arm and dragged him toward the door, explaining beneath his breath. 'Her boyfriend just kicked her out. Leave her alone.'
Kevin looked back for one last glimpse at Daphne before Russ forced him out into the hallway. 'She was dumped?' Kevin asked after the door closed.
Russ nodded.
'But she's hot. Why would anyone dump her?'
Russ looked at Kevin in disbelief, seeing the softening in Kevin's eyes, the burgeoning empathy. 'Kevin. No. Don't go there.'
'She needs someone who'll treat her better. That's why she was acting like that. She needs to be loved.'
Russ rolled his eyes. 'I'll have Emma give her your number.'
Kevin blinked. 'Thanks.'
'You won't forget to tell Emma?'
'Go home.'
Russ watched him disappear, then turned and found Emma had opened the door and was gazing at him. She stepped out into the hall, the door snicking shut behind her.
'This isn't how I imagined our last night together would go,' she said. 'We can't end it this way, can we? Shouldn't we go another week?'
He shook his head reluctantly, feeling an emptiness akin to when his brother had died. 'We both know it's over. It would only ruin our memories, to drag it out. Good-byes should be short and sweet.'
'But to end like this…'
'Our moment together is past. You know it.' He gestured at the apartment behind her, and the unseen Daphne.
Her mouth was unhappy. 'I don't like good-byes,' she whispered.
He cupped her face between his hands, not trusting himself to hold her closer than that. 'We'll see each other again, Emma,' he said softly. 'A year or two from now, we'll have lunch, we'll catch up. I'll hear how your career is progressing. You'll hear how boring mine still is.'
'I don't want to face a year without you.'
He pressed his forehead against hers, feeling the sting of tears in his eyes, the tightness of them in his throat. 'Me neither.'
'Then why?'
He raised his head and saw tears spilling down her cheeks. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, closing his eyes for a long moment, breathing in the scent of her. 'Because I'm in love with you,' he whispered against her skin. 'And it will hurt too much to see you.'
He felt her stiffen in his arms. She pulled back, looking up at him. 'You
'I tried not to.'
She shook her head. 'You idiot.'
'I shouldn't have told you,' he said, regretting it.
She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. 'But Russ, couldn't you tell? I'm in love with you, too. Head over heels, hopelessly in love.'
With her words, the bands of grief around his heart shattered. He held her close, and for the first time in years knew what it was to feel joy.
Chapter Nineteen
He's so quiet,' Emma said, looking down at baby Wade sleeping on her chest. 'He's like a turtle on a log.'
'You should hear him when he's hungry,' Beth said, sitting back in her lounge chair and picking up her glass of lemonade. It was almost the summer solstice, and for once, the weather had lived up to the calendar and given them a balmy day. 'It's just like a boy to yell when he's hungry, yell when he's tired, yell when he poops. I'll bet girls are quieter.'
'Do you think you'll be trying for a girl?' Emma asked.
'Oh, I don't know: people say boys are easier. Can you imagine dealing with a daughter during puberty? I can barely handle Daphne.'
Emma choked on her lemonade. 'She seems much happier now!'
'Since she got Kevin as her doormat.'
'Maybe she really likes him.'
Beth snorted. 'No, he'd make an adoring husband, so therefore she won't marry him. Although she probably should.'
Beth's husband, Ty, opened the screen slider from the kitchen and came out with a tray of hot dogs. 'Ladies, prepared to be astounded. The chef is about to fire up the grill.'
Emma grinned.
'No fireballs this time,' Beth said. 'You nearly burned down the neighborhood last time.'
Ty bent over the back of her chair and kissed the top of her head. 'Have faith. Your man is mastering fire for you! He is cooking meat!'
'Or a reasonable facsimile thereof.' Beth smiled as Ty strolled to the far end of the patio.
'Things are good between you?' Emma asked softly.
Beth met her eyes. 'Yeah, things are good. He's a pain in the ass half the time, but he's a good man.' Her eyes went to baby Wade. 'Better than I expected.' She flashed Emma a grin. 'I remember what a mess J was during my pregnancy, and he put up with me. That all feels like a lifetime ago, in some ways.'
'It does to me, too. Big changes do that, I guess.'
'So how's the train station going?' Beth asked. 'When are they actually going to start construction?'
Emma laughed. 'Five years? Never? Who knows!'
Beyond all her expectations, her design had been chosen for the new station. She was too inexperienced to be in charge of the project and was treated more as a half-forgotten consultant than as the architect, but the fact remained that it was her design concept that was going to be the inspiration for the new King Street Station. Someday.
At the far end of the patio, a
'Ty?' Beth cried.
A string of curse words flowed upon the summer air, ending with, 'Goddamn piece of crap.'
Emma saw Ty scooping hot dogs off the patio, wiping some of them off on his shorts.
'Pretend you didn't see that,' Beth said. 'The grill will burn off any germs, and he'll be hurt if you don't eat one.'
Emma smiled weakly.
They sat listening to Ty work, and watched the baby sleep.
'So have you slept with him yet? I mean again. I mean-'
'I know what you mean,' Emma said, laughing. Russ, for strange reasons of honor that did not entirely make sense to her, had insisted that they date like 'a normal couple' for three months before they had sex again. Emma's protest that normal couples didn't usually wait three months was met with a set jaw.
