It was more than keeping it a secret though. They were the two people in her life that she thought she could trust, and they lied to her. Em fought back the tears that filled her eyes. They were not going to fall right now. She’d cried enough the last few days. She would not shed another tear.
Frida got up and walked around the desk. She bent over and wrapped her arms around Em. “I should have told you.”
Never mind. Her best friend’s words put her over the edge. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have been happy for you guys.”
Frida stood back up, and she smoothed out her skirt even though there were no wrinkles. “I wanted to, but I know you have your no-dating-athletes rule.”
That stupid rule was more trouble than anything else. She shook her head. “That’s my rule, not yours.”
“I know, but you’re convinced every athlete is evil. I wasn’t sure what you’d say.”
Not every athlete was bad, just the ones she fell for. Besides, Finn was her brother.
“I would have given you my blessing.”
Frida lifted her brows. “And now?”
Nothing had changed. Em still loved Frida and Finn more than anyone else. She wanted them to be happy. And she didn’t get to say whether or not they dated. At this point, she had to decide whether or not she would be happy for them. “I think it’s great.”
“Really?”
Em nodded.
“Oh, good.” Frida lit up. “Because I really like him. He’s so funny and sweet and he looks really good out there on the field with his muscles straining.”
“I might be okay with you two dating, but he’s still my brother. I don’t want to hear how good he looks or anything about his muscles straining.” Em lifted the corners of her mouth into a smile.
Frida laughed. “Fine. No muscles. But he’s one of the good ones. He makes me happy.” She paused. “It’s why I kept bidding on that stupid jersey. I wanted it so bad.”
Em’s eyes went wide. “You’re the one who I got into that bidding war with?”
Frida’s cheeks turned a deep red. “It was right after that game that we started dating. I thought it would have been cool to have it. I had no idea you were willing to go so high.”
“Then it’s yours.”
Frida sat up. “Really?”
Em nodded. “I have plenty. And it means a lot to you.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you guys are happy.” And she was. But knowing how perfect Frida and Finn were for each other only made her failed relationship with Grant more painful. With time, it would get easier. It always did. But for now, everything was just a little too overwhelming.
“And things are okay between us?”
“Yeah.” Em smiled at her. “Just don’t lie to me anymore. You’re my best friend.”
“Deal,” Frida said.
“Good.” Em looked down at the stack of papers in front of her. “But now that we’re not fighting anymore, I really need to finish grading these papers.”
Frida grabbed a red pen from the jar on Em’s desk.
“What are you doing?”
Frida rolled her eyes. “Helping you, duh. What are friends for?”
Em smiled as she divided the papers into two piles. She was so thankful for her friendship with Frida. It would be an adjustment to see her and Finn together, but Em would get used to it in time.
They had only been grading papers for a few minutes when Frida set her pen down. “Have you talked to Grant at all since The Dating Game?”
The Dating Game. That night felt like it was an eternity ago with everything else that had happened since—and Frida didn’t know about any of it. The last thing Frida knew about was Em walking out on Grant. Her best friend had met her in the bathroom and made no secret of the fact that she thought Em should go back in there and see where things went.
Thankfully, Frida had also been supportive when Em said she needed to get out of there.
Em nodded. “Yeah.”
“Really?” Frida sat up in her seat.
“I, uh, went to his house when you were in Oregon.”
Frida’s mouth fell open. “You what?”
She bit her bottom lip. “I had a bad day at work, and you were gone. I realized he’d become someone I wanted to spend time with as much as I tried to fight it. I brought him tacos.”
“That’s adorable. So, what happened?”
Em folded her arms on her desk and put her head down. “I kissed him.” The words came out as a mumble as she spoke into the crook of her arm.
“You kissed him?”
Em nodded, her head still on her desk.
“Does that mean…?”
Em lifted her head, her heart still heavy from that night. “No. He said that things wouldn’t work out between us.”
“He said those exact words?”
“Not exactly, but that was the gist.”
“Oh, Em. I’m so sorry.”
She shrugged, her eyes trained on the jar of pencils on her desk. “I’m sure it’s for the best.”
Not that it felt like it was for the best right now. Right now it hurt—bad.
There was a long pause and Em had gone back to grading when Frida spoke again.
“Do you think you’ll go to the rest of the Storm games since you’ll have to see him?”
What did it say about Em that she hadn’t even thought about that?
On one hand, she wanted to go out and support Finn. Even though she hadn’t spoken to him in days, he was still her brother. And now that he was dating Frida, Em would need to make sure Finn didn’t get distracted the same way Silas did whenever he ran past Miriam.
On the other hand, Em also wasn’t sure how she would react once she saw Grant out there. It would be hard to cheer on the guy who broke her heart. Or stop thinking about the way his lips felt when they pressed against hers.
Her heart hammered in her chest at the memory. As much
