“It’s Josh. He got a new truck last week. Or I guess I should say an old truck. He says it’s a classic. Didn’t you see it?”
“No. Why would I? But more important, why is Josh following Cal?” Then she deduced the answer to her question on her own. “Right, he’s dropping off Gus.”
“Not exactly.” Bri glanced at her. “Cal has to go back to the hospital, and I have a client I can’t cancel. Josh offered to stay with you.”
“No way. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Humor us, Em. It hasn’t been twenty-four hours since Josh pulled you from the river.”
“I realize that, which is why I agreed to go back for X-rays and whatever else my brother wants to subject me to tomorrow. Even though I’m feeling fine.”
“That’s part of the problem. We’re worried you’ll overdo it. And as much as Josh tried to hide it, I think last night was difficult for him. It’ll be good for you guys to talk about it. He’ll be able to understand what you went through better than anyone.”
“I doubt that,” Em said, thinking of Brad. “Besides, I’m sure he has better things to do with his time than hang out with me.”
“I remember a time when all you wanted to do was hang out with Josh.”
She crossed her arms. “I did not.”
“Em, you were in love with him. You wrote Em Callahan inside your notebooks.”
She totally had. It was annoying to have a best friend who’d known her since she was a tween. She glanced back at Brad. He grinned, moving his eyebrows up and down.
“I was young and stupid. And I wasn’t in love with him. I had a crush on him,” she said for both Brad and Bri’s benefit.
“No. I distinctly remember, when we were sharing who our first loves were, you said Josh Callahan,” Brad insisted.
“It has to be reciprocated for it to be love, and it wasn’t. If anything, Josh treated me like an annoying little sister.” Thankfully, her response to Brad wasn’t totally out of left field.
“Not always. Remember the summer we were seventeen?” Bri said as she turned onto Sugar Maple Road. “He seemed interested in you then. The only reason he kept you in the friend zone was because he’s Cal’s best friend.”
“Why are we even talking about this?” Em asked, anxious to change the subject. It felt weird talking about a man she’d once had a crush on with her fiancé sitting in the backseat, even though Brad was right. They had talked about it before. He hadn’t been bothered about it then, and he clearly wasn’t bothered about it now. If anything, he seemed to be mulling their conversation over in thoughtful contemplation.
Bri didn’t answer Em’s mostly rhetorical question as she pulled onto the side of the gravel road just down from the mailbox. And the reason Bri pulled onto the side of the road was because Em’s driveaway was packed with cars. She ducked down. “Back up before they see us. You can take me to your house.”
“Too late,” Bri said, waving at someone. “But just think, you won’t have to order in for a month, maybe two. You should probably reconsider Josh staying and hanging out with you though.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because if people stay for a while, he’ll entertain them. Unlike you, he’s great at small talk, and he actually likes people,” Bri said.
She could tell her best friend was trying not to laugh but Em was focused on what else Bri seemed to be implying. “What people? They’re already here.”
“I have a feeling this is just the beginning.” Bri shrugged at Em’s horrified expression. “You live in a small town. This is what people do. You know that.”
She did. When their father had abandoned them, people showed up with food, helped with the yard work, and volunteered to take Cal to his football practices and games and Em to her swim practices and meets.
“You nearly died saving that family, Em,” Bri continued while undoing her seat belt. “You’re a hero in everyone’s eyes but your own. This is their way of honoring you and letting you know they’re proud of you.”
Someone knocked on Em’s window, and she looked to see Phil and Patsy’s smiling faces pressed against the glass. “Fine. Josh can stay,” she said through a clenched-teeth smile.
As soon as she got out of the car, Patsy smothered her in a hug. “Sweetheart, we were so worried about you, and those darn nurses wouldn’t let us come visit.”
“Didn’t stop Patsy from trying though. She was five feet from your room when they spotted her. I told her she should’ve taken off her Crocs. They squeak,” Phil said, giving his wife a toothy grin before nudging her aside to hug Em. “We were worried about you, Emmy. You and Josh.”
“The two of you scared—” Patsy broke off as Josh approached, beaming at him as if he were the second coming. Phil and Patsy were doting parents. They thought the sun rose and set in their children. It was a wonder Josh and his siblings turned out to be decent, productive members of society and not narcissistic sociopaths.
“Mom, Dad, I thought we agreed you’d wait until tomorrow to see Em.” Josh sent her an apologetic glance.
“We did, but then we looked on the community Facebook page, and everyone was talking about stopping by and what they were bringing. We didn’t want Em to think we didn’t love her as much as everyone else.” She tucked her arm through Em’s. “I went to the grocery store and picked up all your favorite things, sweetheart.”
“In other words, she got you a crapload of junk food,” Josh said.
“Got a crapload for herself too, son.”
“You’re such a tattletale, Phil.” Patsy patted Em’s arm. “Let’s go. I’ll unpack everything for you and get you all set up. We don’t want you doing a single thing.”
Em cast a frantic look around and spotted her brother and her best friend talking to Bri’s family, including Granny MacLeod, who was staring at Em. No, she wasn’t staring at her. She was frowning at Brad, who stood beside the car, taking it all in. And Granny MacLeod wasn’t the only one looking at him—so was Gus. Em might’ve appreciated the evidence that someone other than herself saw—or at least sensed—Brad was there if she wasn’t freaking out that people were going to enter her house. And not just any people, her brother and Bri.
“Uh, okay. I just need a minute,” she said, and took off, running for the front door.
“Em!” her brother yelled. “You’re supposed to take it easy.”
“Don’t you have to go to work? You too,” she said to Bri. Then she unlocked the front door, hurried inside, and shut it behind her. She locked it just in case someone had followed her. Except apparently a locked door couldn’t stop a ghost, she thought, as Brad walked through it.
“Em, what’s going…” He trailed off as he looked around.
“Don’t judge. I’ve been busy,” she said, jogging toward the kitchen, wishing the bungalow didn’t have an open layout. The only thing better than having a kitchen door to shut was if Brad could give her a hand. As soon as the thought popped into her head, she felt guilty, as though she were judging him and found him lacking in his ghost-state.