Emily Calls It (The Emily Series) (9 page)

“Hi,” he said
.
I noticed Allison and Ethan were both missing. Looks like it took them no time at all to bail on me.

“Hi Joel, I didn’t know you’d be here. How are you?”

“Good.” He pause
d. “Yeah good. Who are you here
…? Oh, you came with Ethan.” He answered his own question.

“Yeah, but it looks like he ditched me already.” I half-sighed. Joel just smiled; moving closer to me in what I guessed was his way of hearing me better.

“Want a beer?” He lifted his red cup in the direction of the bonfire.

“Sure, I’m not driving.” Then off he went, leaving me there again standing alone on a beach full of strangers. I know how that sounds. How can you be alone surrounded by people, but somehow I felt that way. I looked around for a few seconds, still recognizing no one, then felt content to draw a figure-eight with my toes in the sand.

“Here ya go,” he said in his deep
Louisiana
voice as he handed me a red cup of foamy be
er. “What’s that
?
Sand art?” His eyes at my feet
. I took a sip of
beer feeling a little embarrassed and trying not to answer. “I want to show you somethin’. You game?” he asked
,
nodding in the direction of the pier.

“Sure.” I looked over my cup at him, curious about what it could be. He picked up my sandals for me with two fingers. With one stride he was beside me and we walked along following a now dark purple sky at the water’s edge. The waves were quiet, spilling onto the sand instead of crashing. The water was dark, and as we walked under the pier everything grew darker. Usually the darkness would’ve scared me a little, but I felt safe around Joel. I don’t know why. I didn’t know him that well, but I wasn’t scared. Then I heard the strangest sound. Like sloshing but with little flurries of splashes. We got closer to the water and Joel reached forward pointing to a pillar where it met the water.

“Look there. See?” he looked down his arm. I couldn’t see a thing, so I moved until my head was practically resting on his arm and looked where he was pointing. Then I saw it. The water wasn’t splashing up on the pillar; it was hundreds of tiny little fish. It was so dark you could barely see them, but sure enough, they were everywhere on the surface.

“What are they? What are they doing?” I asked in a whisper, enthralled by what I
saw
.

“No idea,” he whispered back still standing with his arm out and my head hovering above it. “But I come watch em’ this time of year.”

“It’s mesmerizing,” I said moving even closer to him so he could hear me.

“Yeah,” he agreed
.
We watched those fish for I don’t know how long. Then from the fatigue of holding it up, I’m sure, he dropped his arm, shaking me out of my trance. The fish continued their jumping routine, not at all disturbed by us.

“Cool
,
huh?” Joel asked turning to look at me.

“Uh huh.” I pulled back
and looked up at him thinking,
how cool indeed
.

“It’s pretty chilly. Ya cold? Want to head back?” He asked looking around under the pier.

“I guess, sure.” We turned back toward the party. I paused for a second watching the sparks fly off the bonfire and listening to the
girls’ laughing shrieks
. “Actually, how would you feel about staying down here?” I asked. It wasn’t a romantic move on my part, just a desire to stay away from the party hysteria. I was so calmed by the fish that I really didn’t feel the party bug anymore.

Joel seemed happy to stay by the water. As we sat down, I briefly crossed my arms and gave them a warming rub. I wasn’t really cold but the breeze was starting to pick up and little goose bumps appeared on my upper arms. Without saying a word, he unzipped his sweatshirt and draped it over my shoulders. We sat there, me hugging my knees to my chest, and he with his arms behind him and legs out straight, feet in the sand.

I hadn’t spent much time with Joel. There’d been the relatively uncomfortable dinner when I introduced Graham to my mom. Joel was there with my brother, and although there were moments when I could have strangled my brother for making embarrassing comments,
Joel never jumped on that band
wagon. As we talked, I thought back to that day as well as the day I ran into him at the library and he asked me if I wanted to partner
-
run with him. I remembered how Graham put the kibosh on
that.
And how I let him. Joel had been nothing but nice to me, and I only pushed him away. It seemed ridiculous now. There was nothing sinister about him; he was genuine and I had been stupid. I couldn’t believe how I had moved away from everything that was good for me and toward someone who obviously wasn’t. I was really disappointed in myself, which confirmed that I needed to concentrate on making better decisions from now on. I managed this inner dialog during quite a nice conversation with Joel.

I learned that he came from a big family in
Louisiana
, loved to cook, and turned down a football scholarship to LSU for an academic one at CWU. Why I was surprised, I don’t know, but I was. I guess maybe because he seemed so different from Ethan. But Ethan was a genuine person and I could see Joel was too.

“You know I really miss home,” he said. “In
Louisiana
there’s history. Everything here is brand spankin’ new.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too. And I’m from
California
.” He looked at me then, a long look. And I noticed something I hadn’t before. He was soulful. The way he talked and the meaning behind each sentence. We heard something behind us at the same time and turned to see two figures approaching.

“There you are, Emily.” Allison said. Not alarmed or worried, but playful.

“Have you two been down here the whole time? I was a little concerned, Emily.” Ethan, never really taking a night off from being my protective brother.

“Sorry, I shoul
d’ve brought her back. We just…
well we got to talkin’.” Joel looked directly at my brother.

“No problem dude, I’m glad she was with you. Too many guys around here, you know?”

“Um, hello? I’m right here. I can take care of myself.” I looked from Ethan to Joel, touched by their protectiveness even though it was a little annoying.

“Are you two ready to go?” I asked Allison.

“Yeah, you ready
,
Sis?” O
f course Ethan
had to answer
. I nodded and turned to Joel to say good night.

“You heading out too, Joel?” Ethan beat me to it.

“Yeah.” Joel handed me my shoes and got up dusting off the back of his shorts. He gave me his hand to help me up and I think I saw a tiny smile from Ethan. I dusted off my dress, and fell in line behind Ethan and Allison. As we walked, Joel and I exchanged several silly little smiles, trying to conceal them from Ethan. I don’t know if we were successful, but it was fun.

When we reached the cars, I remembered I was wearing Joel’s sweatshirt and reached to pull it off.

“Thank you. I hope you weren’t too cold,” I said
.

“Not at all, Em’ly.” He took a step back and directed his attention to all of us. “Y’all have a nice night.”

“You too. Good night.” I said as I dipped behind the seat into the back of my brother’s car. The silent looks between Ethan and Joel, Ethan and me, then Ethan and Allison, were priceless. I chuckled to myself.

TEN

The Contenders

Morning came too early. I woke up on time, but clung to my pillow for a minute. Then I remembered the building I was working on at the office and I sprang up and hopped in the shower, excited about the day ahead. I was sure everyone would be talking about the success of the benefit, and if the past few weeks were any indication, no one would have noticed or even cared that Colin and I spent the evening dancing together.

As I washed my hair, I took a quick inv
entory of my summer so far. I’
d met three really great guys – scratch that – four, and I wondered what I was going to do about it. I started my summer off in
despair, thinking I should just
be alone to figure things out. But I really didn’t have to be alone, did I? Ah, the question that always seemed to plague me. To be alone or not? To me “alone” equals lonely, and I didn’t like that idea. But, as I stepped out of the shower, I still felt the weight of Graham. I wondered how long that was going to last.

On my way out the door, I noticed the light on my answering machine blinking. I didn’t remember hearing the phone ring. I pressed play and heard Trish’s voice. I hadn’t seen or heard from her since that day at the beach before I left to go home.

“Emily, I’m back. You and I have a ton of catching up to do. How about dinner?” It sounded great. I picked up the phone knowing it was early, but Trish pointed out ages ago that she was a morning person. So, what the heck. She answered on the first ring.

“Totally.” Was all I had to say, and she knew it was me.

“So, tonight at Knorwood’s, at eight?” she suggested.

“I’ll see you then. And Trish, thanks for calling.” I felt bad that I hadn’t called her, and I did really miss her. I made another mental note to concentrate more on my friends and less on my Graham misery.

Work went by quickly. I ate lunch at my desk, continuing to be completely engrossed in my project. There was little talk about the benefit. Either that or I just didn’t notice because I was concentrating on my project. I didn’t see Colin at all. As I cleaned up my desk before I left, I realized I wished I had.

“Emily?” I looked up, startled that I hadn’t heard anyone approach.
Sharon
had a roll of drawings in her hand and moved around my chair smoothing them out on my desk. I watched intently, wondering what project it was. “Colin’s gone to the Bay Area office to help with the final push on the Levi building. He suggested you help with the elevations of this project.” She turned the sheet revealing half-completed elevations.

“I’d be happy to. Who should I talk to in Colin’s absence?”

“Oh, I’ll get you started this week, then Tim in Colin’s group can field any questions you have.”

“When will Colin be back?” The question fell out of my mouth before I had a chance to think about it.

“It might be a few weeks. I’m not sure. The Levi building has fallen behind. We’ll have to see,” she said with concern.

I nodded, and decided any more questions about Colin were probably inappropriate. On the way down to my ca
r, I realized I was sad.
I didn’t know I’d miss him
. Who
knew
? I shook my head to dismiss the thoughts and feelings, and climbed into my car, ready to meet Trish. When I arrived at the restaurant she was already enjoying a drink at the bar. I joined her, ready for a fun evening
.

“So how are things
,
Emily?” I knew she was asking about Graham or the lack of Graham.

“Fine.” Yes, I was being vague.

“Have you seen him?” she asked
,
taking a sip.

“No. I mean he stopped by a couple of weeks ago, but I haven’t seen him lately.” I hoped my response was boring enough to move on to the next subject.

“Stopped by?” Damn! She wasn’t falling for it.

“Yeah. You know. I don’t really want to talk about it.” The whole subject irked me.

“OK
.” She said as she looked to the side, possibly annoyed that I didn’t want to go into it. The short silence felt awkward for the both of us. I decided to break the quiet.

“OK
.” I guess
ed
I’d better talk about it. “So he stopped by one day after work.” Trish perked up and smiled not because she heard he stopped by, but because I was opening up. “He’s just. I don’t know. He wanted me to forgive him.” I shrugged.

“Well?” she asked, urging me to go on.

“Well what? I don’t forgive him. And who’s to say that he wants my forgiveness because he truly wants me, or just because he wants to clear his conscience.” Trish raised an eyebrow as if to say “good point.”

“So then, who’s the next contender?” she asked, playfully moving the conversation along.

“Contender? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I acted put out by her question, but really it was fun to think there might be contenders.

“Yes, Emily. I know you, and I’ll bet your summer hasn’t been spent alone. There’s someone or many someones who have potential, aren’t there? So, come on. Tell me about it.”

I reflected on my summer for a moment while I thought hard about what she said. She knew I wasn’t alone. That could very well be my problem. I hardly let the dust settle with Christian before getting involved with Graham. But she didn’t know about Christian. She wanted new details. I decided to go ahead and spill.

“I met a guy when I went home who was nice, but you know how those things go. I live down here now. We kept it light.”