Out of Breath (Breathing, #3)(102)

‘No,’ Evan laughed teasingly.

Sara shot him a look. ‘You’re an *, Evan.’ This caused Jared to chuckle. She stepped behind the stool to look at my painting, ‘Wow. That’s powerful.’

‘It’s not done yet,’ I said in a rush, fidgeting as her eyes scanned the strokes, swirling in apparent chaos.

‘But I like it,’ she said with a smile.

‘I know you guys just got here, but we’re going over to Nate’s. His mom invited us for dinner, if you want to come with us,’ Evan announced.

‘We are?’ I questioned. He clenched his teeth in apology, realizing we hadn’t truly discussed it.

‘We’ll go,’ Sara declared happily. ‘Come on, Em. I’ll pick out something for you to wear while you clean the paint off your … body.’

I glanced down and found paint splattered across any exposed skin between my shoulders and my knees. Evan laughed at my amazed reaction. ‘You are probably the most intense painter I’ve ever seen. I’ll clean up your stuff so you can get ready.’

‘Thanks,’ I said, and followed Sara into the house, trying not to touch anything.

‘Holy shit!’ she exclaimed upon entering the master bedroom. ‘I could live in this room and never leave.’

‘Pretty nice, huh?’ I agreed, bumping the bathroom door open with my hip. ‘Tell me about New Hampshire.’ I hollered to her as I shed my clothes to shower.

‘We’ll talk about it when you get out,’ she bellowed from somewhere deep within the closet. ‘You need dresses!’

‘No, you need me to need dresses!’

When I returned to the bedroom, wrapped in a towel with blotchy red skin from scrubbing the paint off, I found Sara seated on the chaise with her ankles crossed, texting. She set down her phone when she saw me. I inspected the white linen shorts and light blue halter top resting on the bed, and the wedge sandals on the floor beneath.

‘I wish you’d go dress shopping with me.’

‘Sara, please,’ I pleaded, not wanting to have this conversation.

‘I’m not giving up on you, Em.’ Her brows arched as her glossy lips quirked slightly.

‘Nice to have you back, Sara,’ I said, dressing in the clothes she’d set out for me. ‘Now talk.’

Sara sat on the end of the bed, peering up at me with twinkling eyes. ‘He showed up at the funeral.’ Her smile shone across her face.

‘I know that,’ I said impatiently, ‘but what happened? What did he say?’

‘We didn’t really get to talk until yesterday, because my father just about threw him out of the church when he saw him. So he basically harassed me with a million texts, begging to talk to me until I finally agreed to meet him at a bookstore. I think he wanted to meet there so I couldn’t scream at him.

‘Anyway, he told me about his dad, always putting business before everything else. I knew that. I mean, look what he did to you.’ My face tightened. ‘Sorry, that was a bad thing to say …’

‘Just keep going,’ I encouraged, not wanting to dwell on the fact that Stuart Mathews didn’t like me.

‘He was dating this girl, which made me want to throw up. But then you should’ve seen his face when I told him about Jean-Luc. So I guess we were both pretty stupid. His father kept dropping hints that Jared and this girl had a great future ahead of them together. Jared kept shrugging it off. But that’s what Stuart wanted, and so did the bitch in the photo. I should’ve known she was a conniving whore-bag when I saw that she was friends with Catherine Jacobs, who’s the biggest skank of them all.’

Sara noticed the colour drain from my face.

‘They didn’t date, Emma,’ Sara assured me in a rush. ‘Okay?’ I nodded, my skin still crawling at the presumption of them being intimate in any way.

‘She wanted in, and Stuart was giving her an in, scoring a pretty sweet deal with her father while he was at it. She made certain she wore her grandmother’s ring on her left hand at the party, and Stuart arranged for the reporter. The news of an ‘engagement’ was leaked upon sight of the ring, and it took Vivian a week to clear it up – but only after it was printed, thanks to Stuart’s influence. He’s such a dick.’ Sara clenched her teeth in disgust.

‘I’m so glad Vivian forced him to leave. And, Emma, she was so upset after what he’d done to you. My mom told me she and Vivian went to lunch last summer, and you came up. Vivian always questioned whether she did the right thing by keeping Evan close to home, away from you. But she blamed Stuart for his part in your leaving.’

I fought to keep my face even while she spoke, but my breath rippled with emotion. ‘What now?’

‘So … we’re together. And it’s amazing!’ Sara practically bounced on the bed. ‘Em, I was so paranoid to think that we wouldn’t be able to handle the distance. I mean … he’s it. He’s the only guy that makes me feel like I could do anything, and that I’m the most important person in the world. I’d never been in love until I met him. And I haven’t loved anyone since.’

She emanated happiness, and it looked beautiful on her.

‘That’s the best story you’ve ever told.’ She jumped up from the bed and hugged me, catching me off guard. I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing just as tight.