Something to Talk About(77)
“Sure.”
“Because it’s not a big deal?”
“It is a big deal,” Avery said. “I’m just letting it go because I’m a good sister. I’ll bother you about it after your trip.”
“You’re an okay sister,” Emma said.
Avery pointed the wooden spoon in her hand at Emma. “If you’re going to be like that, I’ll bother you about it right now.”
Emma giggled. “No, no, you’re a great sister, the best sister.”
“Better.”
Dylan and the twins arrived then, and Emma was glad to put the discussion aside to greet them and help Dani and Ezra set the table for dinner.
* * *
—
After they ate and Emma got her fill of cuddling both the twins and the dogs, Avery walked her to the door and brought up Jo again.
“I know I’ve teased you about it forever, but you’re allowed to have a crush on her, you know?” she said.
Emma admitted nothing. “She has a girlfriend. And she’d never date an employee anyway.”
“You’re not going to be an employee soon,” Avery reminded her.
“Exactly,” Emma said. “Any crush I might have on her doesn’t matter. She’s going to move to Agent Silver and I’ll stay with Innocents and we won’t even see each other. It’ll be fine.”
“How do you feel about that? About not seeing each other?”
Awful.
When Emma didn’t actually reply, Avery sighed.
“Have fun on your trip,” she said. “Try to get some work done instead of just making out the whole time.”
“This is why I didn’t tell you,” Emma said.
“I know,” Avery said. “But you still love me.”
“Do I?” Emma asked. She immediately felt bad, threw herself back over the threshold for another hug. “I do.” She squeezed her sister tight. “Okay, I’m going now.”
20
EMMA
Emma spent half the flight to Calgary going over her notes for the trip: their itinerary, the locations they were scouting, the restaurants she’d researched. She only stopped when Jo leaned over and touched her shoulder gently.
“How’s the trip look?” Jo asked.
“Oh, everything’s set, boss,” Emma said. “The car service will be waiting by the time we get our bags, and we’ll head immediately to the hotel to check in. We’ll have to grab lunch pretty quickly before . . .”
She trailed off, noticing Jo looking at her with something like a smirk on her face.
“Did you not want to know about the trip?” Emma asked.
“You’ve been going over everything for an hour, Emma,” Jo said. “Take a break. It’s a two-day trip. I know the itinerary. I know everything’s going to be fine and you don’t need to go over it for the fifteenth time.”
Emma colored slightly. She liked to be prepared was all.
“I appreciate you being thorough,” Jo said. “But balance that against stress, because I promise there’s nothing to be stressed over. It’s going to be an easy trip.”
It was their last trip together. Emma’s chest clenched, and she remembered their most recent trip, to upfronts. Remembered her asthma attack and the way it had kicked up rumors about them. It had been months since she’d seen an article about herself. Emma didn’t know why whoever was leaking had suddenly stopped after Barry Davis’s visit, or if maybe they just really thought Jo and Emma had broken up.
Did the leak notice how Emma and Jo sometimes seemed like they were on eggshells around each other now? She didn’t know if anyone else could even tell, but she could. They were good, for the most part, but when they talked about Jo moving on, Emma getting promoted, there was always this undercurrent of something Emma didn’t really understand.
But whatever. Emma could relax. For the rest of the flight, she and Jo watched sitcoms on the TVs in the backs of the seats in front of them. Jo’s nose crinkled when she laughed. Emma wasn’t stressed at all.
* * *
—
As Emma had said there would be, there was a car waiting to take them straight to their hotel, where their rooms were across the hall from each other. Emma unpacked her suitcase and changed into warmer clothes. December in Calgary had her happily bundled into layers.
Not much later, there was a knock on her door. Emma checked the peephole to see Jo, her hair in a thick braid over one shoulder. When Emma opened the door, Jo grinned at her.
“Lunch?” she said.
She was dressed for the weather, too, a scarf around her neck and knee-high boots. She held a herringbone coat folded over one arm.
“Sure,” Emma said. “Let me grab my coat.”
“I know you’re all about the food when we go on trips,” Jo said as Emma retrieved her coat. “Did you run across that Vietnamese place a few blocks away?”
“Absolutely,” Emma said, too excited at the prospect of Vietnamese to be embarrassed about her restaurant-researching habit she’d thought was private. “I wanted to try that one the most.”
Jo led the way out of the hotel, Emma at her side. When they found the restaurant, the smell from the sidewalk had Emma’s mouth watering. It only got better inside.