Uncharted Page 14

When they arrived at her place, she tried to get him to come up for coffee, but he declined.

  “I had a long day, and I have an even longer one tomorrow,” he explained.

  “But it’s the weekend…”

  “Yeah, and I have things planned. I’ll see you Monday,” he said as he reached across her to open the door from the inside. He didn’t feel like making the effort to get out and go around the car to open it.

  Stephanie smiled at him. “Ok, see you Monday.” She threw a kiss on his mouth before he could avoid it.

  Emmerick drove away before Stephanie made it to her door. He couldn’t wait to get home and in the shower, although he wouldn’t be needing a cold one. He wasn’t sure if it was because of how aggressive and forward she was or because she wasn’t Kennedy, but Stephanie didn’t do it for him. It felt good, just not that good.

  When he got home, Emmerick cracked open another beer. He couldn’t get Kennedy out of his head. It had been over a year since she had disappeared, and he still thought about her almost every day.

  The more he thought about her, the angrier he got, and the angrier he got, the more he drank. He drank to forget, although there were days when it didn’t work. He eventually passed out on the couch, thinking about what he would do if he ever found her again.

  He didn’t wake up the next morning until late afternoon. His phone was ringing.

  After the third ring, his hand finally found it on the table. “Yeah?” he croaked.

  “Rough night?”

  Emmerick sat up and looked at the clock; it was practically dinner time. “Yeah. Who is this?”

  “Dude, it’s Kyle.”

  “Oh, hey. What’s going on?”

  “How’d things go with that hot chick last night? What was her name?”

  “Stephanie. I took her home.” Emmerick forced himself to get up. He desperately needed water.

  “Right, Stephanie. I bet she was freaky. How was it?”

  Emmerick filled a glass with water and poured some on his cactus before gulping down the rest. “How was what?”

  “After you took her home…” Kyle thought it was funny that Emmerick was having trouble following along.

  “Oh, no, I just dropped her off. I didn’t go up.”

  “That sucks.”

  “Not really. She threw herself at me in the car. Wasn’t really feeling it,” Emmerick explained.

  “Ah, not into the hooker type?” Kyle laughed.

  “You could say that.”

  “Well, we’re thinking about heading back to that bar tonight if you want to come.”

  Emmerick jumped at the invite. “Absolutely. I need a good distraction. Maybe a blonde one…”

  Kyle snickered. “I’m sure we’ll be able to find one.”

  “All right man, I’ll see you later.”

  “Later.”

  Emmerick hung up the phone and got in the shower. When he was finished, he got dressed and went out for breakfast. He ate at the counter and then headed straight for the bar.

  None of his friends were there when he arrived. He grabbed a table in the middle of the bar and ordered a beer. No shots tonight, he told himself.

  By the time his friends started showing up, there were already three empties on the table. When Patrick and his girlfriend Sara arrived, they had a girl with them who Emmerick had never met, a blonde. Apparently Kyle had given Patrick a call.

  Her name was Emilee, and she was one of Sara’s friends. She was sweet and shy, perfect for Emmerick. He flirted with her and she blushed. He pounded down beer after beer and she barely touched hers. Sara broke out her camera as usual and started taking pictures of everyone.

  Emilee shied away from the camera while Emmerick hogged it. Only when he was drunk was he such a ham. Sara managed to catch a few great moments when Emmerick would catch one of his buddies off guard, and their expressions would be priceless.

  Toward the end of the night, Patrick pulled Emmerick aside and suggested that he start sobering up so he could offer to take Emilee home. It hadn’t occurred to Emmerick, but he did like the idea.

  By the time everyone was leaving, Emmerick’s world had stopped spinning. He offered Emilee a ride and she accepted.

  When they got to her house, she did not invite him in, so Emmerick offered to walk her to the door. He could tell that she was much too shy to take any initiative.

  At the door, Emilee gave him a smile, avoiding eye contact.

  Emmerick grabbed her chin and looked her in the eye. “Hey, I had a great time tonight.”

  “Yeah, me too,” she responded. There was an awkward pause before she continued. “Well, I better get inside. Thanks for the ride.”

  Emmerick didn’t reply, he merely gave her a crooked smile and a kiss on the cheek.

  As he walked away, Emilee touched her cheek where his lips had made contact.

  * * *

  When Emmerick came into work on Monday, he went straight to his dad’s office.

  “Hey Dad, do you have a minute?” he asked from the door.

  “Emmerick.” Jim’s voice was stern.

  “Sorry, Jim,” Emmerick corrected himself. “Can we talk?”

  “Sure thing. Come in. Take a seat.”

  Emmerick sat down in the chair in front of his father’s desk. He remembered going there during the summer when he was little. Whenever he became too rambunctious for the secretary to handle, he’d have to sit in this chair under his dad’s watchful eye.

  “I can’t work here anymore.”

  Jim looked slightly disappointed. “Why not?”

  “It isn’t me. I don’t enjoy the work and it just isn’t my kind of atmosphere.”

  “Are you sure you’ve given it enough time? What about trying another position?” Jim bargained.

  “No, Da…I mean Jim. I don’t think taking another position will help. I know you wanted me to carry on the family business, but it just isn’t for me. This is more the kind of thing for Emma or Rachel.”

  “I’m not going to lie to you Emmerick, I’m a little disappointed.”

  Emmerick hung his head low. He hated disappointing his family.

  “What will you do for work?”

  “I don’t know. I was thinking I’d take a little time off—”

  Jim cut him off, “Not another bike tour?”

  Emmerick’s thoughts instantly went to Kennedy and her road trip. “No, Dad, I just need some time to figure out what I want to do.”

  “All right, son. You know your mother and I support you fully. We want you to be happy.”

  “I know.”

  “But you’re getting to an age where you need to get your act together. Get settled in your life.”

  “Dad…” Emmerick pleaded.

  “No, Emmerick. You need to hear this.” He paused to make sure Emmerick wouldn’t interrupt. “You’ve been partying a lot lately. I understand you’re in your twenties and having fun, but you need to think about your future. Find yourself a wife and a career.”

  “It’s not that easy to find a wife, Dad.”

  “No, not when you’re comparing all the women you meet to Kennedy.”

  Emmerick was in disbelief. “What in the hell does Kennedy have to do with this?!”

  “Everything, Emmerick, everything. It’s been almost two years. It’s time to move on. You can’t compare everyone you meet to her. She’s out of your life. Accept it.”

  Emmerick stood. “You’re ridiculous. What if someone told you to forget about mom?” he shot back.

  “That’s completely different, Emmerick. Your mother and I—”

  “No! It isn’t different! If Kennedy hadn’t left, we’d still be together. She’s it for me, and I can’t have her, so my apologies if I’m trying to find someone who can hold a candle to my perfect match.”

  “If she was your perfect match, she wouldn’t have left you. She wouldn’t have taken off without a goodbye and no way to track her down.” Jim didn’t want to be mean. He didn’t want to hurt h
is son, but he knew that it had to be said.

  Emmerick opened his mouth to retort but was too angry. He left his dad’s office. On his way out, Stephanie was coming in.

  “Oh, hey Rick.”

  Emmerick used his foul mood as an excuse to be rude. “My name is not Rick. I hate being called Rick, and I didn’t even mean to ask you on a date last Friday. I was trying to be nice and it came across wrong. I do not want to date you. I never have. You’re too…too…trashy for me. I like women with class.”

  Stephanie’s eyes watered over.

  As soon as he saw that, he felt guilty. He wanted to apologize and explain his mood, but she took off down the hall. It was so out of character for him to act that way. It definitely wasn’t how he was raised, but he figured the damage was done and it would only give her the wrong impression if he made the effort to rectify the situation.

  * * *

  He spent the next few weeks in and out of bars. He saw Emilee a few more times, but it never went very far. She didn’t like how drunk he was getting, and got embarrassed by his antics. A lot of his friends were too. It wasn’t long before he was bar hopping on his own.

  The Journey

  Months had passed since Kennedy’s road trip sequence finished. The readers still enjoyed the shorter stories, but they seemed to prefer the length of the first series. Paige decided that in the future she would mix in longer trips with the short ones.

  The trip she was to take with her girlfriends still had not happened. It was to be one of the longer trips, and that had caused delays. If they weren’t having scheduling conflicts, someone got sick or something came up at the last minute.

  Kennedy wanted to make sure her three friends were comfortable with each other before they left. In the time leading up to each planned trip, she made sure to get them all together. It was proving to be a success, just as she had predicted.

  The weekend before the trip was to finally take place, Kennedy thought it would be a good idea to have a slumber party. After all, they would all be sharing rooms for a few weeks.

  Mary was the first to arrive at Kennedy’s apartment. It was the first time she had ever been there.

  “Hey Mary!” Kennedy greeted her at the door and helped her with her bag. “Jen and Abs aren’t here yet.”

  “No? I thought I was running late.”

  Kennedy laughed. “Yeah, but not as late as they are. I was just trying to figure out what to do about dinner. I’m thinking we’ll end up just having to get pizza.”

  “Fine by me.” Mary was a bit distracted taking in the apartment. “You weren’t kidding when you said there was a lot of color.”

  “I told you! Here, let’s take the tour.” Kennedy showed Mary where everything was and told her that she could help herself to anything in the kitchen at any time. She was a firm believer in treating her guests like family, and family was allowed to raid the fridge and cupboards at their leisure.

  They got settled in the living room and waited for Jen and Abbey to arrive. Jen came only twenty minutes after Mary, but Abbey took a good extra hour to get there.

  When Kennedy opened the door for Abbey, she gave her a hard time. “What the deuce, Abs?”

  “Sorry! I know, I know, I’m way late. I lost track of time.” She threw her stuff in Kennedy’s bedroom.

  Jen teased, “Well you missed dinner. Kennedy treated us to a nice steak dinner at the Chop House. We had reservations and couldn’t wait for you.”

  Abbey looked between the three girls trying to determine if Jen was telling the truth.

  Mary stifled a laugh. “She’s kidding! We’re about to order pizza.”

  “Yeah, Abs, did you really think I could afford to treat all of you to the Chop House?”

  Abbey laughed at herself. “I guess I’m just not thinking.” Abbey was always the scatter-brained friend. She always had something going on, and usually more than one thing at a time.

  Jen ordered the pizza and Kennedy got out the shot glasses. They changed into their pajamas and crowded around the liquor bottle on the coffee table. Abbey was finishing her explanation about what she had been doing that caused her to be so late when the pizza guy arrived.

  “So, I told him, I can’t do this anymore. He’s annoying, childish, and I don’t have time for that.”

  “Wow, tad harsh, don’t ya think, Abs?” Kennedy asked as she buzzed the pizza guy in.

  “Well, I’ve been dating the guy for two weeks. I already told him he had to get his act together. I’m not going to waste my time with a mooch.” Abbey followed Kennedy to the door.

  When the pizza guy knocked, Jen ran to the door and answered it before the others could. She liked to torture pizza guys with shameless, exaggerated flirting.

  When she opened the door, she ran her hand up the edge of the doorway. “Hi there.”

  “Um, hi. $25.36.”

  Jen was surprised to find that the pizza guy was actually good looking. Usually they were middle aged men or dorky college students. She almost lost her nerve, but when she glanced at Kennedy, she knew she wouldn’t live it down if she didn’t keep going.

  “Is our pizza hot?”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “Is it really hot? Like, melt in your mouth, hot?”

  “Sure.”

  “What if I burn my tongue?” She pressed her finger to her bottom lip and pulled it down ever so slightly.

  “Uuuhhhh…”

  Kennedy seized his moment of incoherence. She put an arm around Jen’s waist. “Don’t worry, babe. I can help you with that.” She handed the pizza guy his money. “Thanks. You’ve been most helpful.”

  He opened his mouth to speak as she closed the door, but it shut before he could get anything out.

  The girls laughed uncontrollably.

  “Now that’s just mean!” Mary said through her laughter.

  Abbey replied, “That’s Jen.”

  “Hey, he was actually a cute one, Abbey. You should go catch up to him and get his number. Maybe he’ll last longer than two weeks.”

  “Oh, ha ha.”

  “Seriously, he was super cute.” Jen started pouring another round of shots.

  “I know someone cuter.” Mary interjected.

  Jen passed out the shots. “Oh man, Mary’s been holding out on us.”

  “No, not me. Kennedy’s been holding out.”

  They took their shots before Jen questioned Kennedy. “Who is she talking about?”

  “I have no idea. I think maybe Mary’s reached her drinking limit. She is a light-weight.”

  Mary laughed. “Oh come on, Kennedy. You’ve shown me pictures. He is definitely hotter than the pizza guy.”

  “Who is?” Even Abbey’s curiosity was sparked.

  Mary explained, “You guys know him as Steve, but his real name is…M something.”

  “Emmerick,” Kennedy whispered.

  “The dude from your road trip?” Jen turned to Kennedy. “I didn’t think you had any photos.”

  Mary answered before Kennedy could, “Oh, she has photos.”

  “Now you have to show us. It’s captured Abbey’s interest.” Jen gestured to Abbey, who was barely paying attention anymore.

  “Fine, fine.” Kennedy grabbed a photo album off a bookcase. She hadn’t looked at the photos in almost a year, but she had no trouble finding the ones of him.

  She handed the album to Jen, who sat in between Abbey and Mary.

  “Oh my God, Kennedy. He’s gorgeous! Look at that smile!” Jen pretended to fan herself.

  “Yeah, well. It didn’t work out. He was arrogant and cocky, and—” She didn’t know how to finish her thought.

  Abbey could tell that Kennedy didn’t want to keep talking about Emmerick, so she changed the subject. “Who wants to play Monopoly?”

  Kennedy jumped on the opportunity for distraction. “I do! Loser takes a super shot!”

  “You’re on.” Abbey stole the photo album out of Jen’s hands and put it back on the shelf while retrieving the
game.

  “What’s a super shot?” Mary inquired.

  Jen explained, “You mix together all the liquors you have into a shot glass, and voilà, super shot.”

  “That sounds disgusting.”

  “It’s really not as bad as it sounds.”

  The game took much longer than it should have because they kept getting sidetracked with their conversation. Mary asked how three people as different as them managed to become such close friends, and the conversation just continued from there.

  In the end it was Jen who lost the game and had to do a shot of Jack Daniels, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, and Jim Beam. “I haven’t had this many guys at one time since college!” she joked.

  Mary turned to Kennedy. “She’s kidding, right?”

  “Yeah.” Kennedy laughed. “I think.” She clinked her water glass with Jen’s shot glass and then took a sip from it as Jen downed her shot.

  Kennedy threw in a movie and they all got comfortable in their sleeping bags. It was barely twenty minutes into the movie before they all fell asleep.