Uncharted Page 17

  He paused to take a drink of his water before continuing. “Rachel, I appreciate you trying to come to my rescue, but I really did deserve everything Claire was saying. I, I screwed up.” He turned to Claire.

  She was glaring at him. She hadn’t put any food on her plate.

  “Eat, Claire, please.”

  She slowly took her eyes off of him and started putting food on her plate.

  “I’m so incredibly sorry, Claire. You were right, as usual. I don’t know what got into me. I guess I was just trying to do what all of you told me to do.” He paused awkwardly before continuing. “To forget her. I was just going about it in the worst way possible, and it didn’t even work. And, I became something that I wasn’t proud of in the meantime. I became someone she couldn’t be proud of, someone none of you could be proud of, and that’s just not me.”

  Emmerick took a moment to look at everyone around the table. Rachel and his mom were just about in tears and Jim was somber looking, but Claire wore the same expression she had before. Emmerick frowned.

  “What can I do, Claire? What can I do to make it right?” he asked.

  Claire took a moment to think it over. “Don’t do it ever again.” She paused. “And grow up.”

  Emmerick smiled.

  It was contagious; Claire followed suit.

  “I am. Promise.” He finally started putting food on his own plate.

  Everyone’s mood lightened, and it wasn’t long before Claire and Emmerick were teasing Rachel about how much she was eating.

  “Sure, blame it on being pregnant!” Claire said in an exaggerated voice.

  “Why don’t you get pregnant and see how much you eat!” Rachel defended herself.

  Emmerick jumped in. “I think that would be a medical miracle if I were to get pregnant!”

  * * *

  Claire stayed over after everyone else had left. She helped Emmerick clear the table and wash the dishes while he quizzed her about her life. He asked about her job and where she had to travel for it. Claire wanted to tell him more about her trip to Ann Arbor, more about meeting up with Kennedy and how she didn’t just disapprove of his behavior, how it seemed like Kennedy was still hung up on him. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. She had promises to keep, and no matter how much Kennedy still thought about Emmerick, Claire was sure she would never try to contact him. No reason to potentially hinder his recovery before it had a chance to begin.

  They talked for hours and hours. Emmerick stretched and yawned in an effort to stay awake and Claire noticed.

  “Well, I better take off. It’s pretty late.”

  “You…” He yawned. “Sure? You don’t have to go.”

  Claire laughed. “I can’t say that I really want to hang around and watch you sleep, Em.”

  He smiled. “Yeah all right,” he said. He walked her to the door. “Hey, thanks for coming. I really am sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Em. As long as you truly are going to change your ways, I can forgive you. And thanks for dinner. It was fantastic. Haven’t eaten that good in a long time.”

  “I’m so going to tell mom you said that. See if she’ll still cook for you after that,” he teased.

  “Good night, Em.”

  “Night Claire.” He hugged her then closed the door as she walked down the hall.

  Emmerick barely made it to his bed before falling asleep. He didn’t understand why he was so tired until he caught a glimpse of the clock before closing his eyes; it was only a few hours until sunrise.

  The next afternoon, after Emmerick finally rolled out of bed, he filled out all the applications and returned them to the various stores. He was glad he woke up so late in the day; otherwise he would have just been stuck sitting around waiting for time to pass before he could meet his friends at the bowling alley.

  After showering, he dug his bowling ball out of the closet and blew the dust off the top of the bag. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Seeing himself in the towel reminded him of the time he’d come out of the shower and Kennedy was in his room. Thinking of Kennedy reminded him of his pain over her decision to leave without a whisper of a goodbye, and it brought on the “need” for a drink.

  He shook the thoughts out of his head and got dressed. He still had some time before he had to meet up with everyone at the bowling alley, so he cleaned up a bit and headed to a flower shop to get a small bouquet of carnations. Carnations are just friendly flowers, right?

  He thought about it while driving across town to the alley. Carnations were the flowers they sold at school before dances, for the awkward exchange between a guy and the girl he asked to the dance. Maybe they were more than just friendly, but he meant for them to be only friendly. He realized it may have been better to go with sunflowers or daisies. No, not daisies, those are Kennedy’s flower.

  When he arrived at the bowling alley, all of his friends were already there, Emilee included. She looked skeptical.

  Emmerick approached her with a hug and quick kiss on the cheek. “Hey.”

  “Hi.” She was timid, holding Kyle’s hand.

  “I heard about you and Kyle.” He smiled. “I don’t know how you did it, but I gotta thank you for turning him into a better man.”

  “Um, thanks…” She glanced at Kyle. He was pretending like he wasn’t paying any attention.

  “Can we take a walk?”

  She considered it, and after she decided that he really did seem sincere, she agreed.

  Once he led her outside, he handed her the flowers. “These are for you.”

  “Emmerick, why—”

  “They’re part of the apology. When we met, I was in a bad place. A really bad place. Not even someone as great as you could pull me out of it. I know I was a total ass and an embarrassment, and for that I just want to apologize. I’m really not that guy. Not even close.” He spit it out so fast it was barely coherent.

  “Then why were you acting that way?”

  “Would you believe me if I told you it was because of a girl?” He laughed slightly. “The guys have no idea. I’ve barely even mentioned her to them.”

  “What girl?”

  “Did Kyle tell you about the road trip we took? On our bikes?”

  “He mentioned it, but he didn’t say anything about any girls…” she trailed off.

  “Well there weren’t any girls, there was a girl, and I’m the only one who met her. We passed her on the highway and then ran into her at a diner. The guys kept driving, but I stayed behind, introduced myself to her, and basically just hijacked her trip.”

  Emilee looked slightly horrified.

  Misreading the reason behind her expression, Emmerick added, “She was traveling alone taking a cross country road trip. I met her a few weeks into it.”

  “Are you kidding? You hijacked the trip of a complete stranger? A female stranger?” She was almost yelling. “That’s so wrong, Emmerick. The poor girl was probably terrified you were going to rape her or something.”

  “Ooohhh, no, no, no...it wasn’t like that at all. I would never do that.”

  “I know you would never do that, but she couldn’t have known that.”

  Emmerick sighed. “I guess you’re right, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t feel that way. Anyway, so I was with her for over a month, and I fell for her completely, and I thought she felt the same, but when it started getting a little more serious, she bolted on me. Without a goodbye. I woke up and she was gone.”

  Emilee didn’t respond.

  “And, anyway, it really affected me. She never gave me her number or told me where she was from. She wouldn’t even give me a last name. Now I have no idea where she is or what she’s doing other than what little bit Claire will tell me.”

  “Wait. Claire?” Emilee was confused.

  “She’s my sister. It’s a long story, but somehow or another she and Kennedy became friends and they keep in touch.”

  “So let me get this straight. You fell in love with a girl you barely knew, who o
bviously didn’t want you to know too much about her, she is friends with your sister but won’t let Claire talk to you about her, and you’ll never be able to find her or talk to her again, so you tried to drink your misery away and instead turned into a total ass?”

  “In essence.” He smiled. It felt good to have someone on the outside understand. Claire was too connected to it to give Emmerick any perspective.

  “Well, I can see why you haven’t told any of this to the guys. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I guess I can understand.” She didn’t sound completely convinced.

  “So I’m forgiven?” He gave her an over exaggerated pleading look.

  “I guess. Just don’t act like that around me anymore.”

  “Deal,” Emmerick agreed.

  While they made their way back to the building, Emmerick asked Emilee about her relationship with Kyle. By the time they got back to the group, everyone was already in the middle of a game. Emmerick acted as cheerleader for Patrick because Kyle and Sara were bowling so much better than him.

  The next round, they played on teams and Emmerick insisted they break off by couple and he would play with Patrick and Sara because otherwise it would be Kyle and Emilee against just Sara.

  When they were bowled out, Emmerick suggested that they all go to his place for dinner. “It’s only a couple of miles away.”

  Kyle was the first to speak up. “Yeah, all right. But no pizza, okay? Let’s do Chinese or something.”

  Emmerick laughed. He forgot that his friends didn’t know he could cook and they had never eaten over. “I promise, no pizza, but I’m not really feeling the Chinese.”

  He told everyone how to get there, and when they arrived he showed them around briefly before heading to the kitchen.

  Patrick was the first to notice. “Hey Em, need some help finding the take-out menus?”

  Emmerick laughed as he walked into the living room. “No. No take-out tonight.”

  Kyle was practically rolling on the floor in hysterics. “Are you wearing an apron? Should we call you Emmy, then?”

  “Oh, ha ha, you’re so funny. Do you want food or not?” he asked as he returned to the kitchen.

  “Can he actually cook?” Sara asked Patrick.

  “I have no idea; he never has for me. Kyle?”

  “No, man. Never. Emilee?”

  “Oh, yeah right. He was a huge ass the few times we went out, but he made sure to cook me dinner.”

  “Oh, right, good point.” Kyle felt stupid for asking.

  “Well, maybe we should go in there in case he needs help,” Sara suggested.

  “Yeah, help putting out the fire so he doesn’t burn this place down,” Kyle joked.

  By the time they made it into the kitchen, Emmerick already had water boiling and was adding meat to an already hot pan.

  “Dude,” Kyle said, “you look like you actually know what you’re doing.”

  Patrick chimed in, “It’s not that hard to make burgers, Kyle.”

  “This isn’t burgers, Pat.” He paused as he brushed a glaze over the meat. “Why are you all in here anyway? Come to make fun of me more for my apron?”

  “Naw, man. The girls thought you might need some help. Well, Sara did at least.”

  Sara shot daggers at Kyle for calling her out.

  Emmerick laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I have it covered. You don’t have to stay in here.”

  Sara surprised everyone by being the first to respond with an insult to Kyle. “I think it will be more entertaining to see this than to hang out in the living room and watch Kyle burp the national anthem.”

  “Huh. Good point. Make yourself comfortable.” Emmerick smiled.

  “Dude, what’s with the cactus?” Kyle was pointing at a small cactus on the kitchen counter.

  “Just a little memento from my road trip,” he answered without looking up from his chopping.

  “Ok, but why is it in your kitchen?”

  Emmerick looked up at him with a grin. “It’s the heart of the home.” He turned his back to Kyle hoping he wouldn’t press it further.

  It worked.

  His friends went about their conversations as Emmerick finished cooking. There was an occasional sideways glance to make sure nothing was on fire that shouldn’t be. All of them just about held their breath in disbelief when he pulled a liquor bottle out of the cabinet and poured a shot, and they barely managed to start breathing again after he poured it over the meat and lit it on fire.

  He made up everyone’s plates before serving them at the table. The boys poked at it a few times while waiting for Emmerick to join them, and the girls eyed their plates suspiciously.

  Emmerick sat down across from Sara. “Well, dig in!”

  They all looked around at each other, each waiting for the other to take the first taste.

  “Really?” Emmerick sighed. “No one is brave enough to take the first bite?”

  No one answered his rhetorical question.

  “Do I have to take the first bite? Show you I won’t keel over or spit it out?”

  “Couldn’t hurt,” Patrick replied.

  Emmerick rolled his eyes before taking a bite off his plate. He chewed deliberately and swallowed loudly. “Happy? Now eat!”

  Slowly, one by one, they picked up their silverware and tried his cooking. Emmerick watched as their faces turned from terrified anticipation to pleasant surprise.

  Again, Sara was the first to comment. “Wow Emmerick! This is really good!”

  He blushed a little. It was the most enthusiastic response his cooking had ever received. “Thanks.”

  The rest of the group mumbled their agreement.

  “Who knew?”

  “Never would have guessed.”

  “Weird.”

  Emmerick interrupted the chatter. “Wait, did someone just say ‘weird?’”

  Kyle laughed. “Yeah. It’s weird that you can cook.”

  “Why?”

  “You’re a guy.”

  “So?”

  “And you’ve never cooked for us before.”

  “Maybe I knew you’d react like this.”

  Sara tried to diffuse the situation. “Where’d you learn to cook like this?”

  “My mom. She’s a better cook than I am. Well, I think so. Claire disagrees.”

  “You didn’t go to school for it?”

  “One semester of home ec. in high school. Does that count?”

  Sara laughed. “No, that doesn’t count. That is unbelievable. You’re untrained and still this good of a cook. You should check out the culinary institute in Pittsburgh.”

  Emmerick laughed, along with Kyle. “Yeah right. Cooking school.”

  Sara was a little offended by his reaction to her suggestion. “Yeah. Why not? You’re a good cook, Emmerick. Why not become a great chef? You could work at a five star restaurant or something.”

  Emmerick changed the subject. “So Patrick, when are you two love birds finally tying the knot?” His plan worked flawlessly from there. The spotlight switched to Patrick and Sara, who were more than willing to talk about their wedding plans.

  The subject of Emmerick’s cooking did not come up again the rest of the night, despite the fact that everyone cleaned their plates with Kyle all but licking his clean. Emmerick couldn’t help but think about what Sara said. Pittsburgh’s culinary institute. What was she thinking?

  The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. Maybe she was onto something. He liked to cook, that was definite. Then there was the fact that he had yet to find a job he really enjoyed doing.

  “What do you say, Emmy?”

  Great, looks like a new nickname has been adopted. “About what, Ky-ky?” he threw back.

  Patrick answered him. “Going to Cedar Point next weekend.”

  “Oh. Yeah, sure. It’s been forever since I’ve been there.”

  “Awesome. We’ll pick you up early Saturday morning.”

  “All right.”

  Emmeri
ck noticed the girls had gathered their purses and the guys were escorting them to the door.

  “Thanks for dinner Em,” Sara said. Everyone else echoed her sentiment. “It was great.”

  “No problem. Thanks for coming, and being brave enough to try it.” He winked.

  Once everyone was out the door, Emmerick headed into the kitchen to clean up. He couldn’t believe the time. It didn’t seem like everyone had been over for so long.

  Before going to bed, he went online to do a little research on Sara’s idea. It wasn’t long before he made up his mind to go to the school to check it out. He would decide what to do next when he got there.

  The Wedding

  “I can’t believe you’re moving! Did he brainwash you or something?”