Chapter 6

Em

They were on the way to the grocery store when Asher said:

“I know you were planning a menu, before everything happened. I got it from Aspen.”

Em smiled at him.

“And I know you were wanting to make that .. treacle pie dessert because it was your dad’s favorite… but you couldn’t find the right recipe for the one he made….”

Em looked over at him. She had wanted to make her dad’s dessert that he always made at Thanksgiving but every pin on P*******t that had the recipe was wrong, and she even looked through all her moms cookbooks and couldn’t find it.

“So I’ve been on like twenty websites this morning seeing if maybe one of them had the right one… I bookmarked them all..”. Asher said as he handed her his phone.

So that’s what he was doing on his phone all morning? Em suddenly wasn’t roiling her eyes at Asher, instead they were filling with tears at his thoughtfulness.

“Asher….” She started, but couldn’t get the words out.

He looked at her and grinned.

“It’s no biggie baby girl.”

But it was. It was huge. Asher was always doing things like this. She didn’t know how she would ever repay him for everything.

When she first moved here, it had been Asher who constantly pulled her out of her slump. Asher who constantly made her laugh and smile… and comfortable. He had helped her so much without even realizing. And he kept helping her now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They were running around the grocery store like two kids that had just eaten buckets of candy. She was having so much fun she almost had forgotten everything, that is until she saw Finley standing at the end of an aisle.

Finley, who was Quinn’s ex. They’d been together since they were kids… he had been her protector before he was Em’s. His own brother had attacked her when they were younger. Finley had tried everything in her power to keep Quinn away from Em.. including orchestrating a meeting between her and her ex, River. But then when Em was kidnapped by Quinn’s brother, the same brother that had abused Fin, she had been the one who tried to save Em. She had apologized…. and they were trying to all move forward.

But it was a lot to navigate.

She smiled and waved at them, so Em awkwardly waved back as Asher mumbled from the side of his mouth: “I’ll distract her while you run”.

Em swatted him playfully and laughed. She walked down to where Finley was standing.

“Hi.” Em said to her.

“Hey, y’all shopping for Thanksgiving?” Finley asked.

“Yep. Well.. we’re having a Friendsgiving,” Em explained.

“My family all live in New York so …”

“Oh okay that should be fun.” Fin said.

She stood awkwardly for a moment and then said:

“I was kind of wondering what you all were doing. I didn’t even know if we would for sure have one or not but now since Quinn and the boys are com…”

“Wait. What?” Em interrupted.

“Yeah so they’re all coming and mom and her boyfriend. Plus Lennon and a couple of my friends so it’s gonna be a houseful “. Finley nervously laughed.

Em just looked at her, not knowing what to say. Quinn was going to eat at her house for Thanksgiving?? Why?

“Well we better get back to it. It was good to see you Fin.” Em said as she turned and walked off back towards Asher.

“You too!” Fin called after her.

It was hard to imagine that her and Finley could ever be close friends. But they had shared trauma. They each had similar pasts. And they both loved the same boy.

When she got back to where Asher was standing he was staring down at her.. like he was asking if she was okay or not.

“Asher. Why is Quinn going to Thanksgiving with Finley?”

“Ermmmm about that…..” he started.

“That’s why? That’s why we’re doing this? Is because he’s spending the holiday with her? Why didn’t you tell me?” Em was a little hurt that Asher had kept this from her. And she also felt a little bummed.

For some reason it bothered her that Asher did this because he knew Quinn wouldn’t be there.. and instead would be with Finley. She had thought he was doing it just out of the goodness of his heart and because he wanted to hang out with her.

But why did it bother her? What difference did it even make? She didn’t know… and she was confused about her feelings. Was she more upset that Asher hadn’t told her, or more upset about what Quinn was doing…..

Or both?