Page 40 of The Love Chase
Maya simply rolled her eyes. “It’s not your life I’m meddling with, Els.”
“I still don’t think Emma would like—”
“So, Liam,” Maya repeated, ignoring her friend. “When are you going to wake up and see what’s right in front of you?”
Elsie put her face in her hands. “Oh boy.”
I blinked at her for a second. “I beg your pardon?”
“Emma.”
It was one word—one name—and yet it both eased something in me while making all my muscles clench tight.
“What about her?”
“You guys have been friends your whole lives.”
“Um, yes?” Thank you, Captain Obvious.
“And you’re telling me in all these years you’ve never—”
“Maya, I really think you should—” Elsie tried to interrupt.
“—had feelings for Emma?”
My stomach plummeted into the grass beneath my feet. “What?”
I glanced around, hoping there would be someone to take me away from this conversation, but Emma wasn’t back yet, and Maggie had wheeled herself to another table, talking with a couple from town.
Maya cocked her head. “In two decades of friendship, you’ve never thought of Emma in a more than friends way?”
Heat rushed into my cheeks. No, I hadn’t let myself. She was the one person I felt I could be myself around, the one person who always saw me. She meant too much to me to ever risk something as fleeting as feelings. Even if, lately, there were…stirrings of something that definitely felt more than friendly.
I cleared my throat. “She’s my best friend, Maya.”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t think I’m following.”
“You’re best friends. You two know everything about each other. You’ve stuck by each other’s sides through a lot of crap over the years—and a lot of romantic relationships don’t even have that. It would be simple for you two to take a step and give it a try.”
Date Emma? For real? Why is she suggesting this? Other than the occasional person in town joking with us about us getting married one day, we’d never paid it any attention. Neither of us had ever considered it or broached such a subject.
I’d admit—to myself only—that lately I’d started noticing things about Emma that I hadn’t ever before, like the way her eyes sparkled when the sunlight hit them just right, or the way she looked in her dress tonight. Emma had worn a lot of dresses in the last twenty years, but none of them had made my heart skip a beat like it did tonight.
But that was nothing. Just me appreciating that my best friend was beautiful. That was all.
It didn’t mean I had feelings for her, nor did it mean I was developing them either.
“Emma’s my best friend,” I repeated, lowering my voice so no one else would overhear us. “I don’t see her that way, and I’m sure she doesn’t see me that way either.” I can’t see her as more than a friend. I can’t risk our friendship.
Maya’s lips spread into a devious grin, and Elsie shot her a worried look.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Boy, Emma’s been gone a while. We should go check on her, don’t you think, Maya?” Elsie said, pulling Maya to her feet.
“Don’t be so quick to assume how Emma feels, Liam,” Maya said before Elsie finally succeeded in pulling her away, throwing over her shoulder, “Maybe you should ask her how she feels.”