Page 140 of Lessons In Grey

Ash glanced from me back towards Grey. “Yeah, Em, you told me all about her. Grey brought her here before he went to the conference.”

The memories slowly clicked into place, slight frustration filling me. “Right, right, sorry,” I giggled nervously. “Sorry, that memorywon’t stick. I don’t know why.”

“It’s okay,” she replied with a smile. “That’s okay. Come on, let’s set the table for dinner.”

And that was that. We slipped back into casual conversation about classes, finals, Grey and I watchingDoctor Who, and the date Syn and Ash had gone on on Wednesday.

The food was amazing, and everything felt easy. The conversation flowed without hitch, we laughed, and ate, and fed Sirius until she left to sleep on the back of the couch.

I loved it. I loved everything about it. It was easy and carefree, and I felt so happy.

“We should go dress shopping next weekend then,” Ash finally said as we leaned back against the island, drinking our third glass of wine while Grey rinsed dishes and Syn wiped down the counter.

“What’s the occasion?”

By the flash in her eyes, I knew that it was a conversation we had already had, but for the life of me, I couldn’t pull the memory. “The Charity Event,” she said easily. “You and Grey decided to go. We’re going to have a blast.”

My smile widened. “Oh my God, yes, of course. Next weekend sounds perfect, but I’ll have to call Charlie. She’s been so busy with work, maybe she can get the day off to come with us. She must have been working today, right? That’s why she didn’t come when you invited her?” I asked Grey. “I’ll have to call her.” She loved her job. She worked for this high-end fashion agency. She was the woman behind the curtains who helped set up fashion shows, put the right clothes on the right models. Her eye for fashion was unmatched in my opinion. It still appalled me that she decided to apply to the same college as me when all she had ever wanted to do was make it in the fashion world.

The entire room went silent.

Ash’s smile dropped, her eyes widening as she looked over to the others.

I followed her gaze, finding both Grey and Syn staring at me, worry and pain in their eyes.

I laughed nervously, a bad feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. “What?”

Grey shut off the water as Syn’s eyes locked with Ash’s.

“What is it?” I demanded, setting my glass down.

Grey turned towards me, his eyes darkened.

The fear I felt caused my stomach to twist as I looked between the three of them. “What?” I bit. “What? Did she get fired or something and not tell me? What is it?”

Ash set her glass down and slid her hand over mine, pulling my attention back to hers.

My head spun at the pain in her eyes, the water filling them. “Ash, what is it? Tell me. You can tell me.” Was this it? That feeling I had had for the last few days that I had forgotten something important. This had to be it.

I forgotten something about her that I should have remembered. If she had been fired, that was fine. It was fine. We could deal with that. I would help her through it. She was amazing, brilliant. She could find another agency to work for.

“Fuck,” Ash said, shaking her head, a tear sliding down her cheek. “Fuck, Em. I love you, I love you so much.”

My heart was thudding, and I ripped my hand from hers, the panic swimming through me. “What is it? What did I forget? Tell me, just…just tell me. I can take it. We can handle it. It’ll be fine, I promise, just tell me.”

Her throat bobbed, her jaw working. “Emily, on…” She licked her lips and shook her head, her voice thick. “On December 3rd, it was the one-year anniversary of the accident. You don’t…you don’t remember it?”

I shook my head, turning to Grey and Syn. Syn’s eyes were filled, her cheeks red, hands covering her mouth, and Grey was justwatchingme. Waiting. He was waiting, and there was anger in his eyes. “What accident?”

Ash glanced back to Grey, shaking her head. “I asked you if she was okay,” she breathed out. “You never said she forgot this.”

He shook his head. “She never told me when the date was. I only knew it was around Christmas.”

“Tell me what’s going on!” I snapped, unable to catch my breath. “What’s happening? Where is Charlie?” Why were they all looking at me like this, everything was fine.

Ash turned back to me, sniffing, tears dripping down her cheeks. “Emily, they died a year ago.”

My entire world stopped.