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Emmy’s eyes widen, a puzzled look spreads across her face. I accidentally let her gaze catch mine, and she stops counting the cash midway through the ones—half a stack of singles hang limp in each hand. “Whoa, dude, you look like hell. What happened to you?” Emmy shouts.
“Hey, could you tone your voice down a notch? I had a rough night.”
“You think. What happened, Max? I’ve never known you to be late for work.”
“It’s only twenty minutes.” I frown.
“Twenty-two minutes.” Emmy says, pointing at the time on the register. “So, what’s the story? Are you going to tell me why you look like death warmed up?”
“Eh, I did something stupid last night. Remember, I vaguely told you about the last girl I dated? How she was horrible.”
“Yes.” Emmy nods, encouraging me to continue.
“Well, I just found out that she’s getting married.”
“And let me guess, it sent you running for the bottle?”
“Yep, pathetic, I know.”
Emmy sets the cash back in the drawer and reaches out toward me. She begins to softly rub my arm. “It’s not pathetic, Max.”
Her touch stirs up the unwanted memory of seeing her photo last night and the feelings that came along with it. I take a shy step back, no longer within her reach.
“From what you told me, it sounds like she wasn’t very kind. But it’s normal to have those kinds of thoughts when someone moves on. So, how’d you find out? Someone call you and tell you?”
I tuck my chin into my neck. “No, I found her on social media.”
“Dang, dude, what were you thinking? That’s never a good idea. Especially for you, the guy who doesn’t condone the use of these social sites—it’s the downfall of our society. Blah, blah, blah,” Emmy mocks me. “Seriously, Max, what were you thinking? Why, after all this time?” Emmy’s big, brown eyes lock on mine.
I turn away to avoid her accusatory stare.
Emmy is right.
I shouldn’t have done that.
I somehow went two years without knowing what was going on in Chrissy’s life. I told myself I wouldn’t look back. I couldn’t. I had to keep going forward.
So why did I have to torture myself last night?
I couldn’t tell Emmy the real reason that I was on the site. “I don’t know why—it was a huge lap in judgment. I’ll delete the app. It’s none of my business what she and her fiancé are up to.”
“I think that’s a good idea, Max. No good can come from online stalking your ex-girlfriend.”
I nod in agreement, but I’m not going to delete the app. I still need to find Record Store Girl, but I won’t look at Chrissy’s profile again. I can’t do that to myself.
“Oh, hey. Sorry to change subjects while you’re all sulky and stuff, but you know that guy you were asking about yesterday?” Emmy asks, tugging at her twisty tendrils.
“Ben?”
“Yes, that guy. He came back in last night.”
“Is that right?” I ask, my interest piqued.
“Yes, and he was hollering at Kade in the office. It got pretty heated. Customers were giving me concerned glares, Max, and I had to give them some lame excuse,” Emmy says, biting at her bottom lip with her two front teeth, resembling a little rabbit; it’s a habit that she has when she’s uncomfortable.
“Really? Could you tell what they were arguing about?”
“I couldn’t hear much, but it didn’t feel right. I think Kade is in trouble. I mean like if this Ben character was a friend, why would he come to his place of business to yell at him, why not meet him at the Rose Tavern after his shift or something like that? Whatever he wanted with Kade, it felt urgent.”
“Wow. That is super strange. Did Kade say anything to you? How was he after Ben left?”
“Nope. He didn’t bother to come out of his office until we closed. He left me on the sales floor alone on a Friday night and we were pretty busy too,” Emmy says, folding her arms across her chest, and pursing her lips into her classic Emmy pout.
“I’m sorry, Em, you should have called me. I would have come back in.”
“I didn’t want to go above Kade’s head like that,” Emmys says, shifting her pout to a frown.
“I get it. Kade is still the boss, but he’s not acting like it right now. I guess all we can do is keep an eye on him and see if things improve. I know he doesn’t like it when we butt into his life, but we might have to if he’s really in some kind of trouble.”
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull my phone out and a text from Kade flashes across my screen. “I think we have our answer, Emmy.” I respond, showing Emmy my screen.
Kade: Hey Max. Not coming in today.
Jake will cover my shift. Not feeling well.