Page 57 of Christmas with Brother's Best Friends

I can’t go away until I know that she’s okay. I’ve never seen her like this before.

“You don’t seem fine,” I say as I try to brush her hair out of her face.

Emma angles her head away from me even more, making her hair fall back into place. “I’m fine, Josh.”

She tries to speak firmly through gritted teeth, but I can still hear the shakiness of her voice.

She doesn’t have to keep up appearances for me, though. She doesn’t have to hide herself.

“Let me help you up at least,” I tell her as I take her hand and her elbow, guiding her up to her feet. When she sways a little, I hold her waist, steadying her as my eyes finally land on her pale face.

She doesn’t look drunk. I don’t even smell any alcohol on her.

A muffled laugh sounds behind me. “Wow, what a lightweight.”

Emma’s face burns bright red from Stacy’s comment. She pulls away from me and brushes her hair away from her face, her eyes sinking to the ground in front of her. “I need to go.”

I step in front of her, keeping her from darting away. I’ll deal with Stacy later, but I need to make sure she’s okay. How can I let her walk away in this state? “What made you so sick? Did you drink too much?”

Emma screws her face up at me. “What? No, I didn’t drink anything!”

Her defensiveness makes me frown. She’s so distant from me, and I know we agreed to drift apart, but I don’t like this division. Ihateit.

“Okay, you didn’t drink anything,” I tell her, believing her. She would be acting differently if she did. My eyes scan her, watching the way she holds her stomach with one hand, while the other slightly shakes at her side.

She doesn’t look so good. Still beautiful but something is definitely wrong.

“Are you sick?” I ask her as I try to reach for her forehead to feel if she’s hot or not.

Emma pushes my hand away. “No. I don’t think so.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just worried about you,” I say, wishing that she would let me get closer to her. She’s acting like a trapped animal, skittish and guarded, like I’m going to hurt her.

“Don’t be,” Emma replies as she shakes her head. “I’ll be fine.”

“You just threw up in the bushes, Emma. That isn’t fine,” I point out, keeping my voice gentle to not piss her off even more. I’ve seen her be defensive with her parents but not like this.

Emma throws her hands up and grimaces at the sudden movement. “I didn’t drink too much. I’m not running a fever. I’m just…”

My eyebrows furrow in confusion when she trails off with a horrified look on her face, silence falling upon us. “Emma?”

Emma steps back from me, her face looking even paler than before somehow. She shakes her head, her eyes looking panicked, and whirls around to rush off.

“Emma, wait!” I call out to her, stepping forward to chase her down.

Stacy grabs my arm and yanks me back toward her. “Let her go before she throws up on you.”

As her voice bounces with laughter, my eyes narrow. How can she be so cold? She just saw someone I care about throw up in the bushes, and she thinks that it’s appropriate to laugh?

I jerk my arm away from her, making her laughter quickly die. “You think that was funny? You think she deserved to be laughed at?”

Stacy lets out a heavy sigh as she crosses her arms over her chest, her gold bracelets jangling. “Calm down, Josh. She just had too many drinks and hurled. We’ve all done it.”

I shake my head, remembering the paleness of Emma’s face. The panic in her eyes. Something is wrong, and she wasn’t drunk. “You don’t laugh at someone who’s going through a tough time. That’s basic human decency.”

Stacy scoffs at me. “You’re going to sit here and lecture me on basic human decency? Or do you want to meet SuperCare’s CEO and strike a deal for SyncUp?”

That’s the only reason why I showed up at The Ivy with her today. She promised to put me in contact with the CEO of a large telehealth company that I could persuade to use our platform for their remote workers.