Page 93 of Fever Dream
I snort and look away, not wanting to fixate on what he might mean by that.
“Just keep Richard happy. Keep him off your back. And just make it through.”
“So keep Evelyn?” he asks flatly. “Through to the final episode?”
“You don’t have to like her. You just need to pretend like…” I grimace and shift in my seat. For some reason, I can’t stomach finishing that sentence. “I don’t know. Keep Richard happy. That’s the name of the game. And Evelyn’s presence makes Richard happy, so…”
Emmett nods as his finger swipes over my hand.
Several seconds of silence pass before he hits me with a blunt statement of his own.
“You should go on that date.”
Panic courses through me, my body snapping to attention. “What?”
“That Riley set up for you.” He nods, swallowing a couple of times before he speaks again. “I think that would be good. Safe. I don’t want you risking your future for… something that can’t happen.”
I regard him, recognizing he’s pushing me away. We both know this blind date isn’t what I want. But maybe it’s what I—we—need to do. To keep us both from crashing out and blowing up our lives.
“I don’t want to—”
“Jules, just go. Even once this charade is all over… per my contract I can’t publicly date anyone for a year. Until every episode has aired. And you deserve more than that. Better than that.”
I swallow. “But what if I—”
“We’re in the same shitty boat here, doll. You don’t have to do anything. You just have to try. Who knows? Maybe you’ll fall for how sweet he is.”
Emmett hits me with a smirk.
A sad smirk.
I only offer him a wooden nod. Hating this conversation, hating the way it feels, and kind of hating what it all means for us.
“Well, maybe when this is all over, I could try to kiss you again.”
Emmett just laughs. It’s a dry, brittle laugh. “Jules, that’s sweet of you, but I know how this goes. By the time I see this thing through, you’ll be over me. Hell, you might even hate me. For your sake, I hope you move on to someone better.”
His words are a punch to the gut. Not because they’re true. Not for me. But for him, they are. He believes there is someone better than him for me.
And that kills me.
We eat our omelets in uncomfortable silence. And when we depart from the front steps of the diner, he pulls me in, wrapping me in a tight hug. He drops a quick, polite kiss on the top of my head and leaves without a single backward glance.
It feels an awful lot like goodbye. Like closing the door on something that never got a chance to properly start.
I should be relieved, but I drive home with tears in my eyes, gutted over how a man as deeply good as Emmett could everbelieve that moving on from this—from him—will be that easy to do.
OFFICIAL MEMO
To:Richard Wadsworth
From:Teri Baker
Subject:Third Elimination Ceremony
This week we filmed at a local country bar. Cookie was eliminated after getting into a physical altercation with Evelyn.
