Chapter 246: 31: The Introduction-2

"I love you too and I'll see you in a couple days, okay?" "Alright." He didn't want to let her go, but he knew he had to. ******* "Sorry I'm late, my Uber was stuck in traffic- oh, hello." Katie was too busy taking off her jacket and setting her purse down to notice the man that was sitting beside Emily at the table. Once she looked up to see him smiling at her, she felt surprised. Who was he? And what was he doing there? "Katie, this is Jeremy. Jeremy, this is my lovely friend Katie." Emily beamed from across the table but her friend was still confused. "So glad to finally meet you Katie." Jeremy held his hand out across the table for her to shake, which she reluctantly accepted. "Jeremy's my boyfriend Katie, I've wanted you to meet him for a while now." Katie was shocked, but was extremely happy for her friend that she had finally met someone. It seemed like Emily was always too focused on work to ever find a companion, but Katie guessed she had been wrong this entire time. "Oh my god, it's so nice to meet you too. I'm just so... surprised, I had no clue. How long have you two been dating?" "What would you say Jeremy, like- six months now?" "Yeah, around that. I was asking you out for weeks before that though." He rolled his eyes teasingly before shooting Emily a grin. "He works at the hospital too, if you've noticed I've been working a lot more lately, now you know why." Emily joked as they were all handed their menus from a waiter who had just stood at their table. Katie wanted to know all about Jeremy and how they began dating. She was so curious, having too many questions to ask all at once. Throughout the dinner Katie learned more about the man her best friend had been dating over the last couple of months, she smiled, laughed, and joked but on the inside, she felt saddened by her discovery. Of course, she was delighted that her friend was dating someone who seemed to suit her well, but suddenly a wave of guilt and sadness washed over her. She had been so caught up with what was going on with herself and Colin to even ask Emily had she met someone over the past few months. She knew she needed to apologise and she decided to do it once she and Emily were alone. As if reading her thoughts, Emily mentioned Colin, asking how he was. "He's- he's doing fine at the moment. He has his good days and bad days." "Colin?" "Yes, sorry Jeremy, Colin is Katie's boyfriend." "He would've loved to be here, but he's away at the moment." Katie didn't want to get too into a conversation about her boyfriend, for fear she may share more than Colin wanted her to share. Emily noticed the anguish appear on her friend's face and gave Jeremy a look while Katie wasn't looking that told Jeremy there was no room for any more conversation on that topic. "I was just thinking that maybe we could go on a double date sometime soon when he gets back." Emily gave the other woman an encouraging smile that she returned but it didn't reach her eyes. "Sounds good, I think you two might get along." Katie looked at Jeremy then who nodded. "Sounds like a plan alright." He replied. Katie was surprised when Emily said she was going to stay at home that night after dinner instead of going back to Jeremy's. He was in work early the next morning and Emily said she wanted to spend more time with her friend, she felt like they hadn't seen each other in ages. They said their goodbyes to Jeremy and got a cab home. Once they were alone, she decided to ask Katie about how Colin was doing, knowing she would get a real reply this time. "Well I've never used my car as much in life. I used to hate driving so much I would always just get ubers everywhere but now I feel like I'm his personal taxi driver." Katie said light-heartedly which made Emily laugh aloud. "Court went okay today though, he's got a license suspension for the next two years so I should probably get used to being the one driving and a fine too. I know driving under the influence is a terrible thing to do but I'm so happy he didn't get a jail sentence." "How's the rehab going for him?" Emily was genuinely interested, she knew how difficult it had been on him and Katie although her friend put on a brave face through all the heartache and only seeing him for such short visits at a time. "He has his good days and his bad days, but I think he's going to be okay. He's home for the holidays in a couple days, I can't wait." "I'm sure you can't. I hope everything works out good and I'm glad to hear he's doing okay." Katie felt like everything had been building up inside her, she had to put on a brave face in front of Colin and around his family when they asked how he was doing. She had to stay strong for both of them and keep a positive outlook on things even when she felt like the weakest person in the world. It was all taking an emotional toll on her and she hadn't properly opened up about everything to anyone, not even Emily or her friends back home over long phone conversations. Then suddenly, on top of everything else, the guilt she originally felt in the restaurant came back again- it forced her to speak again but not before letting out a long sigh first. "Em I'm so sorry about the past while, I've been so tied up with Colin that I haven't even had a long enough conversation with you to find out about Jeremy sooner. I need to try harder, I feel like I've been so caught up in Colin to even realise you've found someone yourself." The look on Katie's face as she explained her feelings to her friend only made Emily furrow her brows in confusion. "Oh Katie, you don't need to apologise to me, honestly. I understand, Colin has been a handful and we're both in work a lot, plus I've been spending a lot of time with Jeremy, so I haven't been home a lot. It's not your fault I was waiting until the right time to tell you about him. Don't punish yourself for something that isn't anyone's fault." She could see the tears forming in Katie's eyes and felt the need to reach out and give her a huge hug. "Shh, it's alright. Tell me what's bothering you Kate." "I-I'm sorry. I feel like I'm making this all about me. Everything's fine. We should be talking about you." "Oh stop, we have all the time in the world to talk about Jeremy. Nonsense Katie. Tell me what's the matter." Emily held her friend at arm's length then to take a look at her tear stained face. She gave her an encouraging smile that Katie gave back, although her face was red, and her eyes swollen. "I-I just feel so overwhelmed that's all. I feel relieved for Colin but anxious too, I don't want him to slip up once he comes home for the holidays or when he comes home for good. It's all been hard to handle, and I thought I was managing just fine up until just now to be honest." "You just need to vent, that's all." Emily didn't take the smile off her face the entire time she talked through things with Katie, it uplifted her and comforted her in ways her friend would never understand. After a while, Katie felt like she had cleared all her doubts up and before they both knew it, they were rooting through the freezer to find ice cream and trying to find a TV channel that was doing old re-runs of the Jerry Springer Show.