Chapter 21 "Love in the Shadows"
EMBER
Ember was sitting on her bed, reading, when Maya stumbled into their room at 9:30 PM.
One look at Maya's face makeup smeared, eyes red, still holding a bouquet of wilting roses,told Ember everything.
"Oh no," Ember breathed. "What happened?"
"I forgot our anniversary." Maya's voice was hollow. "A year. I completely forgot."
"Oh, Maya"
"He planned this whole romantic dinner. Made reservations weeks ago. Bought flowers. Bought a new shirt." Maya dropped the roses on her desk and sank onto her bed. "And I forgot. Because I've been so focused on, on everything else that I forgot the one thing I should have remembered."
Ember moved to sit beside her, wrapping an arm around Maya's shoulders. "Did he break up with you?"
"I don't know. Maybe. Probably." Maya let out a shaky breath. "He said we need time to figure out what we want. That he can't keep being the only one fighting for us."
"That's not breaking up. That's just taking a breath."
"It felt like breaking up." Maya finally looked at Ember, her eyes haunted. "And the worst part is, he's right. I haven't been fighting for us. I've been so worried about everything else that I let him become an afterthought."
"You've been stressed"
"That's not an excuse. Not for forgetting our anniversary. Not for constantly canceling plans. Not for" Maya's voice broke. "God, Em, I'm a terrible girlfriend."
"You're not terrible. You're just going through something right now."
"But I can't tell him what. I can't explain why I've been so distracted. So from his perspective, I just don't care enough to make time for him." Maya wiped her eyes roughly. "How do I fix this? How do I save my relationship when I can't tell him the truth?"
Ember didn't have an answer. Because she didn't know what truth Maya was hiding. Only that it was big enough to consume her best friend's life, big enough to destroy her relationship, big enough to make Maya look this broken.
"Maybe" Ember chose her words carefully. "Maybe you should tell him. Whatever it is you can't tell him. Maybe he deserves to know."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because" Maya looked at Ember, and something flickered in her expression. Fear? Guilt? "Because it's not my secret to tell. And if I tell him, I could hurt someone I care about even more than I'm already hurting Jordan."
Ember wanted to push, to demand to know what was going on. But she could see the pain on Maya's face, and she couldn't add to it.
"Then we figure out another way," Ember said firmly. "We fix this. Together."
"How?"
"I don't know yet. But we will." Ember hugged her friend tightly. "You're not losing Jordan. Not if I have anything to say about it."
Maya hugged her back, clinging like Ember was a lifeline.
And Ember made a silent promise: whatever was stressing Maya out this much, whatever secret was destroying her best friend's life Ember was going to figure it out.
And she was going to fix it.
KELLY
Kelly was in his apartment, pretending to study, when he got Maya's text at 10:47 PM:
Jordon and I might be over. I forgot our anniversary. I'm the worst person alive.
Kelly immediately called her, but it went to voicemail. He tried again. Same result.
He was about to try a third time when another text came through:
Don't call. I can't talk right now. Just wanted you to know. Sorry for dumping this on you.
You're not dumping anything. I'm here if you need me. Always.
The three dots appeared and disappeared several times before Maya's response finally came:
I know. Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you.
Kelly stared at the message, emotions he'd been trying to suppress for months bubbling up.
He hated seeing Maya hurt. Hated that Jordan had made her feel this way, even if Jordan had every right to be upset. Hated that Maya was caught between protecting Ember and maintaining her own life.
But a small, horrible part of him the part he was deeply ashamed of was glad that at least someone understood what he was going through.
Because Kelly knew exactly what it felt like to love someone who didn't love you back the same way. To watch them fall for someone else while you stood on the sidelines, pretending to be happy for them.
Maya was losing Jordan because of the secret they were keeping.
Kelly had already lost Ember not to a secret, but to Adrian Crane. To someone who could give her what Kelly couldn't: confidence, normalcy, a relationship uncomplicated by years of friendship and unspoken feelings.
His phone buzzed again. Another text from Maya:
Do you think I made the wrong choice? Keeping the secret? Maybe I should have just told Jordan everything.
Kelly thought about it for a long time before responding:
You made the only choice you could. Protecting Ember has to come first. Even if it costs us everything else.
Does it though? Does it have to cost us everything?
I don't know. I hope not. But if it does at least we're not going through it alone.
I'm sorry you're dealing with this too. With watching Ember and Adrian.
Kelly's throat tightened. He'd never explicitly told Maya about his feelings for Ember, but somehow she knew anyway. Maya always knew.
It's fine. I'm fine.
You're a terrible liar.
So are you.
Fair point.
They texted for another hour not about anything important, just back and forth, two friends who were both losing people they loved and trying not to fall apart.
When Maya finally said goodnight, Kelly sat alone in his apartment, staring at his research on Rosanna Vale spread across his desk.
All this work. All this digging into the past, trying to save Ember from a century-old curse.
And for what?
So she could be free to fall in love with someone else?
Kelly shoved the papers aside and put his head in his hands.
He was exhausted. Emotionally, physically, mentally exhausted.
But he couldn't stop. Not now. Not when Ember needed him, even if she didn't know she needed him.
Not when Maya was falling apart trying to balance everything.
Not when the truth about Rosanna Vale and the Ashcroft family and this whole mess was still buried somewhere in these old documents.
Kelly pulled the papers back and kept reading.
Because that's what he did. That's all he could do.
Research. Protect. Watch from the sidelines.
And pretend his heart wasn't breaking.