Matters of the Heart

Chapter 19: No Rest For the Weary

Chapter 19:

No Rest For the Weary

Despite their rough night, Alison and Emily both went about their normal business the next day. Ali went to her charity function and Emily went to meet the girls for lunch. Emily walked into The Brew and spotted Hanna standing at the counter waiting on an order. She looked up and waved at Emily, her brows rising ever so slightly as Emily walked over to her.

"Hey," Hanna had a weird inflection in her voice. "You look like crap." She didn't beat around the bush.

"You really know how to sweet talk your friends," Emily replied sarcastically.

"Ah, thanks. I've been told I have an elegant way with words." Hanna quipped back with a grin.

"Yes. Very subtle. Compassionate, even," Emily said wryly.

Hanna rolled her eyes, still smiling. After a few seconds her smile faded. She took in Emily's weary appearance.

"You sure you're up for this?"

"Honestly? I need the distraction." Emily nodded.

"I know what you mean." Hanna looked up at the drink menu and then back at Emily. "You want anything?"

"No, thanks. I'm good." Emily shook her head.

Hanna glanced over the counter, anxiously awaiting her caffeine fix. Emily was jealous. She missed caffeine, but her coffee cravings were not worth more to her than her life. She'd had to make some pretty big changes for her heart. She was trying to talk herself into being okay with all the changes in her life. The loss of caffeine had hit her harder than she'd expected. In order to try and keep her addictive cravings of her favorite coffee brews out of her mind she just kept telling herself that caffeine was terrible for the human body. And it really was. Didn't make her miss it any less though.

She looked around the coffee shop and saw Aria sitting on a couch near the window typing something into her phone. Emily walked over to her.

"Hey." Aria looked up from her phone. She looked tired, too.

"Hey." Emily smiled as she sat down. "I'm surprised to see you here. I figured you would be with Ezra."

"I was." Aria nodded. "But he went to meet with Nicole's parents and I didn't want to intrude."

"Oh, her parents are in town?" Emily asked.

Emily had met and stayed with them for a weekend after she and Nicole had just gotten back from building houses in Haiti between junior and senior year. She hadn't seen them since then, but she remembered how kind they had been to her. They were the reason their daughter was so caring.

"Not exactly. Ezra found a box of her things he thought they might want. He didn't want them having to drive all the way down here, so he offered to meet them at their condo upstate to return her stuff and to get the details on the funeral arrangements." Her jaw tightened in discomfort. "They already had one service for her. It's so weird, like the first one was 'rest in peace' and the second will be 'we've gathered you all here today to proclaim she still is indeed dead'."

"Funerals are for the living." Emily leaned back against the soft worn padding on the couch. It had been a staple in the shop for years. She didn't care that she'd caught some of her previous coworkers defiling it. It was comfortable. "I've seen enough caskets for a lifetime. I definitely don't want one. In fact, I hope someone throws several gallons of fireworks into the incinerator with me so I can go out with a bang."

"That sounds like something Ali would do." Aria chortled under her breath.

"That's why in the back of my mind I always thought she was alive. We buried her twice, and neither time had her signature 'Ali' flair." She thought back to what Hanna had said about dead people not staying dead in this town. "They're really sure it's Nicole?" she asked apprehensively.