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“Kelley,” she countered, rolling her eyes. “It was a while ago and it was nothing.”
“Clearly. Judging by that silly handshake the other day.”
Erin sighed and made a face. In the whole time he’d known her, his friend had been single. She wasn’t against relationships and she wasn’t celibate, but she very rarely talked about her personal life that way. The more Fletcher thought about it, the more he realized that the two of them never really talked about their pasts. They didn’t know about each other’s families, they knew about almost all the surface-level things. Sure, some would say that’s not how friendships were built, but if you asked him, that was how some of the best bonds were created. History didn’t define everything, it was enough to know the other person would be there for you in the present.
“Couple of years ago, before you moved to town, Benson and I had a friends with benefits thing going on.”
“Huh.”
She held a hand up and shook her head. “This was before he got married and became a dad. We hooked up for about six months while I was in the process of becoming partner, it was a stressful time in my life,” she explained and he nodded, because he wasn’t going to judge her for the choices she made. “While I was gone, he met his ex and when I came back, we knew that it was over.”
“And now…?”
“I sometimes forget that he still works at the shop, so whenever I see him, it’s a shock.”
He tilted his head to catch Erin’s eye. “Did you have feelings for him?”
“Not really.” Erin made a face, one side of her mouth going up and the other sliding down. “He’s a handsome man and the sex was phenomenal, but it was never more than that. He does this thing with his to—”
He covered her mouth with one hand and said, “Nope. Don’t need that in my head before I go back to work.”
“You asked.” She pushed his hand away, laughing at his expression.
He sighed dramatically and finished his coffee, setting his cup aside and then caught a look of confusion on her face. “There’s something else.”
“I’m queer,” she said softly. He shifted so he was looking at her properly. She searched his eyes and added, “You’re the only person I’ve told.”
He smiled and held a hand out, watching as Erin hesitated before setting her palm against his. “Thank you for trusting me with this.”
“You’re my best friend, remember?”
“Am I? I didn’t know it went both ways.”
Erin snorted and poked his palm. “Don’t be an asshole.”
“Love you, Decker,” he mumbled and pressed a kiss to her temple.
“Love you too, you grunge rocker.”
After another walk along the promenade where Erin complained about work, but reminded him that she had finally found her dream job, Fletcher dropped his best friend off at her hotel. When he returned to the store, Emery and Nico were already causing havoc with their instruments. Well, Nico was at least attempting to make music. Emery liked the noise. He watched Benson try to corral the teenagers to no avail, but didn’t bother to step in and help.
Replaying his conversation with Erin, he realized that he never wanted to know what his life would be like without Emery or Micah. This kid changed him almost as much as her mother had.
“What do you think, Fletch? Am I getting better?”
He narrowed his eyes at Emery’s smug expression. “Maybe I need a proper demonstration.”
“Hell yeah!” Emery cheered and stood up behind the drum kit. “What do you want me to play for you?”
Running through the songs they’d worked on together, Fletcher pursed his lips. Emery couldn’t read music and she either went too fast or too slow. But what she lacked in musical ability, she made up for in determination. So the only way to not completely destroy their hearing was to give her a track with an easy progression to follow.
“How about some AC/DC?” Benson offered and Fletcher shrugged. You couldn’t go wrong with Phil Rudd.
Emery beamed and sat down, stretching her arms and rolling her shoulders, which made Nico and Benson groan dramatically. Nothing this kid did could be simple. And honestly, he loved how everything was a little more dramatic every time. Benson waited for her cue and then through the speakers, pumped “Back in Black” without the drum backing and nodded to Emery.
As expected, she came in a few seconds late and then rushed through the opening to catch up. Then fell back again, before she finally leveled out. But even then, her rhythm was a little off and she couldn’t work the kick and snare at the same time. Emery didn’t give up though. With the tip of her tongue peeking through her teeth, she smashed through the song until Benson turned the backing track off. Emery stumbled as she came to a stop and then grinned at him while she panted from all the exertion.
“So, what do you think?”
