Page 75 of Forever King

Maybe she worked here at King Industries and that’s how I’d know her? I type her name into the employee directory, making sure to limit the search to former employees, but that name doesn’t come up. I doubt she’s a current employee, but I reframe my search and that name doesn’t come up again.

Maybe high school? I don’t remember an Emily Martin from school, but that was a long time ago. Instantly, I know who I can call to ask for help with this. Ava and I were in the same year at school, so that name might ring a bell with her.

Ava answers my call with her usual sweetness. “Hey, Kellen! What’s new? I’m a little surprised to see your name pop up on my phone this morning.”

She stops talking for a moment and then says, “Oh, it’s lunchtime already? Time flies when you’re having fun. What can I do for you?”

“Hey, Ava. I’m hoping you can help me. I got a call from a woman named Emily Martin, but I don’t know anyone by that name. I checked, but she’s not in the past or current employee list here, so she isn’t a coworker. So now I’m trying to figure outif she’s someone from high school. Do you remember anyone named Emily Martin?”

“Hmmm, I don’t think so. Do you want me to ask Eden? She knew a lot more people than I did. She was always more of a social butterfly than I was back then.”

“If she’s there, sure.”

“Okay, hang on. Let me ask her.”

I listen to my sisters-in-law talk about this woman and if she could have been with us at school, but it’s clear by what they sound like that they don’t remember her either. When Ava comes back to me, she says, “Sorry. Eden and I can’t say we were in school with anyone named that. In fact, we don’t remember an Emily at all, and we definitely didn’t have an Emily in the grade all three of us were in. I wish we could have helped.”

“It’s okay. I figured it might be a longshot, but I had to try. Thanks for trying.”

Well, that didn’t get me any closer to knowing who called me or what’s so damn urgent. I move on to college, but again, I don’t remember anyone named Emily. Same with grad school.

Is it possible I dated someone named Emily Martin? I wrack my brain over and over, but I get nothing. No memory of her. No reason I should remember her. Absolutely nothing.

Maybe she made a mistake and wanted Matthias. That’s happened before, although not recently. We do share the same last name, so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.

I call him and find, unlike me, he actually takes his lunch break and eats food instead of trying to solve goddamned mysteries about vague phone calls. Must be nice.

“Kellen, I’m in the middle of eating pulled pork from a piece of meat I smoked over the weekend. You should come up to my office. I have another sandwich, if you want some.”

While that sounds delicious, I can’t focus on food right now. “Thanks, but I need your help. Do you know anyone namedEmily Martin? I got a cryptic message from her this morning, and I’m going out of my mind trying to think of who she is. I’m thinking maybe she meant to call you instead.”

Matthias chomps in my ear, so I add, “Nice manners there, dude. Do you eat like this with other executives who call you at lunchtime?”

He laughs and says, “No, but you’re my brother, so I’m not exactly going for perfect manners here, especially since I vividly remember you going through a phase as a kid when every time you walked into my room you farted and then laughed your ass off when I complained that you stunk.”

I throw my head back and laugh out loud at that very valid description of me back when I was around eight years old. “Fair enough. Mom and Dad must have been feeding me something weird then because I was the gassiest fucking kid around.”

“It was the apples you were eating by the damn bushel.”

“Oh, yeah,” I say, thinking back to those few months of my life when I decided I only wanted to eat apples. I don’t think I could eat one today if my life depended on it.

He finishes his pulled pork lunch and takes a drink of something before asking, “Okay, what did you need me for? Some person called you? What was her name again?”

“Emily Martin. She called me this morning and left a message with my assistant. All it said was, ‘Please call. It’s urgent.’ How it could be urgent is beyond me. I don’t even think I know this person. That’s why I thought maybe the call should have come to you and not me.”

He hums in my ear as he thinks about what I just said. Then I hear him tap away on his laptop, probably doing the same thing I did with the employee list.

“I already checked to see if she’s a current or past employee of King Industries. She isn’t.”

“Okay. I don’t recall anyone with that name. I’m sure it’s nothing. I bet when you call her back that you find out she got you confused with someone else. I’ve had that happen before.”

That sounds as possible as any other theory. “Yeah, you’re probably right. I just don’t like walking into a situation completely blind. I don’t know why, but this feels off.”

“Off? How?” Matthias asks, his tone of voice changed from happy to hear from me to wary.

I know what he’s thinking. He’s imagining I’m back to my old ways and got myself in trouble again. If that’s the case, he’s forgotten that I’m in love with a great woman and haven’t misbehaved for years.

That Kellen isn’t the man I am today.