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“Hey you!” Addie called out as her friend approached the door. “Come in here!”

Howie was seated by his wife’s bedside when Emma entered; only an idiot could miss the fact that she had been crying and he squirmed when he thought about how pissed Addie was going to be about the altercation.

“What’s wrong?” Addie demanded as soon as she got a good look at Emma’s face. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Emma lied as she gave her a hug. “I guess being here was a little harder than I expected.”

“Did someone say something to upset you?”

Now Addie was looking back and forth between her friend and husband. Howie was trying to stay quiet but he was cringing inside waiting for Addie to learn about what happened. However, Emma surprised both of them when she spoke.

“No, everybody’s been fine. AJ almost knocked me over when I got here and I guess the emotions kind of took over.”

“What about Nick?”

“I didn’t know he was here.” Emma lied. “I haven’t seen him, maybe he went to get a drink or something.”

Howie let out a huge silent sigh of relief and tried to give Emma a sign of how much he appreciated her not telling Addie what had gone on earlier. He had been upset with her but now he felt bad for acting that way. Emma had just lied to her best friend to keep the peace and prevent anyone from catching the wrath of his pregnant wife. He made a point to mention it to her later.

“I’ll let you guys catch up.”

Howie stood up and leaned down to kiss his wife. On his way out the door, he gave Emma’s shoulder a little squeeze and was surprised when she gave him a small smile. He could see the pain behind it and it made him feel worse about the way he’d treated her.

“Now tell me the truth.” Addie said as soon as Howie was out of earshot. “What happened?”

“Honestly Addie, I’m telling you the truth. Nothing happened and I didn’t see Nick. I guess I just didn’t realize how hard it would be to see everyone after three years.”

“I’m sorry Em.” her friend said and reached out for her hand. “I know how much I’m asking for you to be here.”

“You’re not asking me for anything, there is no place that I would rather be right now.”

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“Where are Nick and AJ?”

Howie had made his way back to the waiting room to give Addie and Emma a chance to catch up but when he noticed his friends were gone, he got worried.

“Nick tried to apologize, AJ told him to shove it and both of them stormed out.” Kevin replied giving him the short version of the story. “Aren’t you happy we’re all together?”

“This is so much harder than I thought.” Howie said, taking a seat next to Brian. “I know I should be mad at Emma and be on Nick’s side but this is impossible.”

“That’s basically what AJ said.” Brian said as he started the story about what happened after Howie left.

“This is a mess.”

“You can say that again. How’s Addie?”

“Surprisingly calm considering her friend just came in looking like someone hit her puppy.”

“Oh good.” Kevin said as he leaned his head back and pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “I’m surprised she hasn’t gotten out of bed and stormed down here.”

“That’s because she doesn’t know.”

Kevin’s head snapped up as he opened his eyes. Brian did a double take and his jaw dropped.

“You heard me right. Emma came down to the room and lied for everyone. She said she only saw AJ and that made her emotions come out. Then, when Addie questioned her, she said she didn’t know Nick was here and she hadn’t seen any of you.” Howie explained. “She saved all our asses, especially mine, even after we were treating her like crap.”

“She didn’t have to do that.” Brian whispered. “We’re adults, we should own what we do.”

“We should but we didn’t.” Kevin replied.

AJ just happened to come into the room at that moment and noticed how quiet and stunned his brothers looked; he immediately rushed to Howie.

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“We’re feeling like jerks.” Brian answered.

“Why?”

“Because Emma just spared all of us a verbal beating by Addie.”

“Huh?”

Howie sighed. “Addie just gave Emma the third degree about being upset and she lied to protect us.”

“Oh really?” AJ answered with a smirk. “Are we all prepared to be decent now?”

“Absolutely.” Kevin said, speaking for the group. “We don’t need to fall all over her for Nick’s sake but we are definitely going to change how we act towards her.”

“Good. That’s a step in the right direction.”