“Look, I know it sounds bad,” Alison said, trailing her. “But I needed to learn to make friends. And you’d already told me we weren’t ever going to be friends. So I decided if I could befriend you anyway, I could befriend anybody. Even Ryan.”

Emma found herself speechless. And angry. And hurt. And damn . . . so hurt. It seemed like an Armstrong specialty, to be able to get under her skin. “I get that I said we weren’t going to be friends, but you know why I said that, and where I was coming from.”

“Hey, it’s not like I cheated on you with your best friend.”

Wow. Emma actually staggered back a step as though she’d been physically pushed. “No,” she managed. “It’s worse. Because the no-friendship thing went out the door weeks ago and you knew it, because we became friends in spite of ourselves.”

“And I was supposed to know that how?”

Emma tossed up her hands. “Anyone who’s ever had a good friend would know that!” Nope. Not doing this. She headed to the door, which opened just as she reached for it, knocking her off balance into . . . fabulous . . . Ned.

He steadied her and smiled. “Well, hello.”

Emma pushed free. “What are you doing here?”

His smile faded. “I need to talk to you.”

“Get in line,” Alison said from behind them.

Emma pointed at her. “You and I have nothing left to say to each other.” She stabbed a finger at Ned next. “And neither do we.”

He caught her hand. “I broke up with Cindy.”

Emma yanked free of the man she’d once thought she loved, the man she’d planned to say “I do” to, the man she hadn’t even thought about since the last time she’d seen him.

“Actually,” he said, “she broke up with me. Tomayto/tomahto, right?”

She stared at him. “And?”

“And I thought we should talk. I realize I’ve got apologies to make, and I was hoping you’d let me make some things up to you.”

Carefully not looking at Alison, because just looking at her felt like a sharp arrow piercing her heart, Emma slowly shook her head. “No.”

“No, I don’t need to make things up to you?”

“No, I don’t want to hear your apology.” What is it with men thinking they know what someone else wants? She narrowed her eyes at Ned. “Go away.”

Phyllis helpfully opened the door, but Ned reached for Emma. Suddenly Hog was there, inserting himself between Emma and Ned, teeth bared, growl ferocious.

“Holy shit,” Ned yelped and jumped back.

Hog leapt up, planting his two front paws on the guy’s chest and he went down on his ass.

“Hog, sit,” Emma said.

Like a total sweetheart, Hog sat, smiling up at Emma, clearly proud of himself.

“What a good, sweet boy,” Phyllis said. Patting Hog on the head.

Ned scrambled to his feet. “I told you that dog was a menace and not good for your well-being.”

“There’s only one menace here who’s bad for my well-being,” Emma said. “Well, maybe two. Get out.”

“Emma—”

“Get out and don’t ever come back, Ned.”

He straightened his shirt, gave her a long look during which he apparently accurately assessed her feelings for once, and walked to the door. “For what it’s worth,” he said quietly, “I’m sorry I hurt you.” And then he was gone.

Emma nodded to herself, swallowed the lump in her throat, and reminded herself that even if she had no real friends, she still had Hog.

“Emma,” Alison said.

Emma buried her face in Hog’s thick, furry neck. He smelled like bacon. And faintly of his last fart. “I should’ve known. Never settle for a man who’d dump you when someone better comes along. Same should go for friends.” She dusted herself off. “I’m going to put an ‘Out of Order’ sticker on my forehead and call it a day. I’m out.”

“Hey,” Alison said, in front of her now, hands on her hips. “Don’t you lump me in with your asshole ex-fiancé and BFF. I’d never hurt you like that.”

Emma laughed ironically. “You’ve been hurting me since high school.”

“Okay.” Alison nodded. “So we’re going there. Fine.” She crossed her arms. “Do tell. How did I ever hurt you?”

“For starters, you accused me of cheating.”

“And lying,” Alison said. “And I stand by that one.”

“Funny. That didn’t sound like an apology.”

“Because it wasn’t one.” Alison laughed without mirth. “You had everything I didn’t, yet you took the college scholarship that should’ve been mine. And even worse, you, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes, lied to get it.”

Emma just stared at her in shock. “I did not.”

“You had me picked up by the cops and taken to the station for questioning!”

“Because you and your evil mean girl posse scratched BITCH into the side of the car I was driving. And popped two tires!”

Alison winced. “That was mob mentality. My so-called friends back then weren’t exactly good people. I did try to stop it, but I mean, you owned a BMW, so you were sort of asking for trouble.”

“It wasn’t my car! It wasn’t even my mom’s car. It was her boss’s car. She was borrowing it because our car had been repo’d.”

Alison blinked. “Did not know that.”

“My mom had no choice but to call the cops. It got her fired, by the way.”

The air seemed to leave Alison’s lungs in a rush. “I thought you called the cops on me. I got picked up from an assembly in front of the whole school, frog-marched up the center aisle of the auditorium while everyone watched. I hated you for that. I hated you for that for years.”

Emma felt her eyes fill with tears, though she had zero idea why. No, that wasn’t true. She was sad because she thought she and Alison had been real friends, past forgotten. “Oh, grow up,” she said. “You weren’t formally charged. I even apologized to my mom’s boss so he wouldn’t press charges.”

Alison’s shoulders lowered slightly from where they’d been up at her ears. “That’s why they let me go? Because you tried to help me after trying to destroy me?”