I had nearly two weeks to chicken out. To convince Cat that there was no need for me to attend the restaurant grand opening. To make her see that being in Jack’s presence would do neither of us any good.
I was unsuccessful. Should have known better, really. Once Cat got something in her head, there was n
Two hours later, I found myself parked at a table in the corner of the first bar I found. I didn’t stop when I walked away from Jack. I’d pushed through the crowd and right out the door. Took a right and followed the sidewalk until I found this place.Through the window, the Hope River glittered in the moonlight. All I could focus on, though, w
You ever see those movies where the heroine enters a room and it goes dead silent? Everyone is staring like she’s the dog that got caught stealing the Christmas ham? Yeah, that.
I could feel it happening. Sweaty palms, palpitating heart, dry mouth. I was reverting. Soon, I’d fully transform into the awkward, anxious girl I’d been in high school. In five, four, three, two…Wes smiled, his golden hazel eyes warming. A squeak slipped passed my lips.
Mistakes were made.I tugged my cardigan over my chest and grimaced. When Mom had offered up her closet this morning, I didn’t take into account our…uh, size differences.
Lakeside Gardens was already full of people buzzing around with drinks in their hands and manic smiles on their faces. Events like this always brought out the party animals in even June Lake’s most stand-up citizens. It wasn’t every day they had an excuse to get drunk and dance. Not twenty minutes in, and there were pinkened cheeks and bright eyes galore.&n
“Wait, wait, wait!” I said an hour later, waving a half-empty bottle of beer in the air. “You got kicked out of school for what?”We ended up at the playground, which was only about three blocks away from Lakeside Gardens. On our way out the door, Jack had smuggled a few beers from the bar, and now we sat on the swings, in
The next morning, I woke up with a blinding headache and a mouth full of sand. Oh, and with my mother flapping over me like a hummingbird from hell. “Get up, lazy bones. We’re going to be late!” she said.
Jack dropped me off at my car with a tight smile and a have a safe trip home. My cheeks burned as I drove to my parents’, but I couldn’t pinpoint the reason. Anger? Embarrassment? Residual hangover side effect?
Two hours later, I found myself parked at a table in the corner of the first bar I found. I didn’t stop when I walked away from Jack. I’d pushed through the crowd and right out the door. Took a right and followed the sidewalk until I found this place.Through the window, the Hope River glittered in the moonlight. All I could focus on, though, w
I had nearly two weeks to chicken out. To convince Cat that there was no need for me to attend the restaurant grand opening. To make her see that being in Jack’s presence would do neither of us any good. I was unsuccessful. Should have known better, really. Once Cat got something in her head, there was n
The next month flew by in a whir of brainstorms and phone calls and late nights staring at my computer screen. The end result: my very own literary agency.Well, technically, agent. Singular. Just me. Working out of my apartment after getting home from my day job. But I had plans, dammit. Big ones. Ones that involved getting good books by talented writers out in the world. Starting with Joy Ne
What did “fine” mean, really? For me, it meant getting up the next morning, putting my big girl pants on and finding a new job. I couldn’t just sit around and mope forever. There were bills to pay, man.
Getting dumped and getting your dream job in the same day sucked. Getting dumped, getting your dream job, and going to work the next day like everything was normal sucked even more.
A couple hours later, the sun had begun to dip below the horizon, casting a dreamy golden glow over the fairgrounds. People still milled about, laughing and talking, soaking in the magic hour before darkness took over. I sat back in my chair and surveyed the booth before me. Slim pickin’s. Jack’s a
The next morning, Cat and I were squeezed into her tiny kitchen, making pancakes and scrambled eggs before we settled down to a marathon of My Boyfriend the Vampire—a very nice Sunday, if you asked me. I had just flipped the final pancake when my phone buzzed from its place on the counter. Cat g
We wandered the fair for a while after that, hand-in-hand. Initially, we’d been looking for Luke and Cat, but they’d vanished. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I worried that the bearded man had actually murdered them. When I voiced my worry, though, Jack assured me that they were fine. “Pro
Jack was sitting on the front porch Saturday morning as I pulled into the driveway, looking like an excited kid. An excited kid with a naughty secret.We’d been talking since I left him on Thursday. His dad was on the upswing, so he felt comfortable leaving the hospital for the day.