Chapter One
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Adalynn
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Oh crap.
I stand statue-still in the archway between the kitchen and living room of my tiny apartment, barely daring to breathe.
The walls in this building are so paper thin that I can almost hear Mr.Wellington upstairs squeezing toothpaste onto his toothbrush.Okay, I’m exaggerating.The only reason I know he’s brushing his teeth is that he plays a catchy two-minute-long song about it.Nothing is sacred in Bear Heights.
“Adalynn, are you home?”My mom calls from the other side of the door.I would let her in if she were alone.
“Of course she’s home, Aunt Meg.She doesn’t go anywhere, remember?Adalynn, we know you’re in there.Open up.”
Ugh.
That’s my cousin Ines—my arch-nemesis—currently banging on my door.I’m worried it’s going to break off its hinges and expose me, looking like the aftermath of a deer caught in an electric fence, pretending I’m not home.
Why?Why me?
Of course, I know why.I am the oldest of the granddaughters by two weeks in a large extended family, and the only one still untouched by matrimony.Apparently, it’s a crime.
The line of questioning at the last few weddings and family functions went like this:
“Well, Adalynn, when are you getting married?”
To which I respond, “Oh, not anytime soon.”
“Oh, you don’t have a fiancé.”And so, the judgment begins.
“Umm, no.”
“A boyfriend, then?”
“Umm...Nope.No boyfriend.”And then I watch the pity rise in their eyes.
“A friend?”
No, dammit, I don’t even have a friend who’s a boy.I don’t say that out loud, obviously.
Then it gets even worse.“But you’re...a little pretty.You know, I think you should join a dating club; they teach you how to be datable.”
Or the most embarrassing—they’ll call over some random guy and ask him if he’ll date me.Talk about cringe-worthy secondhand embarrassment.Or they’ll give me the number of their neighbor’s sister’s friend’s son.
Also, I’m twenty-six years old for goodness’ sake, well, almost twenty-seven; a race to the altar is one I’m not currently equipped to run.
My mom, bless her, wished for a Christmas miracle this year—that I’ll find someone who loves me, enjoys my company, and cherishes me.Alas, no such person exists.
No one on this planet is ever going to fall head over heels in love with me, and certainly not enough to make it a permanent event.That’s been confirmed after a series of disastrous first dates when I actually gave it a proper try.
I don’t think my person exists, and I’m fine with that.I like me...well, every other day of the year except now, during the holidays when the entire family is going to be together.
I groan loudly on the inside as I imagine Ines’s smug face.She just got married six months ago, but she exploits my lack of prospects with brutal enthusiasm every time I see her.
I wish it were the new year already so everyone could go back to their own lives and leave me alone.
