“In Seattle?” He huffed. “Bunch of hipsters and rich people drinking coffee all day. What do they have out there we don’t have in Colby?”
Smith Ramsey, for one. She cleared her throat and her dirty mind. “I need to be on my own, Dad. Trust me, I’m fine out here. I have friends.”
A friend. Two if she counted Tilly.
“Who are these friends?” he asked with suspicion.
“In fact, I’m making my neighbor cookies. He helped me move my things when it didn’t work out with Cody. He’s a really nice man.”
“Nice man, eh?” Her father groaned. “Men aren’t nice. They’re dogs. Don’t trust him. And did you get those locks for your door I told you about?”
Having parents who worked for a hardware store and dentist had ensured Erin knew how to fix things around the house and to have clean teeth. She knew he meant well, so she answered in a chipper tone. “I’m all set. The building is safe with great neighbors on either side of me.” Not a lie. She had the stairwell on one side of her and Smith on the other. But try telling her father she lived right next to an accessible entry point and he’d imagine her at the mercy of criminals hanging around stairwells. “I have a chain lock and a deadbolt. No sliding backdoor for a balcony or anything. I told you. The windows all lock too. The place is solid, and my landlady looks after everyone. They’re all so nice. It’s like a family here.” The half-truths continued to pile on.
“Well, good. I like you being looked after.”
“How’s Joy doing? Has she called lately?”
He launched into stories about Joy and Tim and the grandkids, giving her a break about living so far away.
By the time she disconnected, her parents felt better about her living in the city, and she considered her one-way trip to hell for all the lying she’d been doing. Yes, she wanted her parents to feel fine with her being away, but she should have been able to tell them the truth. How could they respect her if they didn’t know the real Erin, the one capable of so much more than living in their shadow?
But she was still finding her way, she thought, and gave herself a break. It took guts to live alone, away from everything she knew. And it took even more guts to get back out in the social scene after living for someone else for so long. Screw Cody Williams. Erin didn’t need a man to make her feel complete. A husband and kids? Who needed that?
“I do.” She hated herself for wanting what she’d been raised to believe awaited a woman set on the right path. “I can do whatever I want to and be a ‘good girl’ because it’s my life. I don’t owe anyone any apologies,” she said to the delectable molasses cookies she placed into a plastic container.
She continued to reaffirm herself as she tidied up her small kitchen.
Once finished, she took a good hard look at her apartment and wondered how Tilly would feel if she repainted it a better color. Anything but orange.
Someone banged on the door, startling her.
She set the cookies on the counter and moved to look through her peephole. She opened the door with a smile. “Hello, Smith.”
He glared down at her, and her smile widened. She didn’t know why the sight of him in a foul mood should amuse her, but it did.
“Erin.” He just waited.
“Oh. Would you like to come in?” She stepped back so he wouldn’t run her over.
“Shut the door. I have some things to say to you.”
She sighed. Great. First a lecture from her parents, then one from Smith. She shut the door behind him. “Are you hungry?” He wore a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved navy-blue polo with a logo on it. Vets on the Go! His work shirt? “Did you just come from a job?”God, look at those massive arms.
“Yes and yes.”
She grabbed him a cookie from the tray. “I baked you some molasses cookies.”
He blinked at it, and his frown disappeared. “Huh?”
“For being so nice and taking me out to Ringo’s Bar on Thursday. These are for you.” She motioned to the plastic container on the counter.
He shoved half the cookie she’d handed him into his mouth and groaned. “Fuck, this is good.”
She colored at his word choice but basked in his praise.
He tucked the rest of the cookie in his mouth and chewed with concentration. She handed him another one, and he took it without having to be asked.
“Have you eaten dinner yet?”
