Chapter One
“I’ll be damnedif I’ll sit here all weekend long.”
Leah Cross pushed herself up from the chaise lounge in her bedroom and stomped over to her closet. The clothes she’d packed for this weekend’s aborted trip to Camp Firefly Falls were still folded neatly in the navy blue packing cubes her sister had given her for last year’s tour of Europe—yet another vacation that never came to be because the man in her life decided against it. She wouldnothave a repeat of Europe. No way. Not gonna happen.
She might not make it to Camp Firefly Falls, but she was goingsomewherethis weekend. She wouldnotspend the next three days staring at these walls, analyzing what had led to the implosion of her relationship with Derrick Jackson Montgomery the Third.
His smug ass was always so proud ofthe Third. Wore it like a badge of honor. She’d foolishly allowed herself to be taken in by all that polish, not recognizing just how tarnished Derrick the Third was on the inside.
Leah pointed to herself in the mirror that hung on the back door of her closet.
“Honey, you are better off without him. You’re so much better off it’s not even funny.”
No, it definitely was not funny. None of this was funny.
For the second time in her short thirty-three years, a man she’d been engaged to marry had told her he no longer wanted to marry her.
At least with Joshua she’d had some warning. Well, if one could call walking into her ex’s office after-hours to find his bare ass up in the air while he thrust against the nighttime security guard at the finance firm where they both worked a warning. He hadn’t even chosen the cute security guard. He’d picked the one with the bad hair weave who always wore way too much lipstick.
But at least Leah had known things were over after that fiasco. Derrick’s declaration had come out of nowhere. And just when she was finally getting close to picking a date for their wedding.
Okay, she was getting close to settling on a month, not an actual date.
He’d had the nerve to use that as one of his excuses last night. Claiming thatshewas the one dragging her feet. She hadn’t been entirely sure yet, but at least she’d finally decided that she wanted a spring wedding. Of course, since spring had just passed they would have to wait until next year, but she’d given him a timeframe. What more did he want?
It didn’t matter anymore because Derrick Jackson Montgomery the Third no longer wanted to get married.
“Asshole.”
Leah’s hands fell still, the lightweight sweater she’d picked up remained clutched between her fingers. Seconds stretched into a full minute as reality began to sink in.
She’d been dumped.Again.
How had she let this happen? How had she not seen the signs? And what did this say about her ability to read people? How could she ever trust her instincts when it came to men if, for the second time, she’d been blindsided by a man she’d been prepared to spend her life with?
Leah slouched against the closet wall.
She’d spent more than a year cultivating her relationship with Derrick, only to have it end with a ten minute explanation of all the reasons he no longer thought they “fit.” An entire year wasted.
Well, she wasn’t wasting any more time on him.
She didn’t even know where she was going, she just knew she could not stay in this house all weekend. She would go insane.
Are you really going to do this?
“Yes.” Leah’s strident proclamation echoed around the walk-in closet. The alternative was to spend the weekend reexamining every insignificant thing that had happened over the past thirteen months. Derrick wasn’t worth the time or energy.
She pulled her carry-on bag from the top shelf, brought it over to her bed, and placed the mesh packing cubes neatly inside. She grabbed her toiletry bag and makeup case from the bathroom, but then tossed the makeup case back on the counter.
Why even bother with makeup? It wasn’t as if she had anyone to get dolled up for.
You have yourself, dammit!That’s enough.
She wouldnotallow her ex to turn her into some broken, heartsick woman who didn’t bother to comb her hair or wear lip gloss. She threw in an extra razor and her favorite black currant-scented lotion, the one she couldn’t wear around Derrick because he was allergic.
She gave herself a mental slap to the forehead. Why hadn’t she thought to douse him with the lotion last night? Talk about a lost opportunity. She’d pay good money to see those itchy red bumps pop up on his skin.
Leah paused in the middle of zipping up the carry-on, waiting for her guilty conscience to reprimand her for her sadistic thoughts. The guilt never came. Instead, she thought about how much fun it would be to shove Derrick into a mound of red ants while he was still itching from the lotion. It would be nothing less than he deserved. After all, because of him she was out two thousand dollars.
