“But that wasn’t an easy journey.”
No. It hadn’t been for either of them. But they’d gotten to where they needed to be, and Aspen was so incredibly happy for her friend.
She shook her head. “Enough about me. Tell me about Lock.” She needed a change of subject. “Are you two still doing well?”
Callie and Lock had a complicated past. One that most people wouldn’t have been able to work their way through. They had, and now her best friend was happier than Aspen had ever seen her.
Callie sighed, like she knew Aspen was changing the subject on purpose but also knew how stubborn she was. “We’re great. He’s great. Still super protective. Still so gorgeous I can barely take my eyes off him.”
“Good. And how’s our little bun in the oven?”
“Getting bigger every day.”
And Aspen was missing it. Sometimes she hated that she’d left Misty Peak. But she hadn’t had a choice. She’dneededto get out. Between her ex and her overwhelming mother, she’d been on the verge of a quarter-life crisis.
“I’m—”
“Don’t say you’re sorry,” Callie interrupted. “We’ve talked about this. You needed to leave, and Jesse offered you a way out. Taking it was absolutely the right decision. Other than the flowers fiasco, how are you doing out there?”
“Still fielding daily calls and texts from my unhinged mother, but I’m not having to deal with her shit in person or run into Dylan on the street, so my days have a bit less stress in them.”
“I hate that she can’t be the mother you deserve.”
“Me too.” Although, after a lifetime of the same hot-and-cold treatment, she was used to it.
“And how’s your book coming?”
Aspen cringed. A big don’t-ask-me kind of cringe. “I wrote a thousand words yesterday. Then I deletedfourthousand, so I’m going backward now.”
“Why did you delete four thousand?”
Aspen dropped her head into her hand. A bit dramatic maybe, but this called for drama. This was her income they were talking about. The way she earned a living and, you know, paid for things. She was a self-published romance author, and if words didn’t get written, books were not released and money was not made.
“Because the words were wrong,” Aspen finally said. “But I can’t seem to putanywords to the page that sound right at the moment.”
“Are you sure they were wrong? Maybe you’re just being overly critical.”
“No, trust me, they were terrible. My hero sounded like an ass, and there was no chemistry between the two main characters. None. Zip.” And the chemistry was kind of important in a romance novel.
“Hm.”
Aspen lifted her head. “What does that mean?”
“Just that, maybe—”
The front door opened, and Aspen shot up straight, shoving the receipt behind the fruit bowl.
Jesse.
And holy fucking shit. He was shirtless. Tiny beads of sweat were making his skin glisten like he was a freaking sports model, and those muscles…holy hell, those muscles. They were glorious.
“I have to go,” Aspen said quickly, not hearing a word her best friend said after Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome walked in. “Jesse’s back from his run.”
“Say hi for me.”
“Uh-huh.” Aspen hung up.
As Jesse toed off his shoes, his gaze swung to her. The grin that spread across his face was huge andit was beautiful.
