From the backseat of the taxi, I stare out the dirty window at the city lights as the driver weaves his way through New Orleans.
He doesn’t drive as crazy fast as the cab drivers in Manhattan, but my stomach’s queasy anyway. Must be that fast food I picked up when I got off the plane nearly an hour ago.
I shake my head at myself. Who am I kidding?
My stomach’s queasy because of where I’m headed.
Home.
The place I swore I’d never return—New Orleans, Louisiana—where all I ever talked about when I lived here was getting out. Even if I’m only here temporarily, it still feels too long.
In just a few minutes, I’ll pay the driver and step out into the heart of New Orleans, the French Quarter. I’ll inhale the thick, humid air that reminds me so much of my childhood, air that always maintains a hint of the nearby Mississippi River. I can’t deny I’ve missed the south, but the humidity does nothing good for my hair. Even though it’s early March, it’s already seventy here during the day.
My phone rings just as the driver veers right sharply, and I brace myself to avoid slamming my head against the window.
“Hello, bestie,” I say as I answer.
“Yay, you answered! That must mean you’ve landed!” Charly’s cheery voice comes through the receiver clearly.
I swallow hard, wishing I felt a hundredth as happy as she does living here. Charly Boudreaux Danbury has the perfect set-up—she and her husband, Simon, leave for months at a time to visit his family in England and for him to run his coaching business, and they also spend a lot of time in Miami where Charly has a second shoe shop. With five siblings and an amazing mother all in New Orleans, she has the wings and the roots, which is all I ever wanted.
“That’s right. I’ve landed,” I say to Charly, trying to sound positive.
“Oh, sugar, you’re miserable already,” she says in concern.
The driver winds through the streets of the French Quarter, and I glance around with interest. It may be nighttime, but the Quarter never sleeps, and people are bustling about the curved streets. The pet sitting job that I applied for is right near here, which was one of the things that drew me to the position. I grew up wishing I could walk around the city at leisure, and this will give me the chance.
“How did your last audition go? The one for the lead on the new Broadway show?” Charly asks me.
“Um…” I pause. “Not great. It was super competitive.”
I don’t tell her I bombed that audition, much like the one before, and that was the impetus for my manager insisting I take a few months’ break and leave town.
“Your voice is shot, Winter,” Pat said. “And you’re not the same. Get out of the city for the spring and summer, and come back in the fall for audition season.”
“But I can’t miss any time here,” I protested. We had just met for coffee around the corner from Times Square where Pat delivered the bad news about my latest failed audition. “I just got my big break. That’s why I’m getting all these calls. You know that.”
We both knew that one more blown audition might cement my reputation as a one-hit-wonder. But Pat was kind enough not to say anything. He just patted my shoulder and told me he’d stay in touch. And there I was, standing on the sidewalk with a half-finished cup of coffee and a nearly-finished career.
“I’m sorry, sugar. Let Simon and me take you out tonight,” Charly says, bringing me out of my thoughts. “We’ll meet up with the others and go to the Odyssey, not fancy like you and your big-star self are used to with all those Manhattan clubs, but it’ll still be fun.”
“That sounds great,” I say. “But…” I hesitate and cut myself off.
But Charly’s not my oldest friend for nothing. “Hunter won’t be there,” she promises. “Well, I can’t swear that he won’t be out and about, but everyone knows better than to invite him to come with us when you’re going to be there.”
I exhale as the cab comes to a stop outside a stand-alone residence.
“But you do know you’re going to have to see him sometime,” she says gently. “I mean, I know you’re returning to New York, but you’ll be here for a while, and the Storm brothers are kind of a big deal around here. Especially once the ice hockey team came to town, and Liam and Hunt became its two biggest stars.”
“It was easier when he played hockey out west,” I murmur. “I could come home and know he’d be elsewhere. But now that he’s here…”
“I get it.” Charly’s voice softens. “But he’s definitely here now. And he’s pretty much impossible to ignore. You’ll see the billboards of the team around the city, and his handsome face is plastered on all of them.”
“Have you gone out with him at all?” I never ask her about the boy from my past, but I’d rather know in advance than be surprised later.
“A few times,” she says. “My brothers have seen him a bunch too. And not just at his games.” She pauses. “Hunter’s party side hasn’t exactly let up since you left.”
“I’m sure it hasn’t. I know I’ll have to deal with him eventually. I just need a little time to get my feet down first.”
