Hayes Farrow is our other best friend and my sister Hattie’s boyfriend. We used to be enemies, and when he started dating my sister, I thought I was going to murder him, but we resolved our differences, and even though I hate to admit it at times, I’m glad he’s back in my life.
Abel presses his hand to his chest. “When you say things like that, it hurts.”
“You deserve it when you offer stupid ideas.”
“Finding someone to help you dispel this pent-up anger and energy . . . that’s stupid? Pretty sure if I asked anyone what you should do, given your situation and how . . . backed up you are, they’d suggest the same thing.”
“Who’s to say I’m that backed up?” I ask.
He folds his arms across his chest and stares me down. “You have not once looked at a woman since Cassidy passed and you took guardianship of Mac. Don’t even tell me I’m wrong.”
He’s not.
He’s absolutely right.
And my celibacy started months before that, when Cassidy got her cancer diagnosis with only months to live. I went into protective mode like I’ve always done. I set aside everything in my life, did the bare minimum to make sure my responsibilities were taken care of, and then put all my focus on my dying sister and her daughter.
And now with Mac being my number one responsibility, my needs, well, they’ve been put on the back burner.
“See, you have no response because you know I’m right.” He nudges my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go to the bar and see if we can find you someone. Aubree and Wyatt have Mac taken care of.”
I shake my head. “I’m not about to just go do it with some townie. That shit would stay with me.”
“Then let’s see if we can find someone from out of town.”
I roll my eyes. “In a small town? Yeah, good luck with that.”
“Never know until we try,” Abel says as he stands and tugs on my arm, pulling me up with him.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Doing something I should have done a while ago.”
Chapter One
GABBY
“I can’t even believe he wasn’t there,” I say to Bower as I pick at a bowl of nuts in front of me.
“He wasn’t?”
“No,” I say on a huff. “Couldn’t even bother showing up. You would think he should be there, but nope. And I was so thrown off that I totally botched the entire thing.”
“You probably think that, but I bet it went well.”
“Trust me, Bower, it didn’t.” I slouch on my barstool and down the rest of my second vodka and lime. Yup, hitting up the hard stuff tonight.
After that embarrassment of an interview, I need it.
“What makes you think it didn’t go well?”
“Well, to start, I tripped walking into the room, sending myself straight into the wall.”
She snorts, just as expected, but follows it by saying, “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh.”
“I ran into the wall so hard that I bent my finger back and nearly broke the stupid thing. It’s really sore.”
“Well, at least you didn’t break it, as that would have made the interview even worse.”
