When the hallway smelled a little too much like recreational activities.
I trusted them to make a few mistakes, but an entire window breaking sent my instincts on alert.
Perhaps it was the wicked winter wind.
I sighed and finished folding some blankets and stacked them on the back of our couch.
Two more hours until I had the house to myself for two weeks. My only vacation until the summer months. I wasn’t crying at the thought of not seeing the girls for that long. Nope. It was winter allergies… or something. They were totally a thing.
“It’s just Kristin and me left, Becs. Your favorites,” Marissa said as we huddled on the couch watching reruns ofSurvivor. We started it as a joke during spirit week back in October because the theme wasSurvivor, but we couldn’t stop watching. We were already on season eight.
“I don’t have favorites, Issa.”
“Uh-huh.Sureyou don’t.” She grinned. “You’re going to miss us.”
I winked at them and focused on the TV instead of the fact that I’d be alone for fourteen days. “I’m not going to shower the entire time and just eat all the food. It’s going to be great.”
“You know, you could ask our hunky neighbor Hot Henley Harrison to visit. Hm?”
“Who?” I ignored her comment abouthim. “Mr. Bixby, the eighty-year-old? Or Mr. Huntley who just had a hip replacement?”
“Avoidance is a huge red flag, Becca. You damn well know I’m talking about Coach Cooper.”
“Oh, him.” I pursed my lips, hating the way my body heated up thinking about him. Yeah, he’d had his hands on me, saw me in my bra, and set my skin on fire with his heated gaze. He also promised to call and didn’t. “Hot Henley Harrison isn’t exactly my type.”
“False. He’s every heterosexual woman’s type.”
“Uh, I’m bi and wouldn’t mind giving him my body for an entire night,” Issa said.
“Ladies, he is too old for you!”
“But not too old for you.” Kristin wiggled her eyebrows. “I saw how he treated you. He was worried.”
Harrison worrying about me? No. He felt guilt or a duty or something. I shook my head and waved a hand in the air, dismissing the thought entirely. “I was covered in blood. Anyone would be worried. Mr. Bixby would’ve been worried.”
“Listen Becs, you take good care of us, but you can take care of yourself, too. When was the last time you went on a date?” Issa patted my arm.
“Did my mom put you up to this?” I joked, hating how I felt the need to defend myself. “She did, didn’t she? That woman is obsessed with helping me findthe one.”
“What? No. Would she do something like that?” Issa asked.
“Many times. My dear mother meddles in my dating life more than I meddle in yours. Trust me.”
“So when was the last time?”
“Uh, let’s see… my mom set me up with an uptight doctor who told me I was the strangest woman he’d ever met. That was a month ago. Before that, there was a dude named Rickon who was an engineer with as much personality as this couch. And before that, a man named Todd told me women were only good for birthing and cleaning.” I scrunched my nose and omitted mentioning the date from two years ago that I thought was one of the best ones yet. Stupid feelings.
Kristin shook her head. “They sound like they sucked.”
“They did.” I laughed, despite the pang of unease at the reality. My mom insisted on setting me up with guys who weren’t my type. But I never enjoyed focusing on the negative and forced a smile. “I’m so busy with you gals, I don’t mind my lack of love life too much.”
“When we get back, prepare yourself for a love-tervention. We’ll get you signed up on dating apps, style some new outfits, and it’ll be awesome! And we’ll get guys that don’t suck. Trust me.” Issa nodded with a lot of aggression.
“It can be our New Year’s resolution! Becca gets boned!” Kristin threw her hands up in the air.
“Okay, that’s enough,” I said between bouts of giggles. “I appreciate your misplaced concern but shh… they are voting someone off the island, and I want to watch.”
The girls shared a look, and I pretended I didn’t see it. It was hard continuing to put myself out there. All those first dates… never any second ones… the continual phrases ofno chemistry, not a good fit, too strangeringing in my ears.
