CHAPTER ONE
Wynn
Glass shattered everywhere—like,everywhere. I stood frozen in place in my best friend’s living room as I watched little shards of crystal skitter across the hardwood floor and disappear under furniture.
“Okay, that’s enough.” Seth gently took me by the arm and guided me over to his sofa. “Sit. No more helping.”
“I’m so sorry. I was walking slowly; I think there’s a divot in the wood.”
He blinked slowly. “Right, a divot.”
I shrugged and relaxed into the soft cushions. “I can clean up the mess if you’d like.”
He held up both hands, palms up. “Please don’t. I’m not sure I can afford for you to break anything else.”
“Har har, so funny. I’m not that bad.”
Seth’s brows shot up to his hairline. “Really?” He started counting off. “Three frames, two mugs, the glass on my microwave, and a vase.” He pointed to the floor where the glasshad shattered. “That’s just in the last three hours of you trying to help me move.”
I wanted to refute his claim but as I thought about it, I realized he was right. What I wasn’t going to do was agree—I’d sort of agree. “Whatever.” There, that worked.
He rolled his eyes and moved into the kitchen. He returned with a broom and dustpan. “Maybe you can order us something to eat, from the couch.”
“You want me to stay right here and not move?”
“Preferably.” He chuckled.
“I need to leave eventually. Are you going to carry me out of here?”
“If I have to.” He swept up the mess while I scrolled food apps for something to order. “What time is your flight tomorrow?”
“Six in the stupid morning,” I answered as I decided on pizza.
“Gross.” He snorted. “Sorry I can’t come on your birthday trip.”
I waved him off. “Hush, no big. With you moving in and starting a new job, there was no way it was going to happen. But it’s fine, you can make it up to me once I return.”
“Oh, how nice of me.”
I beamed. “Besides, I won’t be alone. Mark and Hannah are coming with me. And anyway, my real birthday was last week, and you were there for that.”
He nodded and brought everything back to the kitchen to toss. “True, but still. I’m jealous, though. I mean, wow, the Lamdera Islands…shit, it’s going to be so beautiful.”
“It’s a dream come true. I always wanted to go, but it was expensive. But hitting thirty made me realize I wasn’t getting any younger and that all this money I was saving, well, I can’t take it with me when I die, so why the fuck not go?”
Seth leaned against the doorjamb with a smile on his face. “I love that for you.”
“Yeah, and you know, there are a lot of fancy royalty there, maybe I’ll meet my prince charming?” I wiggled my eyebrows.
“If he has a sister, hook me up.”
I shot him two finger guns and finished ordering the pizza. We spent the rest of the afternoon with me sitting on the sofa watching Seth unpack, eating pizza, and talking about everything and anything as we always did.
I left his place at about eight. I was all packed for my trip but having to get up at ungodly o’clock for my flight, I needed to hit the sack at a decent time. Of course I was too excited to simply drift off to dreamland, so I took some melatonin and eventually slept.
All too soon my alarm was blaring and I grumbled, noticing that the sun didn’t greet me—just darkness. “Humans shouldn’t be up this early.” I really didn’t have anyone to blame but myself. I’d booked the flights, but it was either this time or midnight and I hadn’t been feelingthatat all.
After a shower, shave, and all the things that made me appear awake were done, I poured coffee and sat at my breakfast bar waiting for Mark and Hannah to arrive.
