Slipping the key into the lock, I pushed the wooden door open and smiled the moment I felt the warmth of the house encapsulate me. Then again, that might have something to do with the fact that it was so small, but I didn’t mind. I lived alone. I had no one I needed to share this with.
I walked through the living room to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of wine from the wine rack, and poured myself a generous glass of red. My fingers slid over the smooth granite countertops as I headed back to the living room, snuggling into my oversized armchair in front of the stone fireplace. In a few months, it would be cold enough for a fire, and that’s when the fun really started.
If I could afford firewood this year. That all depended on how the shop did, and the way the gossip around town spread after the crap with Liam, my sales took a hit I couldn’t afford.
So, this was my refuge, sitting in my living room at night with a bottle of red, enjoying the one thing in my life that I loved more than anything. Tilting my head back against the cushion, I stared up at the beams crisscrossing the cream ceiling.
After drinking my wine and dozing in the chair for the better part of an hour, I headed to bed, pulling back the thick covers I slept under even in the summer. I needed to brush my teeth and take off my makeup, but I was too lazy for that right now.
I flopped back and pulled the covers up to my chin, my eyes blinking slowly as I drifted off.
Not much was right in my life, but at least I had this.
4
RYDER
I steppedout of the shower, glancing at my phone I’d left on the bed. As if it knew I was looking at it, the phone lit up with yet another call from Bianca. Striding over to the bed, I declined the call and turned off the phone. The last thing I needed was to talk to her. If I heard her voice, listened to the desperation and pleading, I might get on a plane and head back to New York City, and that was something I couldn’t afford right now.
I needed the distance from the whole mess, and that included the woman I thought I would spend the rest of my life with.
Drying off, I walked over to the closet and pulled out a suit out of habit, but the moment I started pulling on the slacks, I thought better of it.
“What the hell am I doing?” I muttered to myself.
I didn’t have a job. I had no interviews to go on. Hell, for once in my life, I was free to do whatever I wanted.
And yet, as I looked in my closet, I realized I had nothing that really fit in this life. I pulled out a pair of jeans that looked almost slightly worn and grabbed a white t-shirt. That was about as casual as I got most days. Thankfully, I had some boots to wear. They were really more stylish boots than work boots, but it was better than wearing wingtips in Montana.
“Coffee,” I murmured to myself, walking out of the room, only to stop in my tracks.
Jeff and some other guy were sitting in my living room, playing a game on a large screen TV, with controllers I definitely didn’t have before.
“Uh…”
“You slept late,” Jeff said, his thumbs going crazy on the controller and his eyes laser-focused on the TV. “We were gonna wait, but?—”
“Oh! Damn, I got you!”
“You cheated,” Jeff snapped.
“Did not. You just suck at this.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“It’s not my fault you need the practice,” the man laughed.
“I would practice if I had a console of my own, but I don’t.”
“What the hell is going on?” I asked, still waiting on an answer.
“Listen, I’ve only got twenty minutes until I have to leave for my shift. You have until then to convince me that you can kick my ass.”
“What a pussy. You don’t have to work. You just know that I’ll kick your ass when I’m not so rusty.”
I stomped in front of the TV, missing the old days when there was an actual button to press on the TV to turn it off.
“Hey!” they both shouted, pissed that I was blocking their view.
