His smirk told me he wasn’t upset up about the town’s raised profile.
“’Course, we’ve still got the chili cook-off and the rodeo. The hippies haven’t taken over entirely.”
I laughed, the sound rusty from disuse.
“The Desert Rose Arts Fest is coming up soon.” He rubbed his hands together. “It was a little thing when you lived here, but it’s a big deal now. We get artists and visitors from all over the world.”
His pride in the town’s success came through. It reminded me why I never put Sierra Rose Ridge in my rear-view mirror, despite its bad memories. Most of my negative history with this place was centered on one man, my father, though he inadvertently prepared me for some of the horrors of war.
“I’m sorry to hear about your accident,” I said.
“I can’t complain. They didn’t think I’d walk again, and look at me now. Dani had a lot to do with that, though. She bullied me into doing my physical therapy every day though she had to leave her big-city job behind.”
The Williams family knew how to make the best of a bad situation. Dani’s ability to find good in the shittiest situations was something I sorely missed when dealing with Katelyn’s fake pregnancy. Things with my dadgot worse until they exploded. I needed Dani’s sunshine, but I pushed her away.
Nope, I’m not opening that door. I’ve managed without her. Maybe not well at times, but I put one foot in front of the other and didn’t cope with a bottle or a bullet. When everything with Blair came out, and my life went to shit again, I made it through without giving into my demons.
But fuck. It’s one thing to navigate the murky shit of memory lane with the ghosts of my father, but now I have to deal with my feelings for Dani, too?
Would I have still been as excited to move back if I knew she’d be here, or would I have joined Harris at his family’s machine shop and put off my return a few more years? Fuck if I knew.
Chapter 3
DANI
I pulled into the driveway and sat there for a moment looking at Beau’s truck. This was going to be a difficult conversation, but it needed to happen. Since I had to go to work in an hour, that would give us some space to process things.
Now that I’d made the difficult decision to break up, I wanted to rip the bandage off.
Or maybe I should check the mail first. That was one of his household chores, but it would show I was willing to work with him. I did the cooking and cleaning, and he was responsible for paying the bills, handling home maintenance, maintaining the yard, taking care of the trash, and checking the mail.
“Beautiful day out.” Carol, one of our neighbors, greeted me.
“It is,” I agreed.
I practiced different speeches in my head as I walked to our community mailbox. He’d probably be upset and disappointed I wanted to break up, but he was checked out of our relationship, too.
Hopefully he’d let me stay on as his roommate. It’d be awkward, but Beau was reasonable. He couldn’t afford the rent without a roommate any more than I.
My only other option was to move back in with my parents. I was grateful for a safety net, but it was my last choice. I already feel enough of a failure that I don’t have a real job, a serious relationship, or any prospects in my thirties.
“Hi, Dani. Nice day for a walk,” Eric from the bank called out as he drove by.
Maybe I should refocus on our relationship. Just because we weren’t in love now didn’t mean it was impossible. Good men were in short supply around here. It might take years before I found someone else, and there was no guarantee that would turn into love, either.
I was so focused on my jumbled thoughts I almost passed the mailbox. After the third try, I found the correct key and unlocked our mailbox slot, which was bursting with mail. Confused, I leafed through the envelopes and noticed two that stood out: yellow envelopes with URGENT and PAST DUE in ugly red letters.
My frown deepened. They were from the electric company and our Internet service provider.
With shaking hands, I ripped open the electric bill. Somehow, we were six months in arrears though I’d picked up an extra shift at the Tavern because electric prices were so much higher this year. It was a staggeringamount. The Internet bill was only four months behind, but shut-off was imminent.
With my heart hammering in my chest, I ran home. I caught my breath before I unlocked the door to Beau’s house.
Beau was in his man cave where he was playing a phone game with a smile. He took in my disheveled state with disgust.
“What happened to you?”
I thrust the mail at him, uncertain where to start.
