The Reluctant Romantics Box Set (The Fall, The Mind, The Heart)

“Home,” I said confidently. “Where I live. And why are you guys eating here?”

“Used to it, I guess,” Dallas said with a shrug. “Dean’s got a patient in labor, and it’s a quicker commute. We like it here.”

“Just don’t get burned out,” I said, admiring the family in front of me. “You’ll be here forever.”

Dallas stopped her cutting and looked up at me with a grin. “So will you.”

“Right,” I said, matching her grin. “Night, love you guys.”

“Wove you,” Grant said, not looking up from his plate.

“Oou,” Annabelle added. I closed the door and decided to walk back to my house. It really never seemed like much of a walk on cooler nights. The paved, white walkway was softly lit on both sides by luminescent globes. Some nights, I would just walk up and down the paved street, thinking of how much had changed for me both personally and professionally since this land was nothing but pasture. It was a different world now, a different life.

Goose bumps covered my arms as a cool breeze lifted my hair from my shoulders. Grant wasn’t here. It hadn’t taken me long to figure that out. But on summer nights like this, with his memory still etched in to every part of me, he wasn’t far away.

“Did you feel that?”

His words were an echo now, an echo of the world we’d lived in together where our dreams were at our fingertips and our love was front and center. I paced myself on my walk home, no longer looking forward to a night alone. Stopping mid-step, I stared into the distance at the empty house. Clarity hit me as I stood in front of the past. I’d been waiting for a new life to start while staring in the rearview. If I wanted to change my life, my future required my attention.

As the next cool breeze ran its fingers through my hair, fear crept through me.

My life had started a long time ago and had begun to leave me behind.

Unknown: Good Morning, beautiful. I’m ready for my first lesson.

Thinking on my toes, I sent my first text to Jack then programmed his number.

Rose: Rap & R&B 101 - Changes, Tupac

“You’ve had this place how long and never had us over?” Jules popped off as she jumped out of her SUV and whistled as an assessment of the house.

“I’ve been busy,” I offered in a half-assed apology, a cold glass of sweet tea vodka extended toward her as she made her way up the steps.

She snatched it from my sweaty palm and swallowed it down while narrowing her eyes at me. Jules was a native of New Jersey, and raised by her five brothers. Though she did have the accent and a lot of the attitude, the last guy who had called her Snookie had been dismissed with a broken nose and a Louis Vuitton shoved up his ass. She believed in truth and loyalty and with her you always got the blunt truth. But when you were one of Jules’ people, you got the best of her. I was one of the lucky ones.

She took no time setting her day’s supplies down on the deck, which consisted of a neon green bottle of tanning oil, a misting spray water bottle to cool ourselves down while we sunbathed, an additional bottle of expensive vodka, and her usual fifteen-pound purse, which I was sure was filled with the mysteries of her universe.

Jules was beautiful with olive skin, long, jet-black hair, and large round blue eyes. She was top heavy and damn near every shirt she wore was accompanied by inches of deep cleavage. She pulled off her t-shirt, revealing a banana yellow bikini, then made herself at home in one of my deck chairs.

“Seriously, I can’t believe you’ve been holding out on us like this.” She pulled her black sunglasses over her eyes and stretched her back like a lazy cat in the afternoon sun.

“If it makes you feel any better, aside from my family, you’re my first house guest,” I said as I took residence beside her in a matching chair. She looked at me sideways before giving me a quick nod.

I’d bared all to Jules one night after a long day at work and a few shots of tequila, which she insisted on and I hated. I’d told her everything I wanted her to know, including the details of my relationship with Grant. Unlike Dallas, she hadn’t pushed me for anything since. Though blunt and honest, she was still the type of woman who knew her place, and if I had to guess, she masked her own pains as well.

Who didn’t?

I spent an hour filling her in on my activities of the days before, leaving out mine and Jack’s motorcycle ride. I’d have to have more than one drink to admit what had happened. I knew our chemistry was on dangerous grounds, but I also knew he was fighting some moral issue because of my father and their friendship. I was sure last night, if it weren’t for Dallas, he would have kissed me. Would I have kissed him back? Did I want him to? I thought of his slow smile when he’d figured out I was turned on to the brink. Then I realized he’d probably be packing up in the next few weeks to head back to New Orleans. For a brief moment, I wondered if he had someone to return to.

“So you go out and get dolled up, buy a sports car, and decide to have a party? What’s gotten into you?”

I shrugged in reply.

“Well, good on ya,” she said before draining her spiked tea. “This is pretty good.”

“It is, and I’m not having a party. Jamie is coming in a few hours after her shift. Just us girls today.”

I settled in my deck chair, already feeling the burn on my shoulders. Reaching for my sun block, I gave my body a quick rubdown. For someone so sensitive to the sun, it was a damn shame I loved it so much.