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

Jules was feet away now, and Jack and I both jumped in surprise.

“Jules, we can see you.” Jules stood there with a shit-ea

ting grin on her face. Her hair was a rat’s nest, which I was sure was a result of driving around on the cart, and her dress was situated in a way that barely kept her valuables covered.

“Hey, you two,” she said as she stood and pointed between us. “I have a very important question… for Rose.” Jack looked at me with brows raised as she turned to me with a sudden, serious expression. “If you both end up on a sinking ship in icy waters, will you move your big ass over so he can fit on the floating headboard?”

Jack laughed hysterically as I blew out a breath of dread. It was going to be a long night. Looking for Jamie, I spotted her over the railing as she chased my traumatized ducks.

“Ca-caw!” she shrieked at them as they ran for their lives.

“I’m going to get dumb and dumber into a cold shower and make some strong coffee,” I said as I gripped Jules by the strap of her dress and pushed her through my bedroom door.

“Good idea.” He winked as he made his way down the porch steps and Jamie made her way up.

“Hey, you!”

“Hey back at you,” Jack said without stopping.

Smart man.

Jamie paused at the top step and bent halfway over, examining Jack’s ass closely as I cleared my throat.

“That,” she said in a whisper, “is a work of art, I say!”

I crossed my arms as she approached me with pouty lips, equally as drunk as her predecessor. “In my deflense, I don’t drink shots and Jules made me have sleven.”

“And that’s why you sound like Daffy Duck?” I gripped her purse strap, pulled her inside, and caught Jack’s laugh as he turned back in our direction to let out his own “ca-caw!”

Jamie quickly answered back enthusiastically as she blew out my eardrum.

“Thanks a lot, buddy, really. You’ll pay for that!” I called after him. I looked to my bedroom where the girls stripped themselves of heels, chunky jewelry, and half of their attire before raiding my kitchen. I sat with them at my counter as they devoured a large pizza and started on cheese and crackers.

“I’m too old for this shit,” Jules said as her glossy eyes began to close while she preached. “I am! I’m in my thirties. I shouldn’t be going to bars chasing cowboys and raising hell.”

“I’m with you,” Jamie said as they fist bumped. “Tomorrow will be hell. I can’t handle my liquor anymore.”

Jules downed her water bottle as she eyed me. “And just what exactly were you up to when we got here?”

“He’d just got back from Lubbock and stopped by,” I said sternly in an attempt to ward off the confession of the flaming whore I’d behaved like with my lips around him minutes before they arrived.

“Sorry,” Jamie said as she looked at me with regret.

“This is punishment, right?” I said with a shrug.

“No,” Jules answered sharply. “We just want you around, and if you won’t come out, we’ll come to you, babe.”

“I’m flattered,” I said dryly but with a wink.

“You should be,” Jamie said, “not many people get to experience all this awesomeness.”

I raised a brow as I herded them out of my kitchen and we made our way to the couch. The girls spent half an hour telling me about their night out and how cool their Uber driver was before they passed out face first, Jules in my bed and Jamie on my couch. Instead of being turned off by their behavior, I decided to join them the next time they went. Maybe I wasn’t ready for it when they’d initially taken me out, but I was now. I wanted to experience more now that I was coming out of my numb state. I sat up alone, drinking a glass of wine and ignoring Netflix as I thought of what Jack had said to me.

“Everyone has to roll the dice at least once in their life.”

Hadn’t I done that with Grant? And hadn’t I watched those dice circle the drain, helpless to stop them from going down.

Though I was still knees deep in an identity crisis, I was positive I was finally getting rid of the bitter and jaded version of myself, the one who blamed loss and declared her life over.