He couldn’t be my boyfriend. He had a genuine time stamp, and I wouldn’t walk right into heartbreak again, regardless of how sexy he was. We’d have fun while we could and go our separate ways. For now, my heart was on ice.
“I don’t know,” I replied, taking a sip of my drink. “I’m not forcing things.”
“You’re a nut,” she shot back. “If he’s as sexy as you say, gobble that sucker up. They get harder to find the older you get.”
I shrugged. She was right, but I’d worry about that when the time came. Once January rolled around, I could figure things out. There had to be other sexy guys that loved data and schedules wandering around.
“How’s the job search going?” she asked.
If I wrote one more cover letter, I would scream. I applied at almost every company in the region and received a steady stream of we’re not actively seeking new hires, but we’ll keep you on file responses.
“No one is hiring!” I vented.
“I know! I applied at the kids’ school for an office position and was told I was over-qualified. Such crap. I need to get away from that place.”
It’d be interesting to see what happened once Lee and I left. Monica wouldn’t be able to handle the overflow, and she wasn’t the best person to train newbies you wanted to keep, not scare off.
“I’ve been toying with moving home once everything settles down,” I admitted, knowing she would flip a lid, but I didn’t want to keep that from her too.
Dad was getting older by the day, and I missed him terribly. Visiting him for the holidays only helped so much. First, I had to pay off a mountain of debt and squirrel some money away. Starting over wouldn’t be cheap.
“Explains why you don’t want to get into a relationship...” she muttered, her expression falling.
“I’ll still visit,” I assured, offering a weak smile and patting her hand. “I just think Ithaca and I aren’t compatible. You’re the only good thing to come out of this place.”
“And Hank,” she reminded.
“And my furry jerk,” I corrected with a laugh.
I found him during my first summer in town, a stray kitten along with his mama and littermates. They all found homes except for him, his feral roots stronger than the others.
“Would you stay with your dad?” she asked, half-smiling.
“If I needed to, I would.”
Sharing the thousand-foot cabin again would be tight, especially having to crawl back up into the loft to sleep, but it’d be doable for a couple weeks. Apartments in Willits Bend were dirt cheap, most perched atop old storefronts lining the town square. Finding a job would be tricky, but I could always search for something remote with how the industry was trending.
“I’d visit you,” she breathed. “I love it up there.”
She came for Christmas once with Jesse and the kids, all of us stuffing into Dad’s cabin and setting up a fresh tree we cut down in the woods.
“Me too,” I admitted. I never should have left. My heart was always there waiting for me. New York was great in a lot of ways, but it wasn’t home. It was so rushed and frantic, the mountain pace lost.
“We’ll cross that bridge when it comes,” she assured. “In the meantime, enjoy the hell out of that sexy piece of ass.”
“Cheers to that!” I laughed, clinking my glass with hers.
“How sexy are we talking? Is he one of those eternally hot types or a matured fine wine?” she prodded.
Jason was in a league of his own, faint crow’s feet the only hint of age. With his muscles and towering frame, he didn’t seem a day over thirty, let alone a few years shy of forty.
“Eternally hot...” I replied, biting my lip.
“Hotter than Barrett?” she asked.
I took a sip of my drink to keep from laughing. “Maybe,” I breathed, walking a fine line, heart pounding.
“Oh Jesus Christ, Elena!” she squealed. “You need to get a pic of him! Someone hotter than Barrett is something to document. Does he have a Facebook I can check out? What’s his last name?” She swiped her screen alive, ready to investigate.
Crap. I hadn’t thought of that lie yet. “I don’t know,” I replied with a shrug.
“You’ve been fucking him for weeks, and you don’t know his last name?” she asked, floored.
“We’ve been a little preoccupied...” I trailed, hoping the subject would die.
“Whore!” she laughed. “But seriously, that new furry look of Barrett? Fuck. I didn’t realize he could get any hotter.”
I cringed inside listening to my best friend drool over the guy I was sleeping with. “Yeah, it’s nice.”
“Come on, you can admit it! You’re not exclusive with that dude. Barrett is a whole new level of fine. You should bone him too while you’re free!”
I laughed, shaking my head.
“Seriously, fuck him before he leaves. He’s totally single. No rin,g and I heard he’s staying at a hotel alone — no wife or fiancée to speak of.”
“How do you know?” I asked, keeping a hint of laughter in my voice. Inside I was quaking.
“Girl, you know people talk. When those trainers were out here, they grabbed drinks at his hotel’s bar with Monica and a few people from the office. That skank probably fucked one and got away with it.”
My heart dropped. I’d been strolling in that place without a care in the world, thinking no one knew where he was staying. Now hats and hoods seemed like musts.
“Anyway, show up at the bar in Hotel Soros in a bustier and leather pants. I bet he’ll fuck you.”
“Soros? Pricey.”
Next subject, please.
“Oh yeah. Corporate is too cheap to give us decent raises, but he’s living large,” she breathed. “But seriously. I think he’s game.”
“What?” I screeched. I was more than shell-shocked. We were rarely in the same room, and when we were, I made a point not to look his way or give him a hint of attention.
“When he walks through, his eyes always wander over
