Page 14 of Just Can't Fall for the Enemy

I slammed the fridge closed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I brushed past her to my room, jerking away as her fingers tried to catch my arm.

I didn’t slam my bedroom door—I wasn’tthatjuvenile—but I did lock it with a loud click and turn up my playlist. One of my dad’s favorites wafted through the air, upbeat and energetic. Everything I did not feel today. I swiped the phone from my pocket again and skipped the song, then the next, and the one after that. Finally, I switched to a different playlist altogether, settling on a sappy romantic song about a woman baring her heart and soul to a man she’d hurt.

How many times this week would I hurt Tanner before he left for good?Who would I have to become to win this?

I thought of my town again and steeled my resolve. The answer was simple: I’d become whoever I needed to become. Carmen called my struggle an imaginary battle, but she simply didn’t understand. My trusting a stranger had already hurt them once. I would never let it happen again. Huckleberry Creek was my family now, and family defended one another.

I yanked a book from the tall TBR stack on my nightstand and opened it to a laminated turquoise bookmark a kindergartener had given me after last year’s forest-safety presentation. There had to be fourteen books here, and I was partway through all of them. I couldn’t even remember what this particular one was about. By the cover, it looked to be some kind of murder mystery.

Perfect.I hoped the victim’s name was Alan.

Carmen’s voice drowned out the words on the page.No forest can ever replace someone to love.

I tried unsuccessfully to immerse myself in the book and finally closed it to grab another. Carmen was wrong. The outdoors were everything she said—peace, solitude, an escape. But they were also a way of connecting with my parents that I couldn’t find anywhere else. Surrounded by trees and brush and interrupted only by the occasional birdcall, I felt closer to them than ever. They’d chosen this place to be our home, and lately I understood exactly why.

My best friend had been searching for happiness in romance for the entire five years I’d known her, ever since her boutique chain sent her here to open and manage their newest location. In all that time, she’d only found temporary bursts of happiness with various men. She’d soon learn what I already knew—that a woman didn’t need romance to be happy. Everything I needed lay right outside my door.

The music disappeared, and my phone vibrated. Grammy’s face filled the screen.

I groaned again. I’d hoped she would miraculously forget about last night’s Mr. Wife-List. A silly, pointless hope. If I let it go to voicemail, she’d just call until she reached me. I hit the green button and lifted it to my ear. “Hey, you.”

“If you’re going to ignore me, at least don’t make your roommate worry.”

“Let me guess. She tattled on me.”

“No, she texted and said you could use a long-distance hug today. Besides, I wanted to tell you some good news. I’m coming into town on Sunday.”

I sat up. “Really? Why?”

She didn’t answer right away, and then I felt foolish for asking. I already knew the answer. Since I refused to fly and work wouldn’t permit me more than a few days off at a time, the long drive to Florida was out of the question. So she was coming to spend Tuesday’s anniversary with me instead.

“You don’t need to do that,” I told her.

“I want to. The humidity here is still unbearable. Besides, I need to check up on that cute house of yours, make sure your roommate hasn’t turned it into a giant fruit salad.”

That made me smile. Carmen had painted her bedroom and bathroom electric yellow, a color I detested. She would have painted the whole house if I’d let her. But this was her home, too, and I wanted her to be happy here.

“I did agree to let her paint the outside,” I admitted. “It’s bright, but at least we settled on green.”

“Good girl. Now, are you going to tell me about this disaster of a date yesterday, or do I need to pry the details from your date himself?”

I flinched. “If you call him, I’m hiding under the bed forever.”

“That sounds pretty bad.”

“Worse than you think.” I told her about the list in the guy’s lap and my solution, deliberately leaving out any mention of Tanner.

She laughed for a full minute. “Sounds like I missed again, big time. I’m sorry, baby girl.”

“It’s all right. I appreciate the thought, but, like I keep telling Carmen, I don’t need a man to be happy.” The moment I said it, I mentally kicked myself. Grammy’s husband died just months before my parents. How insensitive could one person be? “That was rude. I didn’t mean that.”

“Yes, you did. And I happen to think it’s a healthy outlook, not needing someone else to bring you joy. I haven’t been sending men your way to change or complete you, Sophie. I hope you know that.”

“I do.”

“Good. I only assumed you think about your parents as often as I do, and if that’s true, you might be lonely. Just thought it might be good to have a little distraction during this anniversary. A handsome distraction. The richer, the better.”

I chuckled. “Why rich?”

---