Page 22 of An Ex Affair

Em bit back a smile. “Plus you could work every day with those two. Who wouldn’t want that?”

We both laughed and something inside my chest shifted. Warmed. I could see myself here, with these three women. I could see us being friends. True friends, not the kind of friends who’d dump me as soon as life handed me lemons. It wasn’t what I envisioned just a few weeks ago, but Em was right. This would be honest work, utilizing my skillset for homeowners, notsome network executive with more zeroes on his bank account than morals.

“I’ll seriously consider it,” I said quietly, giving Em a head nod. She nodded back and let go of me. “I’ll call you in the next day or two?”

“Fine by me.” She leaned in and dropped her voice. “Warrick’s going to be here any minute, so if you want to avoid that awkwardness, you’d need to get out of here.”

I gave her a grateful wink and hightailed it out of there, pulling onto the road that wound along the cliffside right as a monster of a truck pulled up to the jobsite. I blew out a long breath and headed toward downtown Blueball. In a small town like this, I knew I couldn’t avoid seeing Warrick or Colson for long. But until I knew what I was doing with my life and could stand confidently on those plans, I felt like a conversation with Warrick would be rife with questions I couldn’t answer. He’d always been nice to me, in a little-sister kind of way. Even through our divorce, he made sure to let me know that if I ever needed anything, I could call him. I never did, feeling like I lost all right to lean on Colson’s family when I divorced him.

The afternoon was spent driving around town aimlessly, pulling over to the curb when I saw a house with a for sale sign in the front yard. My mind was moving in a direction I wasn’t sure my heart was on board with yet. Could I make Blueball home again? What would it be like to run into Colson and his family on the regular? Could I do that to myself? Could I do that tohim?

I stopped at Grass to pick up dinner for me and Mama. The smell of barbecued meats filled my car. An unfamiliar sedan was in our driveway when I pulled into the garage. I rounded the house and stared at it parked outside the carriage house. A woman exited the house, her long dark hair and flowered dress catching my eye. She was gorgeous in a girl-next-door kind of way. I’d always wanted to be super feminine like that, but it justwasn’t me. I felt at home in jeans and a shirt, sawdust and a power tool my constant companion. I squinted, making sure the corner of the house kept me hidden while the woman got back in her car. I ran inside Mom’s house and closed the door before the car drove past on its way to the main road.

“Who was that?” I asked, darting a look outside the front window while trying to stay inconspicuous.

Mama had her hands on her hips in the living room, watching my antics with a frown of her own. “Are you spying on Rosemary?”

I put the bags of food down right there by the door. “Rosemary Roberts?”

We’d gone to school with her. She’d been a year younger than us, quiet, but well liked. She’d left Blueball for college but had come back right before I left Blueball. I’d lost track of her after that, just like everyone else from this town.

“Yes. She’s the principal down at Blueball Elementary, you know. Nice girl.” Mama sat back down on the couch, like this conversation was over.

I stalked over to her side and had a seat with her, asking the burning question. “Is she dating Colson?” She’d been in the carriage house, but I didn’t see Colson’s truck. Being in his home when he wasn’t there spoke of familiarity. The kind that made my stomach twist painfully.

Mama’s head whipped my direction. “Are we really doing this?”

“What do you mean?” Anxiety took my appetite away. I just needed her to answer the damn question.

Mama shook her head and stood back up. I didn’t like the expression she was making. It made me feel like a little kid who’d just done something stupid and she was disappointed in me.

“You’ve been divorced nineteen years, honey. What did you think he was going to do? Pine for you forever?”

She turned and walked away, whistling some inane tune while my gut decided to eat itself. I’d known Colson would move on. Of course I did.I’dmoved on. I dated plenty of guys after our divorce. I just…wasn’t prepared to see one of Colson’s girlfriends. Fuck, I wasn’t emotionally prepared for any of this. Being fired. Moving back home. Working with Colson. Building a new life in the one place I said I’d never move back to. All of it seemed out of my control and it was seriously pissing me off.

“You gonna come eat this delicious dinner or what?” Mama called from the dining room.

I flopped back on the couch and folded my arms across my chest, pouting. “I’m not hungry!” I shouted back.

Great. Just a few weeks back in Blueball and I’d reverted to my teenage self, bad attitude and all.

CHAPTER TEN

Colson

My truck tiresbumped over the dip right before Sofia’s driveway, jostling me awake. Not that I’d been driving half asleep. I wouldn’t do that. Not intentionally, that is. I’d worked a twenty-four-hour shift with very little sleep thanks to some kids rolling their golf cart right at the edge of the sea cliffs north of town. We’d been called in to get them back up to the road for the paramedics to work them over. Thankfully, everyone was fine, just some cuts and scrapes. And a shitload of trouble when their parents came to collect them. Those were the kinds of calls that made me glad I’d never become a parent. The abject terror on those parents’ faces when they arrived on scene would live in my brain forever.

I’d almost cleared Sofia’s house when my brain clicked in and all my senses went on high alert. I blinked. Twice.

“Fuck!”

I shoved the truck in park and jumped out of the cab, running in a full sprint to the front door of Sofia’s house. There was a thin plume of dark smoke coming from a window, right around whatI knew to be her kitchen. Training and a lifetime of firefighting kicked in when I needed it to. I pulled the phone out of my back pocket as I ran, hitting 9-1-1. The operator didn’t even get her name out before I was shouting the address and the need for a unit to get out here. I dropped the phone on the doorstep of the house and kicked open the front door. The amount of smoke made me think the fire was just starting, which was a good sign.

“Tully! Sofia!” I crouched low, entering the house and observing all the smoke coming from the kitchen area. I pulled my T-shirt over my head and wrapped it around my nose and mouth, tying it at the back of my head and charging into the kitchen.

No one seemed to be in the kitchen, which was a good thing. Flames licked up from behind the stove, melting the wallpaper, but smoke wasn’t coming out of the sides and top of the oven door like I would have assumed. Automatically, I grabbed the fire extinguisher I’d installed under Sofia’s sink years ago, but then hesitated. Panic was making my brain slow. I knew this and yet couldn’t seem to tamp the panic down.

“Colson!” Tully’s voice had me swiveling in her direction. She stood in the doorway to the kitchen in a cotton tank top and shorts.

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