Page 3 of Even if You Fall

Unfortunately for me, all the other oblivious women he was seeing agreed with me. As did his wife—whom he was one thousand percentstillmarried to andnot at alldivorced from like I’d been told.

So, there I was: Owen-less, jobless—since Owen had black-listed me from other districts, and I’d needed to get awayfrom him for my mental and emotional well-being—single, and excitedly gushing over my roommate’s perfect proposal.

Ada made a scoffing sound that somehow sounded like adoration as she let a hand slap onto the table. “Who knew that grump could be sweet?”

“Right?” I asked, my gaze landing on Lainey as she attempted to hide her blush behind the almost one-year-old in her lap. The almost one-year-old who’d inadvertently brought the couple together when Asher had gained custody of his niece and found himself in desperate need of a nanny. Cue Lainey, thanks to Ada’s meddling.

I wasn’t going to say romances like that only happened in books...but they only happened in books.

It’s fine; I wasfine. I wasn’t at all jealous or having a silent pity party for one over my self-sabotaging, hermit-y ways.

Reaching for my phone when it vibrated on the table, I flipped it over and felt my perfectly crafted smile drop as soon as I registered the words on the lock screen.

Unknown

The world Chlo. Say the word and it’s yours. Say the word and I’m yours. Fully. Completely.

I stared at the screen of my phone long after it darkened again. My heart was hammering so forcefully that it seemed to be spreading the warning chill Owen always triggered through my body instead of leaving it to cling to my spine.

It’d been months since I’d heard from him.

He’d continued dropping into my class until the school year ended and had even shown up at my house multiple times in the tiny, adorable town of Huntley, Texas until I’d finally threatened him with a restraining order. It’d been the only thing I could think of to get him to stop tormenting me and my shatteredheart that wanted to fall all over itself whenever he was near. But the last I’d heard from Owen had been a call just after school let out—just after I’dquit. I’d blocked him afterward so I could finish moving on from him.

Yet there he somehow was, trying to draw me back in.

“Everything okay, Chloe?”

A little jolt went through me at Lainey’s concern, my phone slipping from my fingers and into my lap. Totally casual. Not at all suspicious.

“What?” I asked, the breathlessness of my voice betraying me, as if I’d just been caught doing something I shouldn’t.

Lainey studied me before her stare pointedly shifted to where my phone was hidden by the table. “Is everything okay?”

“Of course,” I said brightly, my smile effortlessly slipping back into place. With a careless shrug, I lied, “Potential job fell through, but I’ll find something.”

Lainey’s concern morphed to worry as she reached across the table for me. “Chloe...”

I waved her off. “It’s okay, really. It wasn’t the one I wanted.” Even if I wasn’t actually talking about a job, that was the closest to the truth as I could give her.

As much of a hold as Owen could have over me, I wouldn’t be so easily manipulated again. I couldn’t when I now knew what kind of man he really was. I couldn’t when I was now intimately familiar with that cautionary feeling of dread whenever I so much as thought of him.

“What’s all this nonsense about potential jobs?” Ada chimed in, twisting a little in her chair to look at me fully. “Didn’t Asher call you?”

My eyebrows lifted as I glanced between Ada and Lainey before finally settling on the older woman. A hesitant laugh left me because there was no reason for Lainey’s fiancé to call me. I wasn’t sure he even had my number.

Everyone might know everyone in Huntley, but Asher had only lived here for a few months, which meant I only knew him as Lainey’s boyfriend. Well...fiancé.

“I saw him for a whole second when he was dropping his niece off this morning, but no...” I drew out the last word, making it sound like a question.

“Oh no,” Lainey mumbled as if she’d just realized where this was about to go.

But before I could ask whatoh nomeant, Ada said, “Y’all know this girl is old and tired and in desperate need of retirement.”

“Aunt Ada,” Lainey began in warning, but Ada continued over her as if Lainey hadn’t spoken.

“We’ve talked about the best way to search for my replacement, but he and I both agreed we think you’d be perfect for the job.”

“Really?” I asked excitedly, only for that excitement to dim when Lainey said, “No.”

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