Page 3 of Fumbling in the Dark

“You hadn’t even asked her to move with you.”

“I was waiting to see where I got drafted to,” I defend myself.

He shakes his head. “I don’t think so. If you loved her, you would’ve asked her right away. I think deep down you knew she wasn’t the one.”

“How did you know Mya was the one?”

“I never wanted anyone else. No matter who was in front of me, I only thought of Mya. Everything I did was for her, to get closer to her.”

“Is that how it was with Shelby?” Cliff asks.

“No,” I mutter. “But it still hurts.”

Cliff tries to comfort me by knocking my shoulder with his, then he reminds me, “I know, but this is your chance to start over and find something even better.”

Chapter two

Janae

“Are you going out tomorrow night?” my roommate Samantha asks, placing the mail on the bar of our apartment.

“Uh, no. It’s going to be crazy at work tomorrow with last-minute orders. No, when I get home, my plans are to stay here, take a bath, sip on a glass of wine and read. My book boyfriends will keep me company,” I inform her, returning to my book and hoping she’ll get the point.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t because she walks more into the living room, whining while throwing her hands in the air. “You have to go out. It’s Valentine’s Day in Vegas! There is literally a guy on every corner.”

“Exactly. It’sValentine’s Day. I don’t want to be out in all that. I’ll have to deal with it all day and besides, I don’t want just anyone,” I tell her, waving my hand in the air, then dropping my voice, I whisper, “That’s when the extra crazies come out.”

“Hello. We live in Vegas. The crazies are out every night,” she says and both of us stare at each other for a moment, then break out into giggles.

That’s what I love about Samantha. We met our freshman year in college as roommates in the dorms. I was sad that I had to leave my wonderful family behind, especially my Nana, but Sam had made some stupid joke and that was the beginning of the end.

Of course, that was when I was enrolled and figuring out what to do in life. After an internship at Sunshine Flowers for my horticulture class, I fell in love and flowers became my destiny. Once I’d figured that out, I dropped out of college and became a full-time employee. Now I get to play with flowers all day.

Since we were great roommates and good friends, neither of us wanted to risk it when I’d needed to leave. So, Sam moved into our small abode with me and now she commutes to The University of Las Vegas each day. Thankfully, I only have another month left of my florist certification program and Sam will be done with college next year, allowing us to move to a different place that will be better for us.

We both come from middle class families who can’t help us with college like they want to, which is the reason we both work so hard. Neither of us is taking your typical college route, but what matters to our families is that we have a better life, better opportunities, than they’d had.

Samantha drops down onto the couch next to me, giving me her puppy dog eyes. “Come on, it’s not healthy for you to be locked up here all the time.”

“I’m not locked up here all the time. I go to work.”

“Exactly, you only go to work and that’s it.”

“What else am I supposed to do?”

“Get out and have some fun, meet new people,” she informs me, shimmying her boobies at me. When her phone buzzes inher hand, she looks down at the screen, and her face lights up. I assume it was from her boyfriend. I glance back at my book, giving her some semblance of privacy.

I haven’t met him yet, but she seems happy so he can’t be too bad. They’ve only been dating for like a month. And if I know one thing about Samantha, it’s that she is careful. I won’t be meeting this guy until she is pretty sure about him. The whole time I’ve known her, I’ve only met one person she was dating.

She has told me a little about him, but not much. I know he plays some kind of sport. I’m sure she’s told me, but considering I don’t give a crap about sports, it went in one ear and out the other.Let me think, what else has she told me?He moved to Vegas a few years ago from Texas and has a dog named Murphy. Other than that, I’m at a loss, but all that matters is that my friend seems happier.

Her gaze leaves her phone and she zeroes in on me.Oh crap, that can’t be good. And when her lip curves up into a smirk? Shit, this will definitely not be good for me.

“What if I have a date for you on Valentine’s Day?”

“I don’t know. I’m going to be exhausted tomorrow,” I say, looking away from her.

“Come on, Kade has a friend who is new in town and also needs to have some fun.”

---