Page 38 of Up All Night

The bathroom door opened. “Everything okay, honey?” I heard my mom’s voice.

Clutching the shower curtain to my chest, I poked my head around. “Why is the water cold?”

Kate joined my mother in the bathroom doorway. “I have no idea. I tried taking a shower this morning, but I couldn’t get the hot water to work.”

“So you don’t think we ran out of hot water?” I asked, trying to wrap my brain around why there was no blissfully hot water coming out of the shower faucet.

“No, because we haven’t taken any showers today,” Kate answered.

I nodded. “I’ll get a hold of Ron and see what needs to be done.”

They left, closing the door behind them.

I stared at the torturous streams of water. I really wanted to take a shower, but how bad did I want to feel clean? Enough to risk hypothermia?

Okay, so I was exaggerating a little, but it was sooooo cold.

Taking a big breath, I walked into the frigid water. I could do this. Weren’t cold plunges all the rage these days? Maybe cold showers had some health benefits, too. At least that was what I would tell myself as I took the fastest—and coldest—shower of my life.

As soon as I was dressed, I reached out to our superintendent, Ron, who said he would be up in an hour to take a look at it.

I was still shivering when I walked out to the kitchen. A hot cup of coffee was exactly what I needed right now.

Kate sat on the couch, one of her feet up on the coffee table as she painted her toenails. “Someone had a late night last night.”

Speaking through the vent wasn’t the quietest way to have a conversation. It was likely that Kate and my mom had heard a lot of what I had said to West last night.

Trying to deflect her comment, I said, “Like you’re one to talk. You stay up late talking to Jax every night.”

She gave me a patronizing look. “That’s different. Jax and I are just friends.”

“And West and I are just friends,” I threw back at her. “Heck, I don’t even know if we’re friends. We’re barely more than acquaintances.”

She cocked one of her eyebrows. “No one stays up into the early morning hours talking to a person who is barely more than acquaintance.”

She made a good point, but I wouldn’t admit to anything that could misconstrue our nonexistent relationship.

Without looking at her, I poured some coffee into my pink mug. “Well you should. It can be a lot of fun.”

She chuckled. “So you won’t deny that you liked talking to him?”

“No. I liked talking to him.” I took a small sip of coffee. “Does that make you happy?”

A satisfied grin appeared on her face. “It always makes me happy for you to finally admit the truth when I’ve known it all along,” she said smugly. She looked back down at her toes. “I never thought you two would ever get along, though.”

“Me neither,” I mused. “But once he comes out of his ornery shell, he’s not too bad.”

My mom, who had been in the bathroom earlier, walked back into the living room. “Are we talking about that hunk of a neighbor, West?”

“Yes, Mom,” I sighed. “But there is nothing going on between us.”

My mom got a wicked gleam in her eye. “Not yet.”

I rolled my eyes and gave her a serious look. “Not ever.”

I didn’t care if I thought West could be my dream guy, there was no way I would get involved with a guy who lived in my apartment complex. Especially one as good-looking as West.

If I ever chose to have another boyfriend—which I did not see in my future—they would have to be plain, with no striking features. I’d like them for their intriguing conversation, their thoughtfulness, their sense of humor. I was done with being blinded by a handsome face. After several failed relationships, mostly based too heavily on physical attraction, this girl had finally learned her lesson.

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