Page 8 of The One for Me
“At least someone will be about me being back there.”
I stay silent because I was so excited when I found out he would be back for six months. I couldn’t wait to spend time with him and have my best friend around. I have Sydney and Ellie, but it isn’t the same.
They aren’t Sean.
They don’t know the crap I deal with from my mother or how much I wish I could be doing something different with my life.
Since Sydney gave me a raise, I’m a bit closer to that freedom. It helps because the sooner I can get out of my parents’ house, the better. I can’t stand being under their thumb, but with the student loans I racked up after my scholarships were cancelled, I haven’t been able to do it.
All that time and money wasted. I have a degree in architecture, and thanks to my piss-poor decisions regarding men, I have no chance of ever using it.
“All right. We’re okay?” Sean asks after I don’t say anything.
“We’re good.”
Other than I want to know if kissing you again will be like that night. Oh, and Oliver and I broke up.
“I’ll see you in a week,” he says.
The flutter in my stomach makes it hard to keep my tone even, but I manage it. “Can’t wait.”
Yeah, the next six months are going to be a test I pray I don’t fail.
Chapter Three
Devney
Ihave a new countdown in my head.
Three days until S-day.
Sean Day.
Three days before I have to pretend I haven’t relived that stupid kiss and haven’t realized that I’m in love with my best friend.
Super fun.
I get up, check myself in the mirror, and then head downstairs. My parents are in the living room, looking at some article in the newspaper. Mom looks up. “Where are you going this early?”
“To the stables.”
She huffs. “Aren’t you being the dutiful daughter. Now you suddenly care about the animals here. Because it suits you?”
I swallow the acid response I want to toss at her.
My mother was once a very loving and sweet woman. We would spend hours in the garden, planting and harvesting vegetables. She would take me into the stables and allow me time with the horses. That was always my desired place to be.
She has a strong belief in values and did her best to instill them in me.
For years, it seemed as though I surpassed her hopes.
Until I didn’t.
“Lily,” Dad says softly. “She’s not doing anything wrong. She’s helping out on the weekends.”
I smile at my father, who has a full head of gray hair and is a bit rounder than he likes to believe. He doesn’t look at me as though I’m a failure, and I love him even more for it.
“A lot of good it does us during the week when she’s working a job that is beneath her.”
