Page 1 of Accidentally Falling
PROLOGUE
ARDEN
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
The words have been on repeat since I got in the car, my brain unable to grasp the concept that my mother isdatingmy father.
The one that didn’t know I existed until I tracked him down a few years ago.
The man who raised a daughter my age with a cold-hearted bitch of a woman.
I love my sister and up until tonight, I’d been enjoying getting to know Evan Mills. But something about him dating my mother after all these years grates on me in a way I could never have imagined.
He wasn’t there.
He didn’t try.
Ignoring the fact that he didn’tknow, I grew up with my mother believing that Evan Mills was the one that got away. She never dated anyone seriously that I could remember, and it felt like she was still so hung up on someone that would never love her that she sacrificed any chance of happiness with someone else.
It made my heart hurt back then and apparently not much has changed.
Glancing at the clock on the dash, I realize it’s nearly midnight, the weariness of the day settling in despite my still wanting to crawl out of my skin.I have nothing at the house.I’d been so caught up in my mother’s newfound dating life that I failed to plan ahead.
Mainly, I failed to obtain the alcohol necessary to wipe this whole night from my memory.
Shit.
Everything in town is pretty much closed, except…
The lights from Boots on Bar and Grill glow dimly, and I can just imagine Jude growling as he makes a final sweep through the place.
Pulling into the lot, I slam my car into park and grab my purse before jumping out and jogging toward the door. It’s locked but I can see him inside, the hulking man who never smiles but always makes sure my basket of fries is filled when I’m on deadline for the paper.
Our tentative friendship might get blown to smithereens just from annoying him, but it doesn’t matter.I can’t go home empty-handed.
So I raise my fist and bang it against the glass. “Jude, let me in. I promise it’ll take two seconds.”
It’s dark inside the bar but it can’t hide the way he scowls when he sees me, the obvious debate on whether he wants to deal with me, and ultimately his resignation.
His limp is more prominent than usual as he crosses the uneven wood planks to flip the lock, his massive body blocking me from doing anything other than craning my neck to look up at him.
“It’s late, Tennessee. What are you doing out?”
“I just need a bottle ofwhiskey,Country Rhodes. I have cash.” I shake my purse at him, and the lines of disapproval in his handsome face deepen but it’s his fault—he wanted to throw out nicknames tonight.
“Come in.”
Moving aside, he lets me pass, the sound of the lock flipping as I head for the bar and squint at the row of bottles.
“Which one does a hundred bucks get me?”
“No.”
“No? What? Why would you let me in if you were just going to tell me no?”
“Because if you’re gonna be reckless, you can do it sittin’ your ass on that barstool.” He nods toward me, picking up a rag and a glass that clearly doesn’t need to be shined.
Or dried.
