Page 6 of New Girl in Town
Too bad it had been my last act of defiance. Dylan had been waiting, short on patience.
We married in an elopement I still couldn’t believe I agreed to. I hadn’t gotten the wedding I wanted, but I consoled myself with the fact that I had the man I wanted. I was lucky he’d waited for me an entire summer, right? I cringed now, remembering how in love I’d been, how thankful I was that Dylan allowed me to do what I wanted—what I loved.
How had it taken me so long to see what was really going on? People who loved you didn’t ask you to give up who you were.
That wasn't love. That was possession.
I still wished I could shake my younger self, but it was what it was. I had learned a lot about myself, about my friends and family, and about what I was willing to endure during the course of my decade-long relationship with Dylan.
Melinda had been there through it all. We were no longer the girls we were when we’d met in college, but there was still not a damn thing grandmotherly about the pair of us.
I glanced at my best friend and felt a rush of love for her warm me through. She’d been my shoulder to cry and lean on, the one person who didn’t let me forget who I was even at my lowest point. It was no wonder that I had chosen to start over in a place where I could be close to her.
It was a damn fairytale, and I told her as much.
“Does that make me your prince charming?” she asked, putting an arm around me.
I snuggled closer with a laugh. “Only if I can be the dragon.”
Melinda raised her glass. “To a prince and her dragon.”
My glass clinked against hers in cheers. “May they never forget they are their own Happily Ever After.”
She hummed in agreement and I felt a little piece of myself come back. There was nothing a little wine and snuggle time with your best friend couldn’t fix, and I drank this moment down like a woman dying of thirst.
* * *
I pulled on my coat,borrowed from Melinda, and wished I’d thought to bring more than the beanie, also borrowed, with me on my expedition to the apartment viewing I’d lined up. The coat had seemed just the thing for the snowy outdoors. Left to my own devices, as Melinda had headed out for work an hour earlier, I’d yanked it on and snatched a beanie for good measure before heading out the door.
Now I realized I’d underestimated the winter chill.
“Who knew Colorado was the Arctic?” I muttered, hustling toward the front door of the two-story brick apartment building. Slipping inside, I let out a sigh of relief and sagged against the now shut door. I glanced around me and took in the high polish of the wood floors of the foyer, off which two doors with the letters A and B stood. A grand staircase led to the second floor, which I guessed housed the other two units in the building.
I was here to see unit C, and had just taken my first step toward the staircase when a door I hadn’t noticed opened. A shiny plaque on the door caught my eye:Superintendent.I straightened up and plastered on my best smile, but I felt the air leave my lungs in a whoosh when I spotted the man in the doorway.
“Hello, Aurora Martínez.”
“You,” I blurted out.
The man grinning at me hadn’t gotten my name by internet stalking or mind reading abilities, or even from saving me from freezing on the side of the road by changing my tire.
At least, not at first.
He’d initially gotten it over the phone while I’d been somewhere between California and Utah and found the apartment listing. Which meant…
“You knew who I was yesterday?” I asked, pointing an accusing finger at him and hating the way he chuckled at my question.
“Not that many Aurora Martínezes coming into town.” He shrugged and rocked back on his heels.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“And jinx it?” he asked, and then shook his head. “Nah. I’d rather remain hopeful that I was right than do that.”
“Uhhh…hopeful?”
He bit his lip, wiggling it between his teeth in a movement that had my eyes noticing how full his lips were. Damn it all. The man did have a kissable mouth. “Have you seen you?”
I blushed hot. “I—what?”
