Page 36 of Loving You

And he’dwinked.

Annoyed, I dropped the pen that’d been hovering over my notebook while I’d been lost in thought, then scrubbed my hands over my face as foggy memories surfaced.

Me, stumbling around the living room drunk as a skunk, telling Eric about that wink—and maybe even comparing the wayhiswinks got me all hot and bothered, whereas I’d hated Cliff’s smug wink.

I hadn’t said his name or told him anything else, had I?

I definitely shouldn’t have gotten so blitzed, but the idea of being swept into sweet tequila-shot oblivion after that glimpse of my ex had seemed like a really good idea at the time.

Obviously, it hadn’t been.

Talk aboutmessy.

I’d been trying to focus on work today, but there were two thoughts that kept stealing my focus. First, even though I didn’t know Cliff’s endgame, he clearly enjoyed toying with me. Second, after that shit show Eric had witnessed when I got home Friday night, it was only a matter of time before he kindly asked me to GTFO.

It was why I’d avoided him all weekend by staying in bed and overplaying my hangover, and why I was glad he would be at work until well after I was asleep tonight. Walker’s Brewery was famous for their lively Monday night trivia, and Eric never missed it. In fact, if my life weren’t such a train wreck, I’d be there, too.

But I just… couldn’t.

What if Cliff popped in for more of that no-contact I’m-here-and-I’m-not-going-anywhere bullshit?

Pushing those thoughts away, I resolved to focus on my work. But two seconds after I opened an email from the editor of a bridal magazine, my phone pinged, and the security app showed Eric’s Jeep heading this way.

What the actual fuck?

Without thinking, I snatched up my stuff, then bolted into the guest room. Closing the door behind me, I hopped onto the bed and got settled, as if I’d been working there all along. If he saw I was working, he might save the time-to-pack-your-shit conversation for later.

Or never. Never would be better.

Too soon, the front door opened, and my heartbeat went from wild to frantic.A phone call.Eric was all business. If I were on the phone, surely he wouldn’t interrupt me.

With shaky fingers, I scrolled to May’s number and almost yelped with relief when she picked up.

“Hey, May-May.” My voice sounded tight, but I didn’t have time to worry about that as I listened to the telltale sounds of Eric moving throughout the house. “Listen to this email I just got.”

With a much better hold on my tone this time—since somewhere in my dumbass brain I realized this might actually be a really cool business opportunity—I proceeded to read my sister the email from the bridal magazine.

It seemed they wanted to do a feature on our bed-and-breakfast after hearing about a recent wedding we’d held, and they wanted to attend our next one and highlight it in an upcoming article for the magazine.

“April!” My sister let out what I could only assume was her mild-mannered version of a squeal. “That’s so cool. You’re going to say yes, right?”

Troubles forgotten as I thought about what this would mean for our family business, I giggled in disbelief. “Of course I’m gonna say yes. I can’t even believe this is happening.”

“Which wedding do you think they heard about? The Millers’ in the fall, maybe?”

I shrugged, scanning the email again. “Maybe. Or it could have been the Johnson wedding at Christmas. Remember the bride had that viral TikTok of her hubby’s friend as the flower boy? That shit was hilarious, but it also showed our venue off to a ton of people.”

A gentle knock brought me back to the current situation, and I winced. Telling my sister to hang on, I tilted the phone to the side. “Come in.”

There was a pause, then the door slowly opened, and Eric poked his head in. “Hey, are you working?”

“Yeah, I just got a really exciting email from a bridal magazine, and I’m talking to May about it.”

Genuine happiness for me flashed in his eyes, then he cleared his throat. “That’s great. I’ll let you get back to it, but come out when you’re done, okay? We need to talk.”

Dread settled over me, and I tried not to show him my discomfort with that classically damning sentence. It wasn’t like he’d used it in the context of breaking up with me or anything, but I’d bet my ass he wanted to break our agreement about my living situation.

“Will do, almost done.” I waited until the door softly clicked shut, then did my best to rush my sister off the phone before she could ask me how I was doing. I didn’t know yet, but I had a feeling I’d have plenty to tell her when I moved back into the attic later.

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