Page 3 of Obsession Falls

“Don’t make this about you. This is about my career, my dreams. I’m finally getting somewhere.”

For a moment, I thought about taking the ring out and setting it on the table, so she’d know. So she’d see what she was giving up.

But I didn’t. It wouldn’t matter. She didn’t want that life, and more importantly, she didn’t want me.

I got up and tossed some money on the table to cover what we’d ordered. She started to protest, telling me to sit down. I ignored her. I was done. Without a word, I walked out and didn’t look back.

She was wrong about one thing. I did understand. She wasn’t the first woman to make that choice where I was concerned.

But she was sure as hell going to be the last. I wouldn’t give someone else that chance again.

CHAPTER2

Audrey

One glanceat the half-circle driveway and I couldn’t help but think this was all a huge mistake.

“What do you think, Max?”

His bushy tail thumped against the passenger seat as he looked out the window.

“Of course you’re excited. You’re a dog. Everything is fun.”

He kept wagging his tail while his tongue lolled out of his mouth.

My childhood home looked oddly cold in the June sun. It was stately and imposing, with a stone façade and tall double doors. The landscaping added to the look of formality—precisely trimmed shrubs lined the driveway and the lawn could have doubled as a golf course.

It had always been important to my parents that everything be just so. Especially on the outside.

“Here goes nothing.”

I turned onto the driveway and parked, trying to ignore how this felt like failure.

Almost every inch of my little Honda Civic was packed with stuff. Spatial abilities weren’t exactly my thing, so I was impressed that I’d fit as much as I had.

It was weird to realize all my belongings fit in this car. My last roommate had owned most of the furniture we’d used. As for the rest, I’d decided to purge rather than move everything again. I’d start over once I found a more permanent place to live.

Soon. I’d find my own place soon.

For now, I’d make the best of it.

Max put his front paws on the dash, his body practically vibrating with excitement. I had no idea what kind of dog he was—the rescue group in Boise hadn’t either—other than forty-five pounds of brown and white derpy joy. He wasn’t exactly the smartest, and if someone ever tried to rob me, he’d probably roll on his back and ask for belly rubs rather than protect me. But he never failed to make me smile.

I got out and Max followed, running a quick lap around my legs before darting to the front door. I ducked back into the car to fish around for a leash. My mom wasn’t a dog person and she’d freak out if I let him run free on the first day.

“I know you want to run amok in there, but we can’t have that.” I clipped the leash to his collar. “Grandma won’t like it.”

She also didn’t like me referring to her as Grandma to a dog. But it wasn’t my fault I was an only child and all her grandmother hopes had been pinned on me. That was a lot of pressure.

Especially considering I was still single.

Sigh.

My heartbeat quickened as I reached for the doorknob. Moving back to Pinecrest, the small town in the Cascade mountains where I’d grown up, had never been the plan. Like, never ever. But there I was with a car packed full of stuff, about to attempt a temporary roommate situation with my mother so I could start a new job.

Maybe it was a huge mistake. Taking the job. Moving back. It felt like coming home with my tail between my legs. Such a failure.

This was what happened when you got laid off and couldn’t find another job for months on end. Your savings dwindled and you jumped at the chance to work at a small-town newspaper, even when it was in Tilikum, one town away from where you’d grown up.

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