Page 45 of Singled Out

“I’m sorry to bust your bubble, but your brother did not get lucky.” I explained to her about finding a drunk, mourning Ian and that I’d slept in Max’s guest room.

“That sounds more like Max. Always so careful these days.”

“I did kiss him,” I said, grinning.

Her head whipped toward me. “You had to put the moves on him? You know what? I take it all back. You deserve so much better than him,” she said lightly.

I laughed again. “I did what you wanted. I got him out of the house.”

“Plus kissed him. His head probably spun around at that.”

“You said you didn’t want details,” I said.

“I don’t. But if you’ve got some psycho living at Naomi’s, we need to get you out of there, like, yesterday. Unless you’d rather shack up at my brother’s.”

“No.” It was only a half lie. I didn’t want to shack up, only sex him up till his head exploded…or other body parts. Keeping a grin to myself, I said, “I think we should jump on this place. They’re taking all the crap out, redoing the floors…”

Nodding, Dakota said, “It could be a kick-ass place to live.” She frowned. “Tell me the rent again?”

I told her what we’d each owe and what Darius had estimated the utilities at.

“I was thinking about increasing my hours at Henry’s,” she said.

“You could cover it even now, right?”

“I could. It’d be pretty awesome to not live at home anymore.”

I shuddered. “I don’t know how you do that.”

“My mom is not your dad.”

“Fact. So? What do you think? Are you in?”

As she studied me, a grin made its way across her face. “Let’s do it.”

“Yes!” I hugged her, and we swayed back and forth with excitement. “Here’s to new adventures, roomie.”

“Let’s go tell Darius.”

We didn’t bother going through the rooms again. I was ready to get out of that cluttered space. We thundered down the stairs, laughing, exhilaration and excitement bubbling up inside of me.

Signing a lease was a big deal for us, but living with Dakota would be good. It was past time for me to get out of Naomi’s overly quiet farmhouse that echoed with memories. I could take the memories with me and leave behind some of the loneliness.

“We’ll have to be quieter when there’s a business open,” Dakota said. “I hope it’s Cambria’s.”

We entered the store and found Cambria by herself behind the checkout counter, which appeared to have been partially cleared off.

“Hey, ladies. How’d it go?” she asked.

“Have you been up there to see it?” Dakota asked.

Cambria shook her head.

“It looks like down here,” I told her. “We’re doing it anyway.”

“Congratulations,” Cambria said.

“They’re shoveling out all the shit,” Dakota added. “Where’s Darius?”