AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Once Penn went downstairs, she headed over to the women’s bathroom. When she was finished doing her business, she washed her hands and paused to survey herself in the mirror.
It was true what Penn had said. She looked nothing like the girl she’d been in college, and she had Mandi and Jas to thank for that. God, she hadn’t thought of them in years until tonight.
Mandi had dropped out of college to get married to a football player at the end of Junior year, and Jas had moved to New York City to work at a fashion magazine.
She shook her head. Wow, seven years suddenly felt like seven decades.
Penn had made some good points tonight, but Holly wasn’t sure she was ready to confront Eli. Their current relationship, a weird mix of flirting and fighting, had become a sort of comfort zone to her, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to push past that.
Sighing, she retouched her makeup and applied a fresh coat of lip gloss. Even if she was a mess on the inside, she didn’t have to look that way on the outside.
Huffing out a laugh, she put the cap back on the lip gloss.
“Thanks, Mandi,” she said aloud, then dropped the gloss into her purse.
Okay, it was time to say her goodbyes and get the hell out of this place. All she wanted was to go home, take a hot bath, and crawl into bed. Emotionally, she was totally drained.
Revisiting her past with Eli had definitely taken its toll tonight. She needed a warm bed and chocolate, ASAP.
* * *
Holly slung her purse over her shoulder as she exited Callahan’s, then walked over to the south elevators that led to the parking garage.
The pinging sound of slot machines in the distance along with the low din of people playing games in the casino made her want to take a detour to the blackjack tables. She wasn’t much of a gambler, but sometimes she liked to get lost in a good game.
Too bad she had no extra money for such extravagances right now.
Her cat, Miss, had a serious medical emergency while Holly had been on vacation in Mexico, and that bill had been well over a thousand dollars, not to mention the extra costs of the pet sitter.
Her job didn’t pay much, and her credit card was already almost maxed from her share of the vacation. She’d had to take cash from her savings account to pay Miss’s vet bill, and it had wiped her out.
Thankfully, the Palisades Hotel and Casino had free parking, or she wouldn’t have been able to come to this party. Even the 30 dollars for Hannah’s gift had been money spent that she didn’t have.
To top it off, her ancient car had been acting up lately. If it gave up the ghost, well... then she was really fucked.
She pressed the call button and stepped back to wait, chewing on her lower lip. Worrying wasn’t going to help the situation any, but—
“Making your escape, I see.”
Holly closed her eyes and tipped her head back with a groan.
“Yeah, Donnelley. Well, so are you,” she muttered, jabbing at the call button again. “It’s not like most everyone hadn’t left already anyway.”
The elevator doors slid open, and she strode into the waiting car. He followed her inside, then leaned against the back wall, looking casually gorgeous, as usual.
Holly pressed the button for the seventh floor, then looked over her shoulder expectantly at him. “Are you planning on riding around on this thing all night, or are you going to tell me what floor to press?”
“I’m on seven, too,” he replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Ever fooled around in an elevator before, Wilkes?”
Holly sighed heavily and gave him another look over her shoulder. “No, I haven’t. And I’m not about to start now.”
“You sure?” He grinned. “It can be a hell of a lot of fun.”
“So can skydiving, but I’m not going to try that anytime soon, either.”
The elevator doors opened on the seventh floor, and she dug her keys out of her purse as she walked out into the parking lot.
She didn’t want Eli to see her car. It was beyond a beater, and despite the fact she did everything possible to keep it running, it was still ugly as fuck and she didn’t want to listen to him run his mouth about it.
