AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey,” she said softly a while later. I think I’d fallen asleep for a few minutes. “Do you want to get dinner?” My stomach growled as I looked at her.
“Yeah,” I said, sitting up. I picked something at random from the menu without thinking about it too much, but I also ordered a glass of wine. It felt like a fancy thing to do.
While waiting for the food, I hit the shower and then wrapped myself in the hotel robe.
“You look cozy,” Natalie said as I blotted my hair with the hotel towel.
“Thanks,” I said. “You could join me.”
She hopped up from the bed and grabbed a robe to throw over her clothes.
“You’re right, this is so much better.” She snuggled into the robe and then hopped back on the bed.
Dinner arrived and we ate in silence again.
“So, has anything changed in Castleton since I’ve been there? Last time I was back was Christmas last year,” she said.
I guess she thought this was small talk.
“It’s pretty much the same. They got a new espresso machine at the café. Gertrude died,” I said.
“Oh no, I didn’t know that, how sad,” she said.
Gertrude was a town character. No one really knew how old she’d been, but she’d looked the same for like thirty years and had sold quilts and jam out of a little shop attached to her house.
“I know. I don’t know where I’m supposed to get jam now. The grocery store? No way,” I said.
“You could learn how to make jam,” Natalie suggested.
“That sounds dangerous,” I said.
“I don’t think it is?” she said. “But I can’t speak from experience.”
Now I was definitely going to look up how to make jam when I got back.
I told her about a few other gossip items she might not know about.
“Oh, and Paige and Esme are together,” I said.
Natalie’s eyebrows went up.
“Really? That’s interesting,” she said.
“Is it?” I asked.
“I mean, I feel like Esme has been doing her single-life thing. I don’t know her that well, obviously, but she seemed like the kind of person who didn’t date,” she said.
“Yeah, it’s a long story.” I wasn’t going to tell her about Paige’s plan to get back at Wyatt by sleeping with Esme and then rubbing his face in it. Paige probably didn’t want more people knowing about it than those that already did. Also, it had been my plan initially. I could admit that to myself, but I didn’t want to admit it to Natalie.
“They’re really happy,” I said. There was that feeling again. That jealousy mixed with longing. I hated it.
“I’m looking forward to going back, but I’m going to miss my freedom. And the quiet.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “But what can you do?”
She hadn’t told me what she was going to do now that she had her degree in communications. I knew she’d stayed in Arizona to finish an internship, but that didn’t explain why she was coming back to Castleton. It wasn’t like it was brimming with career opportunities unless you wanted to mow lawns or cut trees or be a fisherman.
The only reason I had a job was because of nepotism. I wondered if now that she was connected to me and Wyatt via Gretchen, she would try to get a job at the insurance agency, or my mom’s accounting business.
“I have no idea what I’m fucking doing, Em,” she said in a quiet voice, and I thought I saw a tear trail down her cheek.
