AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What? It’s true,” Paige said.
“Baby, you always have a deadline,” Esme said, looking up from her book and flipping her long hair over her shoulder.
Paige started to protest, but then her shoulders slumped. “Okay, fine, it’s true. But this is different.”
It’s not, Esme mouthed from the couch.
“What are you working on?” I asked.
“I’m writing copy and a bunch of posts for this new company that makes these cute little self-care kits. It’s all sustainable and everything, so I feel okay working for them. I have my first drafts due so they can look at what I’ve done and give me edits and feedback.”
Paige did a whole bunch of things including copywriting and transcription for videos and podcasts.
“I just really hope they like the tone and style. It’s so hard to know what people want sometimes,” she said.
We kept working on the puzzle while Esme read her book and it was so cozy. I was so lucky that I’d already had a friend group when I moved here. I’d struggled to make friends after college in Boston, so it was nice to be able to come here and already have people who wanted to hang out with me. No apps or book clubs required.
I decided not to stay for dinner and went back to my apartment. I’d been around a lot of people today, and I needed some quiet time to recharge.
I was thrilled that the apartment had a shower with a tub. I hadn’t had one at my place in Boston, so it was a dream to be able to fill the tub with the hottest water possible and lots of bubbles or a bath bomb and stretch out.
I’d added some music to really set the mood, and by the time I got out, I was completely relaxed and ready for bed.
I got into my pajamas and slid between the cool sheets, sighing as I rested my head on my pillows.
Now that I was in bed, I couldn’t sleep. How did that happen? Ten minutes ago, I’d been all about sleep, and now my brain had decided to have a party.
I put on an old movie in an attempt to trick my brain into sleep. Maybe I should try a boring book.
My mind flipped through all kinds of random crap, until it settled on that first moment when I’d seen Alivia again.
What was it about her? It wasn’t just the fact that we’d slept together. No, it was more than that. There was something magnetic about her. As if she was a flickering lantern and I was an unsuspecting moth, headed right for it.
I hadn’t seen her again since the library, but I’d thought I’d seen her at least a dozen times. Anyone with dark hair, anyone around her height, made me jump.
I looked for her all over Castleton as I went about my day. I wished my office wasn’t in the back of the bakery, because if she came in to get a pastry or a sandwich, I wouldn’t know.
Of course, I could ask Martha or Linley if they’d seen her, but then that would be admitting that Alivia and I had a history and that was something I wasn’t going to do.
No, I was going to forget about her. Seeing her for the first time was still fresh in my mind. The shock would dull over time and soon it would be like she was anyone else in Castleton.
That was the plan.
* * *
There was no such thing as a taxi service in Castleton, and none of us wanted to be a designated driver, so Paige had planned a bachelorette party that was all within walking distance.
“That could still be dangerous,” Natalie pointed out when Esme showed up for the beach portion of the party with an entire cooler full of booze and mixers.
“Are you ready for this?” she asked, sitting on the cooler. There was a little steering wheel on the front of it, and I could not believe it when the cooler started to move, with Esme steering it. She had to tuck her feet up so they didn’t drag onto the ground, but still. Very cool.
“I love her so much,” Paige said, watching Esme rumble along the sand, riding the cooler.
“She’s pretty great,” I said, putting my arm around her.
Linley had made us promise not to get her a sash or any other bride-type stuff, but we didn’t listen and as soon as we’d made our little home for the day on the sand, Paige brought out the sash, the crown, and the scepter.
“No,” Linley said, crossing her arms.
