AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maybe once I’d gotten my revenge on Wyatt, I could put my energy into finding someone decent for Linley. She deserved someone great. But first, I was going to make my ex suffer.
* * *
I stoppedat the organic grocery store that Esme’s father owned to get a few ingredients to make Linley dinner. She loved my chicken pot pie soup, so that was on the menu.
“Making something special tonight?” Butch asked as he slid the items through the scanner and tossed them toward the teen bagger, who looked like she’d rather be doing anything else.
Part of getting groceries here was having a chat with Butch. That man got all of his energy out of a good gab session.
“Just a chicken pot pie soup,” I said. He nodded and finished scanning as I slid my credit card into the slot.
“Sounds great. You should submit the recipe on our website. You could win a free gift card!” I nodded and he continued to talk about a chicken soup he made, listing the ingredients, and how to make it, even though I hadn’t asked any questions about it.
Finally, I had my groceries and I could leave. I gave him a smile and realized how much he looked like his daughter. I stumbled and nearly dropped all my bags before regaining my footing and walking out to my car.
* * *
“That was amazing,”Linley said, folding both hands on her stomach. Instead of sitting at her little dining table, we’d taken to the couch, and I was in my comfiest sweat suit while she rocked a onesie with a unicorn horn on the hood. We were both peak cozy.
“I didn’t do too bad this time.” I set my empty bowl on the coffee table and kicked my feet up.
“Seriously, thank you.” Linley took the dishes to the sink and pulled some ice cream out of the freezer. Instead of using bowls, we just stuck our spoons in the caramel and pretzel swirl ice cream.
“Anytime, friend.” I stabbed my spoon into the ice cream and then shoved it in my mouth.
“So, what is this grand plan with Esme?” she asked. I’d just hit a river of caramel and was doing my best to get as much of it on my spoon as possible.
“Dazzling her with my wits, taking her back to my cottage, showing her my cat, and then sleeping with her. And then rubbing it in Wyatt’s face.” It was pretty simple.
“Showing her your cat? Is that a new thing I don’t know about?”
I blinked at her for a second. “No, I’m literally going to show her Potato.”
“What if she’s allergic to cats?”
“She’s not allergic to cats.” I pushed her spoon away and we fought for a second with the ice cream.
“How do you know?” She pointed at me with her spoon.
I had to think about that. “Okay, so maybe I’m not positive about that, but it doesn’t matter. If all else fails, I’ll show her my tits.” They were pretty great.
Linley rolled her eyes. “She works in a bar. I’m sure she sees tits every shift.”
“You know you’re really killing my ice cream buzz,” I said.
“Sorry. I’ll stop.”
There was a moment of silence as we each tried to think of how to change the subject.
“Do you want to go out this weekend? I’m happy to, even to just get your mom off your back. I could grab Em, I know she’d want to come.”
“Why not?” Linley said, scraping the bottom of the ice cream tub. I was completely and totally full and not ready to move yet.
“Cool. We could go out, out. Like, out of town. So we don’t see people from Castleton.”
“Wait, there are people who don’t live in Castleton?” Linley gasped dramatically.
“I know, right? Imagine.”
