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Looks like I’m walking to work.
With a resigned sigh, I pull up the collar of my padded jacket against the elements and set off. The fifteen-minute drive will take me three times that on foot. Within minutes, my nose is burning from the cold, and my toes are numb. I should’ve put on a pair of extra socks, but I hadn’t planned on walking. Tucking my hands into my coat pockets, I pick up my pace, eager to get out of the harsh wind.
Living in Houston for the last three years has spoiled me. Wintertime is primarily dry and cool, but temperatures rarely drop below freezing like in Colorado. I could do with several key winter essentials, but money is scarce. Just paying the bills and keeping food in the cupboards is a stretch, which is why I was so grateful to get the job at The Hideaway, Garland’s one and only bar. Coming from an office-based background, it wasn’t my first choice, but my options in this small town are limited. It was that or face the possibility of the bank foreclosing on the house.
My cell phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out, grinning as I see Lily’s name. My best friend had a job interview today and promised to call me to tell me how it went.
“So?” I ask, foregoing the usual pleasantries. “How did the interview go?”
“I got the job!” Lily squeals down the line.
“What?” I shriek.
“Callum hired me on the spot! Can you believe it?”
“Callum? You’re on first-name terms already?” I tease.
“He insisted,” Lily replies defensively.
“I’m so happy for you, Lils!” I say excitedly, using the nickname I gave her two minutes after we met. “Let me guess. He was blown away by your business degree and impeccable sickness record. Or maybe you impressed him with all that research you did on square programming and stuff.”
Lily lets out a very unladylike snort of laughter. “Angular programming, my sweet, clueless friend.”
“Hey, I’m not the one who’s got a fancy new job in IT, so I don’t need to know all that shit,” I point out. “So, tell me everything. What’s he like?”
“Hotter than Captain America,” she sighs. “Tall, muscular. Dark hair and beautiful silver eyes.”
I pause to check both ways before crossing the road. “Are you drooling right now?”
“I don’t drool, but even if I did, I wouldn’t be drooling over Callum Rogen,” she replies firmly.
“Why not? The man is hot and rich. He’s, like, a bazillionaire at thirty-two. What’s not to like?”
“Well, for one, he’s my boss. And, secondly, he’s my boss,” Lily says, driving the point home. “And you know what happened with my last boss. I had to fight the fucker off me. No way am I going there again.”
“For the hundredth time, what happened with Miller Cooper wasn’t your fault! He’s a creepy old perv with octopus hands,” I huff, thoughts of Lily’s previous boss making me mad.
“I know, but it still feels like it’s hanging over me,” she mutters. “He made my life hell for reporting him.”
“Which is why you left and moved to San Antonio for a new start,” I remind her.
“Ran away, more like,” she grunts, her voice thick with self-disgust. “I should’ve stayed there. Stood my ground. Instead, I let him intimidate me into leaving.”
“He’ll get what’s coming to him, Lils, mark my words. Until he does, don’t let the asshole steal your sunshine.”
“You’re right. Why am I wasting my energy on him?” she asks.
“Exactly! Now, where’s the feisty Lily I met three years ago?” I demand.
“She’s still in here somewhere,” she sighs. “Three years, huh? That’s crazy! Can you imagine if we hadn’t both interviewed for the same job that day? We never would’ve met.”
“Oh, you mean the job I didn’t get?” I tease good-naturedly.
Lily and I just clicked that day, bonding over mutual interests as we both waited to be called in for our interviews. We’ve been best friends ever since.
“Remember that pact we made? The first day we met?” Lily asks, her voice rich with remembered amusement.
“Oh, Lord, how could I forget?” I chuckle. “We promised each other that if neither of us found the man of our dreams before we hit seventy, we’d both sign up to the same nursing home and become horny old spinsters.”
