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Bitch.
Chapter Two
There weremany perks to my job, and living in the guest house was a huge one. Not only was it larger than anything I could have afforded on my own, it was impeccably decorated. When the girls were younger I’d had my own room in the main house, but once Mark had been sure they weren’t going to drown in the toilet if they went to the bathroom in the middle of the night by themselves, he handed me the keys and said it was all mine. Even hired a fancy decorator to make it beautiful and asked my opinion on some of the furniture.
I luxuriated under the rainfall showerhead before stepping out of the enormous shower and sitting down on the bathroom bench to moisturize and then brush the tangles out of my light-brown hair. I’d gotten it highlighted in preparation for the summer and even though I couldn’t tan to save my life, I at least wanted my hair to look like I’d spent some time in the sun.
My phone buzzed with a message from Joy. She and Sydney, my other best friend, shared an apartment in downtown Arrowbridge, but they still texted each other when they were sitting in the same room.
Sydney was always creating her own memes and they were always really silly, but they never failed to make me laugh.
This one was of her cat, Clementine, passed out on her back with her tongue out and the caption “me when someone cancels plans.”
Excuse me, you don’t like hanging out with us?I sent.
I don’t like hanging out with other people. You don’t count in this scenarioshe responded.
Good, because I was about to be upsetJoy said.
The three of us had been tight for at least five years now. Sydney grew up in Arrowbridge and came back after college to manage her mother’s pottery studio, Rocky Lake Pottery. Unfortunately, Sydney hadn’t inherited her mother’s gift for throwing pottery, but she could do everything else when it came to running a business. Joy came here six years ago for an ex and had ended up falling in love with the little town and stayed. She now worked at Mainely Books and helped feed my reading habit.
They’d been by my side through so many things, including the death of my grandfather, my anxiety about my job, and all the other ups and downs of life. Joy and Sydney were more than ride-or-die. Apart from my brother Liam, the twins, Mark, and Sadie, they were my favorite people.
I threw my pajamas on and flopped on my huge bed. Mark had said it was absolutely fine to order a California King, so I had. I was trying to enjoy it because I didn’t think I’d be able to afford a place that would be big enough for a bed this size.
My days as Mary Poppins were numbered, and trying not to completely flip out about it was a daily battle.
I grabbed a pillow to scream into for a few seconds before grabbing my journal and writing down a few things I was grateful for today. Joy had gotten me into the practice, and it was nice at the end of the day to remember that I did have a good life. People who loved me. An amazing job that I adored doing every day. Thousands of books at my fingertips on my ereader. Cake.
Maybe I should start a journal for all my annoyances, but number one on that list would probably always be Honor. She was a daily thorn in my side, and I couldn’t wait for her to fuck something up so Mark would fire her.
Worst case scenario was she’d finally convince him to marry her and then I’d be stuck with her as my boss and that would ruin everything.
Mark had dated here and there over the years, but never seriously. He had a rule about not introducing anyone to the girls until they were serious, and he’d never gotten that far. Sadie was notorious for her bad dating luck that it was almost a joke at this point.
It was obvious to anyone that Mark was still in love with his ex-wife and someday, somehow, my romance-loving heart knew that they were going to find their way back to each other.
That would also conveniently solve my Honor problem.
Obviously, I would never interfere in my employer’s love life, but it was so, so tempting.
I went out to the kitchen to make a cup of chamomile tea to help me sleep and glanced over at the main house and saw that Honor’s car was gone. Good. One of these days I was afraid she was just going to show up and move all her shit in and declare herself Mark’s wife and he’d be too much of a nice guy to throw her out once she got her claws into him.
Mark was surprisingly dense when it came to women coming after him. Honor wasn’t the first, and she wouldn’t be the last, either.
I rolled my eyes as I poured hot water into my cup, adding some local wildflower honey for sweetness.
I drank my tea in bed with my current read, a sapphic romance set at a boarding school with one of the sexiest love interests I’d read in a long time. Joy had recommended it to me, and I was absolutely floored at how good the writing was. In spite of the calming tea, I ended up staying up way too late with the book and only stopped reading when I dropped my ereader on my face because my hand went numb.
Time for bed.
* * *
“You ready for ice cream?”I asked when I picked up the twins on their last day of school.
They hopped in the backseat of my car with their bags after long drawn-out goodbyes with their friends they were literally going to see this weekend.
Mark paid me extra for sleepover chaperoning and honestly, I had a great time and didn’t mind doing it that much. This weekend we were having a pool party and movie night. Riley and Zoey had gotten a huge inflatable projector screen for their last birthday from both their parents, and we’d put it to good use many times.
