AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My god. Me and my ex-husband. Alone. In a cabin in the woods. With one tiny bed.
When I left home earlier today, this isnotwhere I expected the day would take me.
Then again, why am I even surprised? All my life, fate has been pretty creative, always dreaming up new and improved torture devices to break me into pieces. But this one certainly takes the cake.
My nervous system is not equipped to deal with this.
Feeling totally out of my depth and unsure of what to do with myself, I fish my cell phone out of my purse.I end up sending a group text to Meghan, Ziggy, Nadia and Emma, letting them all know that I’m all right. That Davis is all right. And that we’ll just be running a little later than planned.
But when the girls start pressing for details, asking all these questions, I get a tight knot in my stomach.
Nadia: Are you okay, girl? I can’t even imagine how awkward things must be.
Emma: How’s it going between you two? Is he treating you well?
Ziggy: Have you both surrendered to your divine soul-level connection? Also, aren’t my aunt and uncle groovy?
Meghan: Did you strip each other naked and have hot rainforest sex yet???
That last one makes my eyes roll around in their sockets.
I’m not exactly sure what to say. To the first three messages, I mean. I’m obviously planning to completely ignore Meghan for that nonsense.
I start tapping out a response, but then I stop and delete it. I start and stop at least twenty more times before I give up. I power off my phone, knowing I need to save the battery for tomorrow. I slip it back into my purse. A part of me is hoping it’ll be easier to talk about this unbelievable experience of mine in the light of day. Right now, I need time to process.
Because tonight? My head is a mess.
When my ex-husband finishes building the fire, he rises to his feet and turns around. His gaze flashes to the bed. And then to me.Hello,awkward.
As if being forced to hang out with your ex isn’t uncomfortable enough, let’s just throw a tiny bed into the mix, shall we?
Looking painfully overwhelmed, Davis grabs Jimmy’s prized whiskey off the fireplace mantle. He downs a few long gulps straight from the bottle.
Then wordlessly, he holds the bottle out to me. I almost say ‘no’, but one look at his tanned forearms and those big shoulders I used to nestle against, and I think better of turning down the liquor. I accept the glass bottle from his hand.
I take a few small sips, drinking considerably slower than Davis did. Shit, that burns. The alcohol tastes awful—like diesel and honey lit on fire. I can’t even hide the way my face scrunches up. But so be it, because maybe a little buzz will make it easier to get through this night.
So I take another tentative sip and pass the bottle back.
After he places the whiskey back on the mantle, Davis grabs the stack of blankets and starts unfolding a couple, shaking them out. “I’ll sleep on the floor,” he announces.
Rising to my feet, I shake my head. “I can sleep on the floor. You can take the bed.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Davis scoffs, barely glancing at me over his broad shoulder.
“I’m not. You need your rest. You have to drive tomorrow, and I know how driving bothers your back.”
“Allie—” He growls.
A shiver runs through me when he calls me that again. I’ve missed hearing that word, falling from those lips.
Then he blinks and clears his throat. “Al-Alana—there is no way in hell I’m letting you sleep on this dirty floor while I sleep on the bed. I wouldn’t be surprised to lift that old rug and find a termite infestation underneath.”
Shit. I don’t like the sound of that. I can’t lie.
I hesitate, eyeballing the flimsy mattress. “Well, I’d offer to share, but this bed is really small, and I…I wouldn’t want to be disrespectful.”
“Disrespectful?” he questions with a furrowed forehead.
