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“Do you have an apartment lined up at school?” Donna asked.
“What is this, the Spanish Inquisition?” Maisie tried to laugh it off, desperate to keep from telling more lies than she had to. If only telling the truth wouldn’t feel so devastating. She’d spent so long convincing herself, and everyone else around her, that she had things under control that admitting how bad it had actually become was more than she could bear.
“Oh God,” Cheryl said. “You’re not moving into the dorms, are you?”
“At my age? I don’t think that’s an option.” Was it, though? Maisie hadn’t considered that. Did dorms still have resident advisors on each floor? She’d been out of the game for so long Maisie had no idea what college life was like anymore, but she remembered the RAs used to get free room and board. Now, she was what they called anon-trad. It meant non-traditional student, which was code for old. She’d make an awesome babysitter for the incoming freshmen.
How the hell had she gotten to this point in her life?
Maisie knew the answer. Drew, that was how.
Ever since the fateful encounter with that woman, everything had gone up in smoke. She’d lost her job and her apartment. Hell, even sex had been ruined, because once Maisie had experienced how great it could be, there was no going back to mediocre. Frankly, if Maisie ever saw that woman or her damned hat again, she’d have a few choice words to say.
Maisie closed her eyes, picturing setting fire to Drew’s hat. Not while she was wearing it. Maisie wasn’t a total psychopath. But watching the stupid thing go up in flames felt so good. It was one of Maisie’s favorite fantasies where Drew was concerned. If she ever so occasionally had a different type of fantasy about that she-devil, alone in her bed in the middle of the night, Maisie would never admit it to a living soul.
“Honestly, you’re the most courageous woman I know.” Donna knocked back some of her beer. “Nothing scares you, and you have zero regrets about telling Mr. Taite to shove it. I wish I had half of your guts. I really do.”
So did Maisie, because all she wanted right then and there was for her friends to leave so she could vomit. “Has Mr. Taite mentioned my name at all?”
“Oh, yeah,” Cheryl answered. “All the time.”
Maisie perked up. “He has?” Her heart beat a little faster. Maybe her luck was changing. It had been three months, after all. Maybe her texts had faded into oblivion, and she might be able to finagle her old job back.
“Your name has become his favorite curse word. I love it!” Cheryl laughed as if that was the funniest thing she’d heard, but it was like Maisie’s balloon of hope had been met with a big, sharp pin.
“Oh, shit. Look at the time.” Donna put her phone back into her pocket. “We’re going to have to run pretty soon if we’re going to make the company bowling league. God, it’s the last thing I want to do, but you know how they act when you skip out on team building activities.”
“Ugh,” Maisie said. Another lie. She’d freakin’ loved the company bowling league, and it was a sad day when she had to return her polyester shirt to avoid getting fined.
“Let’s get these boxes down to your car.” Cheryl grabbed two, and Maisie and Donna followed suit.
It only took two trips before Maisie was standing on the sidewalk after putting the last box into her car. Twelve boxes. She was thirty-one years old, and her entire life fit into twelve boxes and could be crammed into the back of a Honda Fit with the seats down.
“I guess this is it.” Maisie let out a huff of breath, watching it freeze in the air. Maybe Florida wouldn’t be so bad.
Yeah, right.Who was she trying to fool? It wasn’t the location that was the problem, anyway. It was the failure. That went with her no matter where she went.
She was about to give her friends a hug when she caught a glimpse of it.
A damned cowboy hat.
A flock of hummingbirds took flight in Maisie’s stomach.
No. It couldn’t be.
She hadn’t heard from Drew since Vegas. There was no way that entitled ranch girl would be in Milwaukee. No way at all. So why did that hat look so achingly familiar?
Hats are all alike.
“You’re a very hard woman to find.”
Maisie froze. Lots of hats might look the same, but nobody else on the planet had that husky voice, like liquid sex poured into a tall glass. She blinked as a lanky woman in a tattered hat stepped fully into view. It was Drew all right. Even while Maisie wanted to tear her to pieces, her body’s instant reaction to the woman made it clear there were other things she wanted to do, too.
Are you fucking kidding me?Maisie wanted to scream, but she opted for, “Are you really here?”
Drew laughed as though what Maisie had said was funny. “You have no idea how hard it’s been to track you down.”
“Did it occur to you that after you ditched me in a Vegas hotel room, I might never want to see you again?” Maisie barely registered that Donna and Cheryl were still standing by, mouths agape. She loved her friends but also knew this tidbit would be zinging its way around the Taite and Greene bowling league in about two seconds. Not like it mattered. Might as well give them all something new to talk about.
