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Chapter One
Present Day
Jesska heard the doorbell peal through her little duplex and, after checking the peephole, pulled open the door. “Well, hi there, Doc Brown.”
Adalyn chuckled. “You can’t call me that anymore, you know.”
“You might have married Marc Miller, but you’ll always be my crazy Doc Brown.” Jesska grinned. “Come in. Where’s Kiana?”
Adalyn’s four-year-old was the cutest, and busiest, little girl on the planet.
“She’s with Marc. Daddy-daughter bonding time,” Adalyn said, and took off her coat before holding up a bottle of Jesska’s favorite wine. “I thought you and I could drink a little and find out who Manny sends home this week.”
“You know I love it when you just pop over,” Jesska droned.
“No, I know you hate it, but since you’ve been dodging my phone calls for almost a week now, I figured desperate measures and all that.”
“I haven’t been dodging you.”
Adalyn pointed at her. “So, you have no idea what today is.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re wearing his sweatshirt, babe.”
Today was the tenth anniversary of Seth’s death, and Jesska had been inconsolable most of the day, as she was every anniversary. Her friends and family knew to leave her alone... except for Adalyn, who inserted herself whenever possible.
Jesska huffed. “Fine. Okay. I’d hoped to be by myself, but if you insist on joining my pity party, you better get comfortable. You’re just lucky you brought the wine—you’d never have gotten in without it.”
Adalyn handed her the bottle. “It’s Bachelor night. We can watch it together in real time.”
“I was thinking I might just watch it, drink some wine, and take a bath.”
“Yeah, your obsession with tubby time’s a little weird.”
“You’re just jealous.”
Adalyn sighed. “You’re right. I never have time to relax like that anymore. Plus, I don’t have a kickass claw-foot tub at my disposal.”
Jesska laughed. “Is it weird I chose my house based on the tub?”
“Oh, babe, you surpassed weird about a lot of different things a while ago.” Adalyn grinned, flopping onto the couch. “Come on. Which lady will it be this week, hmm? Enquiring minds want to know.”
“I think ‘lady’ is generous. Especially when talking about that Rosa chick.”
“Yes, probably.” Adalyn giggled. “Got ice cream?”
“Do I have ice cream?” Jesska snorted. “This ain’t my first rodeo.”
Adalyn cued up The Bachelor while Jesska prepared bowls of ice cream and poured wine. Manuel Garcia was the new bachelor and the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. He was the Latino dream, with his chiseled body and beautiful face, complete with dimples that Adalyn and Jesska were convinced he used as weapons. Manny was the most popular bachelor in six seasons, and the women were horrible. All but a couple of them, anyway.
By the time the show ended, and Jesska and Adalyn had discussed Manny’s date with Alana, one of the ladies both Jesska and Adalyn liked, they’d gone through an entire carton of ice cream and a bottle and a half of wine. Jesska had even broken down and grabbed a box of tissues.
“I should have had that,” Jesska complained.
“The chance to vie for a guy’s love and devotion against twenty-four other psycho women?”
“I’m not psycho.”
