“You’ve already lined up two jobs? How long have you been thinking about this?” He seems shocked.
I don’t want to hurt his feelings, but I also don’t want to lie. “For a while, but I made the decision this weekend. And I want to reassure you that Danielle moving in isn’t the reason I want to make this change, but it is what pushed me to take action. And it’s not because I don’t like her. It’s because I do, and because you have someone in your life who cares about you and is going to stand by your side. And I think I’m ready to go ahead and stand on my own.”
“You always put yourself last, don’t you, Teagan?”
“I’m trying to learn how to put myself first. At least once in a while.”
After dinner I pack up my room. I have a lot of clothes. Most of which are not Pearl Lake appropriate. I fill three bags with the outfits that won’t be too over the top for small-town living—I’ll enlist Dillion’s help to vet it all—and box up anything else I think I might need.
Dad tells me I can work remotely to tie up loose ends and that HR has already managed to line up half a dozen interviews within an hour of the job posting. I’m both relieved and a little disheartened by how easy it is to replace me, but I know it’s for the best.
In the morning I load up the truck. I’m unsurprised when the musclehead from next door appears, biceps flexing, perfectly straight white teeth flashing as he offers his assistance. I accept it because my dad’s weight lifting skill set is limited to dumbbells under twenty pounds, and so is mine.
I decide to take the old living room couch since it’s gray and comfortable and will work perfectly in my new living room area. I also take my reading chair from my bedroom. Those two items alone fill the bed of the truck. I don’t want to overload it and end up stranded on the side of the road. Besides, I can always bring another truckload back when I visit in a couple of weeks.
Once the furniture is secured, I hug my dad and Danielle and head back to Pearl Lake to start my new life.
CHAPTER 6
MY NEW HOME SWEET HOME
Teagan
I arrive in Pearl Lake just after ten thirty in the morning and bring all the things I can upstairs. I can manage everything apart from the couch and my reading chair, which I’ll wait for Van to help me with. I get to work unpacking my clothes, separating them into piles, and then hanging them in the small closet. It doesn’t take long before the entire space is filled, and I still have another suitcase left to unpack. I also manage to fill an entire shoe rack, and I only brought my running shoes, flats, and flip-flops.
I clean up and make a trip to the lawyer’s office, where I meet Bernie and his daughter-in-law. I show up in a T-shirt that reads SMILES ARE FREE, denim capris, and a pair of sandals. This seems to be one instance in which I could have afforded to dress up a bit more, but neither of them appears put off by my attire. In fact, the second his daughter-in-law looks over my résumé, she demands that he hire me and asks if I would mind working Fridays.
“I’m working Wednesdays at Harry’s Hardware and Thursdays at the Town Pub.” I’ll probably be closing, which means I won’t get off until about one in the morning, but business hours at the law office are nine to five, so that shouldn’t be a problem. “Fridays are wide open.”
“That’s fantastic. You’re hired.” Donna smiles widely. “Can you start this Friday?”
“Absolutely.”
And that’s how I manage to get my third job in Pearl Lake.
It’s only noon, and I still have half a day and nothing constructive to do with it, so I offer to pick up lunch for my brother and whoever else is in the office at Footprint Construction. I’m given a huge list and a bunch of you’re the best messages.
I can’t decide if I want Aaron to be there or not. His frosty demeanor seemed to thaw by the end of the night at the bar. I wouldn’t say he was nice to me, but he wasn’t a complete jerk either. And I still can’t figure out why I care. Maybe because he’s a bit of an enigma. Maybe because he’s ridiculously hot. Or maybe because he looks like a bad boy and he’s got a reputation to match and my most recent ex-boyfriend seemed perfect on paper and was actually a huge, cheating jerk.
I show up just after twelve thirty, laden with bags of food. I’m barely in the door when a familiar voice calls out, “Whoever brought Boones’s apple fritters is going to get a big old sloppy kiss!”
I’m nearly bowled over when Aaron comes barging through the doorway and then stops dead when he sees me. His eyes flare and then dip down to the bag I’m holding between two fingers, mostly because it’s paper and soaked through with grease. And that’s even after the contents have been boxed up.
“Oh, hey, Teagan.” His expression shifts to something like irritation or dismay, and I try to coat my feelings in Teflon so the hurt slides off instead of sticking to me.
“Aaron.” I give him my sweetest smile, all teeth and eye sparkle.
His gaze bounces from my face to the bag and back up again. “Let me give you a hand.”
I tuck the greasy bag behind my back, out of his sight, and pin him with an unimpressed glare. “I see how it is.”
“You see how what is?” He takes one step forward, bringing him into my personal space. I’m not short, but he barely clears the top of the doorway, so it’s not hard for him to look over my shoulder.
“You’re only nice to me when I have something you want.”
I try to brush by him, hoping I’ll run into Dillion, or my brother, or literally anyone other than Aaron. It irks me beyond belief that he dislikes me so much for no apparent reason when he flirts with every other human being in existence.
He mutters something I don’t catch.
I spin to face him, jutting my chin out and tipping my head back so I can meet his storm cloud eyes. “What was that?”
“I was just offering to give you a hand. No need to bite my head off.” One side of his mouth tips up in a lopsided smile. As if he knows how much it bothers me and he enjoys getting this kind of reaction.
“I smell Boones!” Van appears in the doorway at the other end of the room, preventing me from saying anything else.
I turn to face him and hold out the bags of food. “These things should probably come with some kind of heart attack warning.”
He takes the greasy bags from me and pulls me in for a very brief hug. Then tries to run away with the food, but it’s as if a dinner bell went off somewhere, and also as if everyone has turned into some kind of apple-fritter zombie, because several people flood the room, all shouting at Van that he’d better not be sneaking more than his share or he’ll be losing a finger.
Dillion gives Van a quick jab on the outside of his thigh, causing him to lose his hold on the greasy bag. She grabs the fritters before they hit the floor and holds the bag to her chest—which is a colossally bad idea.
“Settle down, you’re freaking Teagan out!” Dillion yells.