Now left alone to my own thoughts, I started making a mental to-do list. Update my résumé. Sign up for job-searching sites. Rerecord my voicemail so it sounded more professional. Let my roommates know I would be out of town for an indefinite amount of time.

I groaned thinking about the girls that I lived with. I owned my condo, and being the financially responsible person that I was, I had always rented out my spare bedrooms to cover the mortgage. I wasn’t close with the girls that lived there now. I knew them from work, but we weren’t friends by any stretch of the imagination. Aside from the occasional happy hours and work talk, I knew nothing about them. But now, after all this, I never wanted to face them again. Their sympathetic eyes as they’d pout and tell me how sorry they were. Ugh, I couldn’t take it. I already felt pathetic enough.

I slurped down the remainder of my margarita and rested my cheek in my hand.

The front door opening caught my attention, but only because of the guy who’d just stepped inside. He was tall—definitely over six feet. His shaggy dark hair was tucked into a beanie and it poked out in a careless way that still somehow looked perfect. I couldn’t describe his face as anything other than boyishly charming. Like he had a permanent twinkle in his eye or something like that. The stranger brushed off a few snowflakes from his tan jacket. I knew I should turn around so that he wouldn’t catch me staring, but I was completely taken with his face. I found myself wondering what his smile looked like. But when he looked up, our eyes met for only a second before I jerked my gaze forward.

The last thing I needed was some random local thinking I was sending out some flirtatious vibe. I had way more important things to think about aside from how a man was perceiving me. No matter how attractive he was.

Even though I’d already told myself that I didn’t care, I still found my fingers frantically brushing through the ends of my messy, wavy hair, attempting to tame it. I froze when I felt a presence looming over the empty barstool next to mine.

“This seat taken?”

TWO

Oliver

“Hey, I just got in.”

“Nice,” Giles said on the other end of the phone. “Did you stop by The Ridge?”

“I’m here.” I looked up at the worn wooden sign. The bar was right off Main Street and Giles had already told me it would be the only place open this late to grab something to eat.

“Get some food, and by the time you’re done, the apartment should be all set up for you. I just got off the phone with Mattie and she said she’s finishing it up now. If she’s gone when you get there, it’s above the garage of the address I gave you, and my Aunt Bev left a key under the welcome mat.”