And she’d officially gotten over Sid.

Life was good.

But then, as it was wont to do, life decided to kick her in the ass.

Every few weeks, like clockwork, she’d gotten transfer students assigned to her classroom until she had a whopping twenty-nine students. The entire school was growing in population, more than the district had planned for, so the budget for supplies (already minuscule) was even less than it normally was. Which meant Cat was going out of pocket for a huge portion of the supplies she needed to teach her lessons.

Then, during Christmas break, Cat had walked into the grocery store around the corner from her parents’ house and come face-to-face with Sid getting frisky with one of her oldest friends in the ice cream aisle. She wasn’t Cat’s best friend, but she was definitely someone that Cat had assumed would be a lifelong friend. And now things between them were just...weird.

And then the kicker. On Valentine’s Day, her folks had been out for a romantic dinner (so cute) when her Pops had had a second heart attack (devastating). It was less serious than the first one had been, but still not good. Cat and her two sisters had divvied up the weekends, and she’d found herself schlepping up to Ithaca every third weekend.

She’d coasted to the end of the school year on fumes. She was lonely, exhausted and basically paying the public school system for the privilege of working.

Luckily for her, she knew exactly what she needed.

A fling.

A good old-fashioned love-’em-and-leave-’em-rose-between-the-teeth-handprint-against-the-window-condensation fling.

She wanted heat with some handsome man who promised her literally nothing. She wanted a few nights of mindless distraction, uncommitted companionship, something to fondly reminisce about on her eventual deathbed.

And she knew exactly who could give it to her: her neighbor Jared, who smoldered like he was constantly filming a cologne ad. He was gorgeous, a little ridiculous and apparently very good at sex.

Cat knew this because Clare, who lived a few floors down, had hooked up with him a year before when he was on a break with his girlfriend. Cat had asked Clare if it would be awkward if they slept with the same man and Clare had just laughed. “Trust me,” she’d told Cat, “Jared is not that kind of man.”

Now, Jared was apparently single again and Cat was looking for the right moment. She thought she’d found it a few months ago when Jared had invited her to a party at his house, but she’d gotten caught up in a great conversation with his roommate and the opportunity had passed her by. She didn’t count that as a fail though, because Quentin, the roommate, was so cute. He’d been attentive and funny and seemed genuinely interested in the things she was saying. She’d left that party hoping that she’d made a new friend, but ever since that promising start, it seemed like he was avoiding her.

But wait! Cat’s head popped up from the couch cushion like a prairie dog. She heard a door open in the hallway. Either that was Jared (time to flirt) or it was Quentin (time to friend). She slid on her flip-flops and raced to her front door.