Fall Too Well (Cozy Creek Collection)

Chapter 1

Everly

U ntil now, I couldn’t picture myself getting arrested or into trouble with the law. I mean, I’ve done my fair share of stupid things, usually when I was a kid, alongside my best friend Hayley. But sitting on this front porch in the company of my best friend, taking in the setting sun and warm evening air, my mind drifts to all the possible ways I can get my ex-husband Richie to go far, far away and finally leave me alone. I picture him sailing away in a hot air balloon and never returning as I stand on the ground, happily waving goodbye forever. Then my thoughts go darker to him disappearing from the planet for good. And I could argue that I have just cause for these dark thoughts for all the hell he’s put me through. My patience is running very low on having to deal with him constantly doing things to get under my skin and trying to get me to come back to him. It’s never going to happen. Like signed, sealed, divorced, never going to happen. My lawyer is baffled at how much he gets away with since the judge apparently had ties to his father. Lovely. Second chances with Richie have never been an option, yet he can’t seem to get this through his dumb head.

Also, it’s not wrong to feel like I deserve a little bit of revenge for the years of hell he put our daughter, Willow, and me through. It’s like there’s no way out from his relentless pestering. So, yes, I dream of him falling off a mountain or relocating for good—preferably to another planet. Sometimes I wish he was on that little submarine that went searching for the Titanic . I’m just so tired of dealing with him. Just leave a girl alone to live and enjoy her autumn. The fall season gives me life, and I don’t need any nonsense right now.