Bossy Dad’s Best Friends

Chapter 1

Georgia

“Hello, this is City Union Bank. This is a call to collect a debt,” the automated voice begins over the line. “Please remit—”

“Nope,” I mutter, and hang up on the robotic demon lady before tossing my phone into the passenger seat of my car.

Fuck you, City Union.

I bite down on my lip, willing away the sick feeling in my stomach that comes with the phone call. I won’t be able to hang up on them forever, but for now I just can’t deal.

I obviously know my credit card is maxed out and I need to make a payment. I don’t need a reminder from them to tell me that. But with Daisy getting married and moving out, I’ve been spending a lot more money.

“And working the perfume counter at Macy’s isn’t exactly a high-paying job,” I add aloud under my breath, reaching for the radio to turn the music up.

As soon as I do, my phone rings again. “They can’t be calling two times in a row…

” I look over at the screen, catching sight of my new roommate Lily’s face.

Ugh. I roll my eyes and decide not to pick up. She’s way too much. I mean, I’m glad she moved in because I certainly couldn’t pay the rent by myself. But damn, I wish she’d just chill the fuck out.

My head is pounding from a long afternoon of smelling overpowering fragrances, and today, an older, snobby woman with literally nothing better spent way too long antagonizing me about when the new Spears line would be arriving.

I shudder, pushing the thought away as I get closer to home.

Despite my shitty job and my shitty situation, the house I rent is tucked away in a quaint little corner of the city.

When Daisy left, it might’ve been smarter to move out, but the little cottage-style two-bedroom home is something I didn’t want to give up.

Mostly because of the kitchen.

“What the hell…” My voice trails off, and my pity thoughts fade away as I make a right, and notice all the cars parked around my house.

Who is having a party? I glance around at the houses. Most of my neighbors are too old to have people over this late. It’s only nine o’clock but I bet a lot of them are already in bed.

I pull my Honda into my spot beside Lily’s Volkswagen SUV, and cut the engine.

I sit there for a few moments, my heartbeat throbbing in my temple. I need a long shower to wash away the stench of perfumes, with no one to bother me. Especially not Lily. She’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but…

She’s too much.

“Georgia!” Knuckles rap on the window of my car. “Come on! You’re late!”

Late for what?

I squeeze my eyes shut and let out a sigh, willing Lily away. “I just need a minute,” I croak, pulling up my blonde hair into a ponytail. “It’s been a day.”

“I’ve been calling you like a hundred times,” Lily says, her hand popping open my door.

Ugh. I hate automatic unlocking doors.

“Come on,” she reaches in and grabs my arm, nearly dragging me out of the car. I grab my bag and sling it over my shoulder, already wishing I had gone anywhere but home. “I have something for you.”

“I really just—”

“You’re going to love it!” She looks back at me, wiggling her dark brows beneath her dark bangs.

“What am I going to love?” I ask, my tone flat as she continues to damn near drag me down the sidewalk to the front porch. “And what are all these cars doing here?” My eyes jump to a black Mercedes parked right out front.

That is way too nice to be in this neighborhood.

Lily tugs on my arm, and I turn back to her, nearly tripping on the step up to the porch. The main door is closed, not just the storm door. It’s unusual and it’s enough to trigger my spidey-senses.

This is not good.

As soon as the door opens, I realize I’m spot on. The lights are completely off, and so I reach for the main switch with my heart in my throat, flipping it on.

“Happy birthday, Georgia!” a crowd of people erupts as soon as the light floods the living room.

You have got to be kidding me.

I force a smile as Lily bounces beside me. “Thanks.” I chuckle sheepishly, not knowing what else to do. A surprise party is my living nightmare.

“I know your birthday was three days ago, but I just wanted to throw you something big, because you don’t even realize how special you are.”

“Oh…” My voice trails off as the people erupt in chatter, and I start scanning all their faces. I do not have this many friends. I look at Lily as she drags me forward into the crowd. “Where did you find all these people?”

“Your contact list in your phone!” She answers me proudly, like she didn’t totally invade my privacy. “I invited everyone on the list. You only had like two hundred contacts, and so I figured not everyone would come.” Her warm brown eyes hold mine. “Some of them didn’t even know who you were.”

Embarrassment floods my system, as I try to rack my brain for the last time I even went through the list. She could’ve invited the guy who mows my grandma’s lawn for all I know.

This is so bad. What a fucking disaster.

“Thank you all for coming!” Lily calls out over the crowd, continuing to pull me by the arm toward the dining room. “It means so much that you all came to the party.”

“Happy birthday, Georgie,” someone pats my shoulder.

“Oh yeah, thanks,” I say to my third cousin, Irene, who I haven’t seen in nearly a decade—and I’m pretty sure just got out of prison for a drug charge. “Glad you could come.” I force a smile and wonder how long this is going to last.

Once we make it to the dining room, Lily drops my arm, and I take in the sight of a massive white sheet cake, with a Happy 25th Birthday, Georgia scrawled across it in pink icing.

Yikes.

“Wow.” I glance back at Lily, who’s just freaking beaming from ear-to-ear and watching me carefully.

“This is really sweet of you,” I say, because honestly, the sentiment is nice.

“But you totally didn’t have to do this.

I bet this was so much work…” I take in the gaudy balloons and streamers hanging around the house.

“I know, I know.” Lily holds up her hands in a low surrender. “I just wanted to do something nice for you. You work all the time, Georgia. You deserve to have a little fun. I was shocked at how many people decided to come.”

I nod, my eyes flicking back to the crowd. “How many people are here?”

“I don’t know.” Lily places a purple fingernail to her chin. “I think there were only like fifty people who RSVP’d.”

“That’s more than I expected,” I admit, breathing out a long sigh. I run my hands over my white blouse, and then cringe. “I think I’m going to go change really quick. I don’t want to reek of perfume.”

Lily laughs. “Go ahead. I got plenty of drinks to keep everyone entertained for awhile.”

I nod and then slip off down the hallway.

I walk into my bedroom, greeted with the familiar, comforting sight.

I can’t believe she did this. Does this mean I have to talk to all those people out there?

I chew the inside of my cheek as I mull it over, wishing I could just lock the door and stay in here until they’re all gone.

I kick off my heels and black slacks, and tear the white blouse over my head. My ponytail catches the collar and is pulled loose, but I just let it be. I know for certain if the only people on the contact list are the ones who are here, then I have no one to impress.

I sweep up my work clothes and toss them into the hamper, and move to my closet.

I grab a pair of dark wash jeans, a black sweater, and my Vans.

I get dressed in a rush and stop at the mirror to double-check my messy blonde hair falling past my shoulders.

I run my fingers under my smeared mascara to clean it up a little.

I shrug a shoulder. “Meh, good enough.”

I slip out of the bedroom and head back to the dining room.

“Here she comes!” Lily shouts over the noise, throwing her hands up in the air. “I think it’s time for some cake! What do you guys think?”

The whole crowd cheers, and I raise my brows.

Lily clearly was born to do these kinds of things.

“Okay, come here, birthday girl.” She motions for me to walk behind the table, where she has everything all set up, complete with a shit ton of candles.

This is so overkill. I swallow the nerves pumping through my chest as I join her behind the table, and the crowd of people I don’t care to see all crowd around.

“Lighting the candles,” Lily narrates, flicking on the lighter. She strategically lights all the candles on the cake, which there definitely aren’t twenty-five of, but still too many. She looks up at me, her eyes glittering with excitement. “Ready?”

“Yep,” I breathe out, already feeling the heat on my face from the fire. “Let’s do this.”

“Let’s sing!” Lily calls out and begins directing the crowd.

I stand there, my hands folded in front of me as I watch little droplets of wax pool on the white icing. I keep my eyes there until everyone rings out on the last note. Only then do I lean forward, suck in a deep breath, and blow with all my might.

All but one candle goes out immediately, and so I hit that one once more. As I finish, my eyes flicker up to a tall man near the back of the room, and my heart skips a beat as I meet a pair of deep, golden hazel eyes.

Oh my god. What is he doing here?

My skin grows hot as I stand up straight, unable to peel my eyes from my dad’s best friend, Brody Wilder, as he smiles at me.

I haven’t seen him in years. The last time I spent time around him was the summer I turned sixteen, and my friends gave me a hard time because I admitted to having a freaking crush on the guy.

Did he come with my dad? I search the space around him, but my dad is nowhere in sight, which makes sense. My father is not the type to show up at an event like this.

“You okay?” Lily’s voice is suddenly in my ear.