Adele
“Do you think maybe you just date terrible guys?” Parker reclined on the chaise lounge, lifting her sunglasses and giving me a pointed look.
We’d congregated on my back patio, which looked out at my garden. Thursday night girls’ night had become our tradition. My sisters-in-law had insisted, and I had felt too guilty to decline. Alice usually hosted, and Hazel, Parker, and I joined, with my niece Goldie making occasional appearances.
But tonight, Alice had some important principal business to attend to, so it was Parker, her best friend Liv, Hazel, and me.
For the first time, I’d invited all of them over.
Parker was here all the time, but I still struggled with having people in my space.
Nothing like a night with the girls to force me out of my comfort zone.
At first, I fought it. Even when Alice did all the hosting. It was too much hassle, and I didn’t want to be forced into bonding. I was a loner, always had been, and I’d always been good with that. I had my crew. We were all close and worked well together.
But then Parker dragged me into this. And I had to admit, it wasn’t terrible.
There was always wine, and Alice was a fantastic cook.
Goldie, my eight-year-old niece, often tagged along, and she was hilarious.
The four of us were all so different, but it felt good to have girlfriends.
Our conversations were random and off the wall at times, but being with them got me out of my own head.
“Probably.” My track record was shit. I wouldn’t argue with that. “But it’s not like there are a lot of single guys in Lovewell, or even the surrounding areas. And I did try for a while.”
I handed Parker a glass of chilled rosé from the bottle I’d pulled out of the wine fridge—hey, this was my house. I could have whatever I wanted.
“You did. No one would ever accuse you of not putting yourself out there,” Hazel said, raising her glass of sparkling water in my direction. “You have more bad date stamina than any woman I’ve ever met.”
Growing up, I idolized my father. What I failed to notice, though, was that my mother was the glue that held our family together.
And he loved her. Damn. I’d never once doubted that my parents loved each other. And that example, of a love that lasted and grew and evolved, had stuck with me.
That was why I hadn’t completely given up on finding a partner. Because I knew what was possible.
But the road to finding that person had been bumpy since the beginning.
Boys hadn’t shown much interest in me in high school, and I’d always had to make the first move.
I was “intimidating,” according to many. In reality, I believed it had more to do with not being the ideal type of woman.
Perky and cute and sweet were words that had never been used to describe me. I had sharp edges and an even sharper tongue. I was taller and stronger than most guys. And while that didn’t bother me in the least, I’d found that it narrowed my options in the dating pool dramatically.
I approached dating like I did most things. With unmatched intensity and more than a little insanity. It was no secret that women like me needed to work harder at this than others.
At a young age, I learned that I had to take what I could get.
Girls like me—tall, strong, opinionated—were never chosen first unless sports were involved.
And while that truth stung even today, this tough reality was a hell of a lot better than changing myself for a guy.
I’d accepted long ago that I was an acquired taste, and I dated accordingly.
But lately, I had grown tired of putting in all the effort only to be disappointed over and over again.
So I’d put myself on an indefinite dating hiatus.
“How long has it been?” Liv asked, twirling a lock of red hair. She was from Portland, and she looked like some kind of forest nymph. Long red hair, massive blue eyes, and that kind of artsy style that no normal woman could ever pull off.
Strangely enough, she wrote grisly crime thrillers for a living, and I’d enjoyed every one of them immensely.
Since Parker had moved here permanently, Liv had become a frequent visitor to our town.
Most everyone here had read her books by now, and it was not uncommon to sit in the diner and hear them debating theories about the identity of the murderer in each one.
“A while.” I reclined in the chair, surveying the flowers in my garden.
It was almost July, and things were finally perking up.
We were about a month away from full garden glory, but I was feeling pretty proud of myself at the moment.
“I needed a break.” It had been almost a year. Not that they needed to know that.
“Jake?” Hazel asked.
“Yeah. He got back with his ex.” I did not mention that he did so on the day of my brother Henri’s wedding, when he was scheduled to be my date and meet my entire family.
“What about the other guy? The dude who was into Latin?”
“He was a Latin professor,” I corrected, taking in the oranges and purples of the beginnings of a beautiful sunset. “And don’t ask.”
“Why not? It was so promising. He was hot, and he was super into you.”
I sat up and sighed. “On our second date. He told me that he is a cuckold.”
Liv sputtered and choked on her wine. Beside her, Parker patted her back, but she never took her attention off me.
Hazel looked thoroughly confused. “What is that?”
God, she was so innocent sometimes.
I shrugged. “He told me that, in order to be in a relationship with him, I’d have to agree to have sex with another man while he watched.”
Hazel’s eyes bugged out of her skull. “But why?”
“Apparently that’s what he needs to be happy…”
“It’s a kink,” Liv added. “Nothing wrong with it.”
“Not at all,” I said. “I consider myself pretty open-minded, but that one in particular isn’t for me.
” And maybe it hurt my pride a little. Maybe it was silly or old-fashioned, but I wanted a possessive kind of love.
A man who wanted me and would never even consider sharing.
I’d yet to experience that type of devotion or protectiveness. I had always been disposable.
“It’s not for me either,” Parker said, then she snorted. “Could you imagine your brother letting anyone look at me, never mind do other stuff?”
Hazel threw her head back and laughed. “Girl, I feel that.”
With a shudder, I gagged. I loved these girls, but they never stopped bringing up shit like that, no matter how many times I reminded them that they were talking about my brothers.
Thankfully, Liv moved the conversation along. “There’s nothing wrong with being single. Do you really want to give up your independence so you can be shackled to some guy who can’t be bothered to lift the toilet seat?”
She had a point.
“And this house.” She sat up straighter and waved a hand wildly. “Look at this place. Look at what you’ve accomplished on your own.”
Clinking her wineglass with mine, she shot me a smug smile.
I did love my house. It was my space, my sanctuary.
If I wanted a pink couch, I got a pink couch.
And if I wanted to blow a stupid amount of money on a wine fridge, then I could.
Because I was free. And although it could get lonely at times, things could certainly be worse.
He-Man jumped into my lap and hit me with a set of stereotypical puppy dog eyes, so I fed him a piece of very expensive Gouda.
“How are things going with He Who Must Not Be Named?” Parker asked.
Her question made my stomach drop. Dammit. I did not want to talk about him with the rest of this group. With a scowl, I threw a cracker at her to make sure she understood my annoyance.
Liv looked up from her phone, her eyes wide and curious. “Catch me up.”
“It’s nothing,” I mumbled into my wineglass.
Every eye was still trained on me, and every one of them wore looks of anticipation. Even He-Man wasn’t buying it.
“Henri hired Finn Hebert, military hero, pilot, and lumber Viking,” Parker explained, garnering another glare from me. “For obvious reasons, this distresses Adele.”
“Ooh,” Liv crowed, scooting closer. “You had me at lumber Viking. Is he your ex?”
“No,” I snapped. “He’s a Hebert. His father—” I clamped my mouth shut, trying to rein in my fury.
Silence fell over the group as each of my friends looked from one another to me.
The only sounds came from the crickets and the frogs while they waited for me to continue.
And dammit if every one of them wasn’t wearing an expression full of pity.
Finn was right. It was the worst. “Anyway. We’ve always disliked one another.
Now it’s even more than that, obviously.
” I waved my hands. “But according to my brothers, we need a pilot. And for some reason, they’ve tasked me with babysitting his giant, obnoxious ass. ”
I gulped my wine, ready to move on from talk of Finn Hebert and his shit family.
It was hard enough dealing with him in my space each day.
I didn’t need the ghost of him hanging around after hours too.
Yes, he kept a low profile and he wasn’t in the shop full time, but his presence lingered, nonetheless, and it was messing with my head.
“There’s more to the story,” Hazel added, raising one brow.
“What?” Liv asked.
“Last year, Remy and I were in danger.” She clutched the compass pendant around her neck, the one that had belonged to my great-grandmother. “Finn Hebert came to our rescue.”
Liv was fanning herself. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah. Even though his dad forbade it, when Adele asked, he jumped into his plane, no questions asked.”
The terror of that day bubbles up inside me, threatening to cut off my airway.
I had been in my shop, like always. Paz had come over from the offices to tell me that Hazel had gone missing after the cabin she and Remy had found had been ransacked.
Remy took off on one of the ATVs in search of her, and we lost track of him for almost a full day.