Chapter 1
Eleven months later . . .
This is certainly not what the movies prepared me for, Paige thought as she leaned back in her office chair. She swiveled around and watched her gray cubicle blur around her.
But just five minutes earlier, she had received an email from her boss with information about her new client—a local plumbing company whose brand was quite literally in the shitter.
Sure, her office had fancy boardrooms, but she never got assigned the type of clients that were given catered meetings there. She was stuck in the cubicle farm and, even with her promotion nearly two years ago, still forced to work on the agency's C-list projects.
As her cubicle came back into focus, she stared at the photos pinned next to her computer.
There was a picture of her with her parents at the top of Willis Tower, taken last summer.
She looked equally like both of her parents.
She had her dad’s green eyes and pointed nose, and her mom’s oval-shaped face and dirty blonde hair.
The other picture was of her and Nadia, her best friend and roommate. It was a photo from their trip to Nashville a few years ago. They had gone all out with the cowboy boots and bedazzled jean jackets. Neither of them had worn the boots since, but they made for a cute photo in the moment.
Paige was waiting to leave work to meet Nadia for a Pilates class, followed by their weekly Thursday sushi and reality TV night. Their current show was Love is Blind.
Nadia and her boyfriend, Linus, had gone on vacation for two weeks at the end of October, and the girls hadn’t had much time to catch up on the trip or their TV shows, so Paige was looking forward to some uninterrupted bestie time.
Friends since high school, Paige and Nadia were practically inseparable. Not only were they roommates, but they also worked a couple of blocks away from each other, making it a no-brainer to meet up for after-work activities.
Paige looked at the time in the corner of her computer. She still had ten minutes to kill to ensure she wasn’t leaving at the same time as Chance and Diana, a ridiculous practice she had gotten used to over the past eleven months.
After all the drama that happened with Chance last year, everyone expected her to leave the company. And the thing is that she absolutely wanted to, but on her own terms.
Paige dreamt of being able to build her own marketing consulting business and being her own boss, but she didn’t want to quit after the breakup and have it look like she was trying to escape Chance or Diana.
Besides, she barely made a livable salary and had little savings to fall back on at that point—especially after buying the last-minute flights back to San Diego last Christmas.
So she told herself back in January that she would stick it out one more year to give herself more of a cushion before branching out on her own.
Another twelve months of her salary plus the hefty end-of-year bonus the company always gave out would give her a more stable footing for freelance life.
That’s not to say the last eleven months haven’t been awkward as hell.
In the days after last year’s Christmas party, Chance apologized profusely and begged for another chance.
He went on and on, swearing it was just a one-time thing, a stupid late-night slip.
There was nothing between him and Diana, and it was a terrible mistake he wished he could take back.
It was far too soon for Paige to even consider forgiving him, and in more or less words she told him to fuck off. Chance was the guy she had pictured in her future, and his affair shattered everything she thought that future would look like.
And though it sounded dramatic, his confession shattered her favorite holiday too.
Paige had spent Christmas with her family in California to take some time and distance to process what had happened. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get into the holiday spirit, which was a first for her.
As angry as she was at him, she couldn’t help but miss him as she opened up her stocking on Christmas morning. They were supposed to be swapping stockings and gifts together at Chance’s parents’ house in Wisconsin, and being apart for the holiday gave her some new perspective.
When New Year’s came around, she felt ready to sit down and talk with Chance about reconciling. She loved him, and even with this betrayal she felt like their relationship was worth a second chance.
She sent him a text right before her plane back to Chicago took off and switched on airplane mode.
When she landed four hours later, she expected to see his grateful response, but only a welcome home text from Nadia came through.
It wasn’t until she was clicking through her Instagram stories that she saw posts from colleagues who had gotten together for a New Year’s Eve party, with Chance and Diana cozying up in the corner sharing a midnight kiss.
Paige sunk into the airplane seat and replayed the story about ten times before finally believing what she had seen—Chance’s deep regret for his actions apparently had an expiration date.
By the time everyone was back in the office a few days later, the gossip was buzzing, and Paige couldn’t avoid the looks of pity being thrown her way no matter how hard she tried.
Meanwhile, Chance and Diana made no effort to hide their new relationship. It was like nothing changed at all for Chance. He took the same coffee breaks, ate his same turkey sandwich at lunch, but instead of doing these things with her—like he had for the last three years—it was Diana at his side.
Despite her heartbreak, Paige was determined to maintain her composure at the office and stay focused on her work just long enough to build up the savings she needed to leave it all behind.
And on days like today when she got assigned to a crappy client like this plumbing company, she couldn’t help but check the countdown on her calendar to January, when she was planning to give her two-week notice.
The company should be sending its end-of-year bonus email any day now.
This is the email she was anxiously awaiting—the email that would give her an exact idea of how much of a cushion she could have for her freelance venture.
As much as she complained about her company and her below-average salary, they certainly gave out above-average bonuses each Christmas, in addition to their annual over-the-top and lavish holiday party. It was the single thing that had kept her going this past year.
Well, that and the support of her parents and Nadia.
It was twenty after five and time for Paige to make her way to the Pilates studio.
She glanced at her email one last time before shutting her laptop, packing up her purse and grabbing her gym bag.
***
“These guys are just saying what the girls want to hear,” Nadia said with a mouth full of California roll. “Ten bucks says Josh has a girlfriend outside of the show.”
The girls were sprawled out on their couch in their pajamas with three rolls of sushi and a carton of edamame on the coffee table in front of them. The Pilates class had kicked them in the butt and they weren’t planning on moving the rest of the night.
“For a woman madly in love, you sure are a cynic when it comes to dating shows.” Paige laughed.
“I mean, it’s because of Linus I’m so judgmental!” Nadia said. “All these men just seem so childish and immature. Except Nate. Nate passes the test.”
“Well, I’m sure Nate would be thrilled to know he made your cut. Do you think if you and Linus did this you would have picked each other?” Paige asked.
The premise of the show had always fascinated her. Singles meeting and getting to know each other behind a wall was certainly an interesting way to fall in love. But Paige wasn’t sure she bought into love without physical attraction.
“Erm, I want to say yes, but as you remember it was my extreme beauty that made Linus come over and talk to us at the bar that night,” Nadia said as she batted her eyelashes at Paige.
Paige had only a vague recollection of that evening, thanks to an extremely boozy Long Island Iced Tea.
She and Nadia had been in Chicago for a year and a half and took advantage of the bars and clubs on most weekends.
They were twenty-three, single, and not looking for anything serious. But everything changed that night.
The girls were standing at the far end of the bar, giggling as they brought up memories from their college escapades. Nadia had noticed the group of guys across the bar looking in their direction, pointing out the one with the glasses in the button-down.
To be fair, they were both looking pretty hot that night.
Paige had gone for black jeans and a black leather jacket, which made her dirty blonde hair seem a bit more blonde than it really was.
Meanwhile, Nadia had chosen a black miniskirt with a tight bodysuit—a look that accentuated her bigger-than-average boobs.
She had just gotten her jet-black hair cut into an above-the-shoulder bob and was wearing red lipstick. There was no way men weren’t going to stare at her.
Sure enough, after twenty minutes of stolen glances, the cutie in the glasses found the nerve to walk up to her and ask her for her number. He had no weird pickup lines or gimmicks, just an old-school and arguably romantic approach.
And that is how Nadia met Linus Eriksson, her boyfriend of six years now, and honestly one of the best guys Paige could have chosen to date her lifelong best friend.
“Hey, Paige, speaking of Linus, I actually want to talk to you about something,” Nadia said, lowering the volume on the TV. Her expression screamed, I-hate-that-I’m-about-to-say-this.
“Linus asked me to move in with him while we were on our trip last week. He’s dropping major hints at a proposal over the holidays, and he really wants us to start building more of a life together,” Nadia said, then exhaled loudly as if she’d been holding her breath.
Paige had known this conversation was imminent, but it didn’t make it any easier to finally face the reality of their changing circumstances.
Nadia had been her roommate since freshman year of college. And since Paige was an only child, Nadia had become like a sister to her. Living with Nadia was comfortable and fun. She felt like home. And in this last year of heartbreak, having Nadia had been her saving grace.
Paige didn’t quite know what to feel in this moment.
There were so many mixed emotions. She was sad for herself because she would be losing the privilege of having her best friend living just down the hall.
But she was genuinely happy for Nadia. Nadia loved Linus, and Linus loved her.
They were so happy together, and after dating for six years, it didn’t come as a shock to Paige that they were ready to take this next step in their relationship.
She knew it was finally time for the sun to set on her and Nadia’s roommate era.
And besides, Linus only lived a twenty-minute walk from her condo, so the move would hardly be taking Nadia away from her.
“Nads, I’m so, so happy for you! Truly.” Paige wrapped her in a big hug. “When are you planning on moving out?”
Personal feelings aside, Paige did have a sinking feeling in her stomach. Nadia moving out meant she would lose her monthly rental payment, even if it wasn’t all that much compared to other apartments in the area.
Paige started doing the mental math and figured that while she’d take a slight hit by covering the full mortgage payment, she should still have enough tucked away from last year’s bonus and the upcoming holiday bonus to make ends meet and stay on course for quitting her job in January.
“Well, I know I already paid rent for November, but, uh, Linus wants me to move in this weekend.”
“This weekend?!” Paige almost dropped the piece of sushi between her chopsticks. “So tonight is really the end of an era.”
“I know, I’m sorry it’s so quick, and please don’t even think about sending back my November rent. Consider it my parting gift,” Nadia said as she pulled Paige back into a hug. “Ugh, I’m gonna miss you!”
“The feeling is mutual,” Paige replied, a lump forming in her throat. “Promise we can still continue our cozy Christmas traditions?”
One of the things that made the girls such great friends and roommates was their similar taste in just about everything—including cheesy Christmas movies and over-the-top decorating.
Even after Chance’s Christmastime confession last year had dampened Paige’s holiday spirit, Nadia pulled out all the stops to bring back her cheer.
“Oh, please. If you think Linus is about to sit down for a five-hour Christmas movie marathon featuring only Lacey Chabert, then you’ve lost your mind,” Nadia said. “Keep plenty of popcorn and hot chocolate with the mini marshmallows stocked in the condo.”
Paige laughed at the mental image of Linus in an ugly Christmas sweater lounging on the couch watching predictable Christmas rom-coms. And she was comforted by the confirmation that her best friend really wasn’t going anywhere.