Chapter 28 Willa
WILLA
Igroaned, rolling over in bed to glance at the clock. There was nothing I wanted more than to just sleep the day away, but Saturday was a busy day for my gym clients and since I was cutting out all my Monday through Friday appointments, the weekends were going to be busy.
Might as well work until I dropped. Wasn’t like I had a love life, or even a date life anymore. And honestly, that was probably a good thing. Maybe I should be single and celibate for the next few years just to give me time to think about my heart-breaking habit of falling for assholes.
Last night had been one of the most agonizing experiences of my life.
I’d endured a week of Jordan over the moon about her reconciliation with Ozar all while hearing squat from Eng.
Then I’d needed to sit through the game last night where he hadn’t even looked over at me.
And for him to approach me at McHenry’s like nothing had changed, like he expected to be hiding his sausage in my muffin later that evening…
I burned with fury just thinking about it. All night I’d chatted with friends, flirted with guys, and steadily tried to ignore the way my gaze kept straying to the orc over at the bar arguing with Bwat.
Guess I better get used to it. Jordan and Ozar were absolutely a thing, so having the orcs around for social occasions and going to their games and other events was a given.
Plus my new job. There was no way I could ignore Eng when he was part of the hockey team I was supposed to be getting into tip-top shape.
No matter how pissed off I was at Eng, I would need to treat him the same as the rest of the orcs on the team.
And if he started showing up with another woman on his arm, I’d just have to swallow my pride and ignore the whole thing.
The only saving grace was that I hadn’t told Jordan or Abby about our fling, and as far as Stephanie knew, the guy I’d been seeing was some nameless human.
There would be no sympathetic looks every time we saw Eng, or questions about whether they should invite me to parties or games.
Rolling out of bed, I drank a glass of water, made a cup of dark roast, then got in the shower. Without looking at my phone, I shoved it into my bag, and left my apartment, tripping over a brown paper-wrapped package and sprawling onto the floor.
After letting out a few choice curse words, I stood and grabbed the package, noting that there was no address or shipping information on it.
There was a brief moment of indecision where I weighed the amount of time I had to get to the gym versus the possible perishable nature of the package contents.
Deciding I had time, I ripped off the brown paper and discovered a huge leg of lamb with still-frozen ice packs around it.
What. The. Hell.
With another quick glance at my watch, I went next door to Mr. and Mrs. Patton’s, and knocked. She answered in her usual robe and fuzzy slippers, her hair in neat silver pincurls covering her pink scalp as if they’d been glued on.
“Good morning, Mrs. Patton. Did you have a grocery delivery? Are you missing a leg of lamb?”
She shook her head. “We got our delivery last night and I don’t recall ordering lamb. Jerry! Did you order a butcher delivery! The neighbor is here holding a leg of lamb!”
I winced at the volume. Mr. Patton responded from somewhere deep in the apartment, yelling at the top of his voice as well.
“No! But we’ll take the lamb if she doesn’t want it!”
I took a step back before Mrs. Patton could snatch the package from my hand. If this meat was going unclaimed, then I was considering it mine. Finders keepers.
“I scored a free leg of lamb this morning,” I told Stephanie as we ran side-by-side in what had become part of our friendship and exercise routine.
“Nearly broke my neck falling over it just outside my apartment door. It was wrapped up in paper with ice packs too. Do you think there’s a meat fairy who delivers choice cuts to deserving single women?
Stephanie burst out laughing and nearly toppled off the treadmill. “A meat-fairy for deserving single women wouldn’t be delivering a leg of lamb, it would be delivering a hot guy with a big ole schlong.”
“I’m swearing off the schlongs, big or small for at least a year, so I’m glad it was a leg of lamb on my doorstep and not a hot guy,” I told her. “Remember the big mistake I’ve been sleeping with this month? Well, no surprise here, but he was absolutely a big mistake.”
Stephanie slowed her pace and shot me a sympathetic glance. “Ugh. I’m so sorry, Willa. What happened?”
I dropped to a walk because it was impossible to run and talk about this. Cardio and heartbreak did not mix.
“Everything seemed to be great. I mean, yeah I still wasn’t what he wanted in a long-term relationship, but we were at least doing things that involved us both having clothes on.
He took me to dinner, and dancing, and we started spending the night at each other’s places.
Then he was gone for a couple of weeks on business, and I didn’t hear anything from him. Nothing. Not even a text.”
“Fucker.” Steph growled. “I hate when they ghost you like that. At least have the courage to dump a girl to her face. I’m assuming he felt he was getting too emotionally involved, or that you were getting too emotionally involved, and he didn’t want things to get messy since he didn’t see the possibility of anything long-term between you two? ”
“That’s what I figured, but then when he got back and I saw him last night after the game at McHenry’s, he came up to me as if he expected to pick up right where we left off.”
The werewolf slowed her treadmill to a walk as well. “So he wants to back things up? Return to sex-only?”
“Probably.” I picked up my towel and wiped my face. “And I acted like a complete psycho, because I am emotionally involved. I don’t want to just go back to sex. And I was hurt that he didn’t even bother to call me or text me while he was gone, so I went off on him.”
Steph made a sympathetic noise. “You have every right to be hurt, Willa.”
“Do I?”
How could I have been so angry at Eng all night and this morning, and stand here doubting myself? I was a total mess. And I absolutely needed to go on a year of chastity to break this horrible destructive dating habit of falling for the wrong guys.
“The painful lesson is that you can’t do just sex.
” Stephanie held up a hand to stop my protest. “Maybe you could years ago, but you can’t anymore.
I can’t either, so it’s not like I’m calling you out on anything I haven’t told myself in the mirror over the last few months.
We want love. We want a partnership. Just sex, no matter how good, doesn’t cut it anymore. ”
I blew out a breath and leaned against the arm of the treadmill. She was right. I did want more. And my stupid heart was ready to try and shape Eng into my future partner no matter how up front he’d been about not wanting that with me at all.
“Let him go.” Stephanie’s voice was soft. “Don’t lie to yourself and say that you’ll be okay with just sex if that’s all he wants. Block his number, and let him go.”
“It’s going to be tough. I just got hired to be the team trainer for the Tusks.” I glanced around the gym because while I’d told management here and my clients, I hadn’t let my friends or family know about my new job. “No one else knows this, but Mr. Asshole is one of the orcs on the team.”
Stephanie’s eyes widened. “That’s amazing, Willa! Congrats. I mean about the job. That is truly horrible that you’re going to need to work with him on a professional basis now.”
“I know! How am I going to keep from falling back into his bed when he’ll be right there in front of me every day?”
“A couple dozen other orcs will be right in front of you as well. You’ll be working. Just keep any interaction professional, refuse to see or speak to him outside of the job, and eventually he’ll get the hint,” she told me.
She was right. Eng might not attract the puck bunnies like Ozar and Ugwyll did, but he was hot, loaded with muscles, and a player on a professional sports team.
The guy could get all the sex he wanted with the lift of a finger.
And maybe I’d luck out and he’d find his perfect princess and be gone and out of my life in the next month or two.
My stomach knotted up at the idea.
“Hey, didn’t Jordan’s guy leave a steak or something on her doorstep?” Stephanie asked as she started the treadmill up again. “Maybe the lamb chop was your orc’s way of apologizing or trying to patch things up.”
I considered that. “Ozar did leave Jordan steaks on her doorstep. But I can’t see Eng doing that even if I hadn’t made it clear to him that there would be no more booty calls and that he should forget all about me. He’d not much of a gift-giving guy in my experience.”
“Maybe it’s an orc thing,” Stephanie mused. “He’s trying to win you back into his bed or something. Don’t do it girl. Don’t give in to the siren call of the big magical schlong. Nothing but danger lies down that path.”
“Don’t I know it.” I started up my treadmill. “Enough about my shitty love life. How are things with you?”
“My love life is non-existent, which is a step above shitty. This afternoon I’m looking at a barn-to-business conversion job that I’m super excited about.
It’s a bank barn that was built in 1807 and was in use for hay storage and milking until about thirty years ago when the farm was sold off to developers. ”
I grimaced. “I’m surprised it wasn’t torn down.”
“Me too,” Stephanie said. “The builder broke off twenty acres with the house and barn and sold it outside the development. It wasn’t enough land to support a dairy farm, or really anything besides a hobby farm.
The owner leased out the acreage to a local farmer for hay and used the barn as storage and a garage.
The new owners want to turn the barn into a winery with a store and a tasting room that’s big enough to house events.
They’re planting vines and wildflower gardens with paths and a place for outdoor concerts. ”
“Agri-tourism is a big thing,” I said with a nod. “Isn’t zoning going to be an issue though?”
“Luckily, no. The property was still zoned agriculture from when it was a farm and the developer kept it at that zoning. There has been huge lobbying from the farmers’ groups to allow for agriculture business under their zoning to keep farms profitable and reduce the number that are sold to development, so the winery is a go.
The only hitch is the new owners need to get a permit each time they have events over a certain number of people, but that’s not my problem. ”
“What are your plans for the barn?” I asked.
Stephanie grinned. “The thing still has the original chestnut beams in it. You should see them. They’re huge!
I’m going to preserve as many of them as possible, and cover the metal support posts with reclaimed barn siding to hide them and make them look rustic and original.
The metal siding is going to go, but the tin roof is staying.
The concrete floor in the lower half where the milking stalls were is a horrible mess.
I’m looking forward to taking a jack hammer to it and replacing it with local flagstone. ”
My worries drifted away as I listened to Stephanie gush about her work. The woman loved her job. And I loved mine too. This contract with the Tusks was the opportunity I needed to really make a decent living as a trainer, and I wasn’t going to let my hurt over Eng get in the way of that.
And as for the leg of lamb…I had plans for that as well. Tomorrow was Sunday dinner at my parents’ house—featuring lamb.