Chapter 2
LOREN
Mom
You’re making a terrible mistake.
Come back home.
Everything is going wrong.
Not only did my poor car break down on the side of the highway an hour outside Nashville, it’s going to cost an arm and a leg—and probably a lung or two—to fix the freaking thing. I thought my day couldn’t get worse, but every time I try to get ahold of Josh, the call goes straight to voicemail.
This is where impulsiveness gets you. Leaking sweat on a curb outside a Waffle House, questioning your life choices and being dive-bombed by gnats.
I know what you’re thinking: Things can’t get worse. This is as bad as it gets. Rock bottom. Nowhere to go but up.
You’re wrong.
My heartbroken mother keeps leaving tearful voice notes filled with all her bitter disappointments.
I can’t take much more of her wailing, begging me to come back home “where I belong.”
I may have told myself that this move was for a guy I barely know, but spontaneously relocating to “Music City” was for me too.
I have lived in the same town since I turned four.
Went to high school there and attended community college thirty minutes away while still living with my parents to save money.
After that, I went straight into full-time employment at Piper’s Funeral Home.
Even I’m putting myself to sleep thinking about my life.
I was a twenty-five-year-old woman facing a future of dead bodies and grieving relatives.
Don’t get me wrong, the world needs people to run funeral homes. Helping folks say goodbye to their loved ones is an important role in society. I’m not knocking the job, but it’s not for me.
That’s part of the reason I got a degree in marketing. Not to work for my parents, but to work somewhere else. Anywhere else.
I got this degree to do more with my life.
To prove to my parents and to myself that I can make it on my own.
Instead, I’m going to melt into a puddle on this curb.
It’s almost November. Doesn’t Tennessee recognize autumn as a season?
When I press the button on the side of my phone, the little battery icon in the top right-hand corner flashes an alarming shade of red.
This is what I get for forgetting to grab my charger before the tow truck took my car.
My phone rings, and I nearly burst into tears when Josh’s smiling face flashes on the screen. I took that picture of him in his sunglasses the day before he left.
Man, he’s good-looking.
I answer the call with a smile of my own. Even rock bottom looks brighter when there’s someone wonderful in your life. “Boy, am I glad to hear from you.”
Josh’s deep laugh rumbles through the speaker, warming me all over like gooey toffee. “Hey, girl. I didn’t expect your call until tonight. How are you?”
“Great.” I’d be better if this damn fly buzzing around my head would find someone else to annoy. I swat at the thing, but it keeps on coming. “So, fun fact: I’m almost to Nashville.”
“You’re kidding! Where are you staying? If you don’t have any plans tonight, we should grab dinner. There’s a great place that just opened in the Gulch that I’ve been dying to try.”
“I’d really love that.” So, so much. “The thing is, I don’t have a place to stay yet. I’m sorta winging it.”
“How about I get you a room at the Hilton? It’s right downtown and our company has an account with them, so we get a discount.”
That sounds a bit out of my price range, and letting the man who may one day be the father of my children know I’m not exactly flush with cash feels more like a one-month-anniversary conversation.
“That’s sweet of you, but I was actually thinking of staying for a while so a hotel may not cut it.
” I tug on the white fringes along the hem of my jean shorts, which are unravelling one frayed thread at a time.
What keeps them from falling apart completely?
“No way. How long are you going to be in town?”
“I don’t know. A year? Maybe two?” Or forever and always depending on how things go with my potential soulmate.
There’s a pause.
The longer it lasts, the more I start to freak out and wonder if this really was all a colossal mistake.
As if on cue, my phone buzzes with another message from my mom. “I told you so” is going to be the only thing she says to me for the rest of my life.
Remember when you drove ten hours just to turn right back around with your tail between your legs?
What have I done?
“Wait. You’re moving down here?” Josh finally says.
Is that excitement or horror in his voice? I really hope it’s the first one, otherwise I completely misunderstood the “I wish you lived closer” comment from dinner the night before he left. “Yep. That’s the plan.”
“That’s fantastic, babe.”
The tension in my chest uncoils, and a shaky breath blows through my lips, knocking my gnat enemies off course. “You’re not freaked out or anything?”
“Why would I freak out? We need to go out and celebrate. Let me know where you are and I’ll come pick you up.”
“I’m currently stranded at Waffle House.”
“Shit. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but my car isn’t.”
“Send me the address, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
A white Range Rover rolls up parallel to the curb, and the tinted window slides down, revealing a handsome face smiling from inside the cab. “Hey, girl. Need a lift?”
“Josh!” I scramble to my feet, knocking over my purse in the process, which of course means the clean underwear and toothbrush I threw in before the tow truck drove away with my car and my bags tumble out onto the sidewalk.
I’m not so worried about the underwear. All going well, Josh is going to see them at some point anyway. My toothbrush landing bristles down? That’s a different story.
I scoop them up and throw them back into my purse, then scramble over to the driver’s side to awkwardly hug his neck through the window.
He smells like expensive cologne and leather. Actually, the leather is probably coming from the car seats.
It’s so crazy how a dire situation can turn around when the right person shows up to rescue you. “You don’t know how happy I am to see you.”
“Same here.” His lips graze mine. “I’ve missed you every second since I left.”
It’s a relief to hear. I’d be mortified if this thing between us was only one-sided.
“Now get in and tell me everything.”
He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I trade the heat for the cool confines of his luxury SUV. I never understood why they called them that until the leather envelops me in its buttery embrace.
He shifts into drive and away we go, the Waffle House slowly vanishing in the rearview, my new life spreading before me like the open road. And would you look at that? His charger works on my phone.
Things are finally looking up.
“So you you’re really moving here? What prompted this?”
“I wasn’t happy back home.” Existing isn’t living. “I think it took meeting you to finally do something about it.” I shudder to think how long I would’ve stayed stuck if we hadn’t bumped into each other.
He reaches across the center console to give my fingers a squeeze. “Glad to be of service. What’s your plan now?”
“Find a place to rent and a job. Any suggestions?”
His lips purse as he stares out at the road, weaving between cars as traffic starts to pick up.
“I think all the apartments in my building are full, but I can always check around to see if there’s a place close to downtown that would work for you.
On the job front, I have a few buddies who might be looking for staff. What’s your degree in again?”
“Marketing.”
“That’s right. It’s too bad I didn’t meet you a few months ago when our firm was looking for a secretary.”
Oh, a secretary. I imagine that wouldn’t be so different from what I was doing back home. The scheduling and organizing part, not the hearse driving.
Working with Josh would’ve been amazing.
Maybe the person they hired won’t work out.
Wouldn’t that be fate?
He flicks his blinker and zips around the car in front of us. Man, this car has some power. “You could always try headhunters.”
Yeah, I don’t know what that is.
“A recruiting agency,” he clarifies. “A lot of companies use them to find their employees. That’s where we got Naomi.”
I’ve always liked the name Naomi. It’s fun to say. Naomi. Nay-ohh-meee. “Naomi is…?”
“Sorry. Our new secretary.”
Recruiting agency, huh? Sounds like a great idea. “I’ll check them out. Thanks.”
His smile lights up his whole face. “What would you like for dinner? Sushi or flatbread?”
Good question. Considering how hungry I am, both sound amazing. Literally, I would eat both. However, I did just sit on my ass all day, so bingeing probably isn’t the best idea for my stomach. “I had a lot of beige carbs on the way here, so let’s go with sushi.”
“Perfect.” He brings our clasped hands together, pressing a kiss to my knuckles and making me melt a little bit more. “Just like you.”
Gah! Could he be any sweeter? “You’re sure it’s okay that I’m here? You’re not secretly freaking out? Because it’d be totally understandable if you were.” If our roles were reversed, I’d be jumping up and down with excitement, but that’s me.
This is Josh. Fancy lawyer from a city who wears sexy three-piece suits. He probably has women fawning over him wherever he goes.
“Not freaking out. More like…taken aback? I can’t believe you’d abandon your whole life just for me.”
Honesty. This is good. Healthy. Just because his confession floods my stomach with dread doesn’t mean this can’t turn into a good conversation. I’d hate to start a relationship based on lies.
“It’s not just for you.” Mostly, but not completely. He’s more like the catalyst. “I think I was searching for a reason to leave without even realizing it.” Almost like I was looking for permission from the universe or some higher power that it was okay to go.
To take a chance on myself.
Or on someone who could end up being the love of my life.
“Oh, thank God.” Huffing a laugh, he drags a hand down his chiseled jaw.
“I really like you, Loren, but the fact is, we barely know each other. I’m looking forward to learning more about you, growing closer, but…
” He blows out a breath. “If you came here just for me. That’s a lot of pressure.
I think we should take things slow. See where we end up. ”
“I totally get it. This is a zero-pressure situation. Just two people who like each other, hanging out.” Spending every waking moment together. Falling desperately in love. Getting married and having babies.
No, Loren! Don’t think about how cute your babies would be.
That’s not slow. That’s fast.
Don’t be a waterfall. Be a lazy river. Drift along, float where the water takes you.
“Two people who like each other a lot,” Josh says.
Some of the tension in my body eases. “Exactly.” We do like each other a lot. Someone who wasn’t as chill as me might even say we could be soulmates.
Only time will tell.
For now, I’m just happy to be here.