1. Eliza
ELIZA
Present day
“My sex life’s cursed,” I groaned to my two best friends, punctuating the sentence by finishing my margarita.
Jules tilted her head from one side to the other, her wavy brown hair flowing with the motion. “I mean, the guys you’ve been telling us about recently haven’t been great.”
“Right?” I sighed. “It’s not fucking rocket science to figure out where a woman’s clit is.”
“Okay, yes. I agree completely,” Lily said, pausing before adding, “But cursed?” She raised her brows skeptically, a look I’d gotten plenty of times from her over the years.
The two of us had grown up together and were more like sisters.
“The last few guys have been duds, but you’ve had plenty of great sex! ”
“Not this year,” I muttered. “And it’s not for lack of trying.”
Apart from the one relationship I had in college, I liked to keep things casual. I didn’t want to have a man trying to change me. Again. I also didn’t want to deal with the inevitable loss that came with love—because I knew that well, too.
Typically, casual worked well for me and the man I was with. We both got what we wanted, maybe saw each other again or maybe not, and then life moved on.
Except in the last few months, I hadn’t been getting what I wanted, and I didn’t think I was asking for a lot.
I wanted a man to give me a goddamn orgasm—or, at the bare minimum, realize I hadn’t finished during sex and do something about it.
At this point, I was ready to call men quits and run off into the sunset with my trusty vibrator.
Actually, that didn’t sound like a bad idea…
“It’s very possible,” my grandma Marnie, who was sitting at the table with us, said thoughtfully as she lifted her tea to take a sip—her drink of choice for the night over the margarita mix I’d brought over. “There’s been an energy around lately, and stranger things have happened.”
Lily turned to her, mouth open. “Stranger things have—” She shook her head. “I’d think a sex curse would be on the list of strange.”
“Oh, ladies, remind me to tell you about my twenties some other night, but we’ll need more tequila for that.
” Gran winked then set her tea on the table and turned to me.
“Do you want the number of my psychic?” she asked, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
“I saw her at the end of last year, and I bet she’d be able to squeeze you in. ”
I tilted my head to the side. As intrigued as I was, I didn’t want to find out something else. Something I shouldn’t know or didn’t need to know. I wasn’t that desperate…at least not yet.
“I don’t think so, but I’ll let you know if I change my mind.” I drummed my fingers on the table.
“Wait, hold on,” Jules cut in, her green eyes gleaming with amusement as she leaned forward. “You saw a psychic? What did she say?”
To anyone listening who wasn’t from our small town of Golden Falls, it might’ve seemed strange that my grandma casually dropped seeing a psychic while also being part of a conversation about my sex life.
But anyone who knew Marnie Hayes wouldn’t have been surprised one bit.
Cloaked in bright colors and a take-no-shit attitude, my grandma was a force to be reckoned with, and my hero.
She was the reason why I was blunt, sarcastic, and unapologetically myself.
I knew my boldness and sense of humor weren’t for everyone, but I refused to dull myself. Another reason why casual sex worked.
“I mainly wanted to know that Eliza and Cooper would be okay after I’m gone,” Gran explained, referring to my older brother.
Jules looked between us, concern crossing her face. “Is—Is everything okay?”
“She gets like this sometimes,” I informed Jules before giving my grandma a look, even though my chest constricted at the thought of her being gone. “Gran, you’re not dying. Stop making it sound like that!”
“Anyways,” Gran said while clasping her hands together, resting her chin on them with a knowing smile. A smile that lessened the ache in my chest. “They’re going to be just fine.” She turned to me. “Be patient, and it’ll all work out.”
Patient. I could be patient. It would be good to know how patient I needed to be, though.
“Maybe your new neighbor could help you break your curse.” Lily wiggled her brows, a giggle leaving her. “He moved in today.”
“So, now all of a sudden you do believe in it?” I asked, unamused at the mention of Leo, my ex’s older brother and new apartment neighbor. As if that wasn’t enough, he was also the incoming head chef at Lake Ridge, the bar Lily’s older brother Wes owned and where I bartended part-time.
“Maybe.” Lily shrugged innocently. “The neighborly thing would be to go say hi. Should we bring him some baked goods from the café? Maybe mention that something is wrong with your apartment and you have to stay with him?” Lily wiggled her brows again.
“I met him briefly today when he picked up the key to the apartment. You conveniently forgot to mention that he’s very good-looking. ”
“We”—I moved my finger between us—“are not saying anything. And if anything does go wrong, I’m complaining to the building owners.”
“You’re no fun,” Lily huffed, and Jules brought her drink to her lips to hide a smile.
Lily and her boyfriend Gabe owned the apartment building together.
Last winter, the two of them were vying to buy the building separately.
Hal, the former owner and Gabe’s grandfather, had a condition in place before he decided who he was going to sell to: They had to complete Lily’s winter wish list together.
A list that led them to spending time with each other and falling in love over the holiday season.
“Wes is so excited,” Jules chimed in about her boyfriend and Lily’s grumpy older brother. “He’s surprised Leo took the job given how impressive his resume is.”
I was, too. When I’d mentioned to Wes that I knew a chef, Wes had insisted I pass along his number. So, I did. I didn’t think twice about it. I assumed nothing would come out of it, and I doubted he’d apply, let alone accept the job.
Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Maybe he wanted a change from the city.” Jules shrugged.
“I know what that’s like.” She’d visited our small town last year and had intended to only stay for the summer before moving back to Chicago.
Things didn’t quite go according to plan, because she ended up falling hard for Wes—and I’d like to think couldn’t leave Lily and me.
There was absolutely zero chance Wes was going to let Jules go.
While Jules fell hard, Wes fell even harder.
He was prepared to move to Chicago to be with her, but the two of them decided to stay in Golden Falls and move in together.
I was thrilled that my best friends had fallen in love. It just wasn’t for me.
I ran my finger along a divot in the wooden table we were sitting at—one my late grandfather had made for Gran shortly after they’d gotten married.
That was the other thing about my grandma.
She’d suffered more loss than anyone should in their lifetime.
Her husband died a couple years after they had their first and only child—my dad.
And when my parents died nearly twenty years ago in a car accident, Gran didn’t hesitate in raising my older brother Cooper and me.
I was six at the time, and Cooper had been fourteen. We were a handful, to say the least.
Is that what love was? Loss after loss after loss?
And yet, despite it all, my grandma loved and lived fiercely.
I laid my palm flat on the table, shifting my focus to the puzzle scattered in the middle of the table.
For as long as I could remember, my grandma always had a puzzle out.
I had distinct memories of us sitting at this table on a rainy day, the window slightly cracked so we could hear and smell the rain.
Maybe that was why I loved spring so much.
I grabbed a piece, connecting it with another. “Anyways,” I said, turning my attention to my grandma. “What else did your psychic say?”
“Well.” Gran leaned back in her chair, pulling her rainbow shawl tighter. “She was unsure about timing—the universe was too foggy—but she said there would be a rainstorm, an engagement, and a homecoming all this year.”
Both Lily and Jules gasped when Grandma said engagement.
Lily’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh!” she squealed, turning to Jules. “What if it’s you?!”
I watched them, amused. Leave it to my best friends to believe the good news a psychic shared over the curse I was experiencing.
I couldn’t blame them—both Lily and Jules loved love.
They believed in it so fiercely that it almost seemed appealing.
Almost. But I’d tried the whole relationship thing once, and it wasn’t for me.
A pink blush formed on Jules’s cheeks. “I mean, we’ve talked about it, but…” She shook her head, although a hopeful smile tugged at her lips. “I don’t think he has anything planned. He’s going to be busy with all the changes at Lake Ridge.”
If one thing was certain, Wes would move mountains for Jules. If that man wanted to propose this year, nothing would stop him.
“I don’t know…” I said playfully to Jules. “What is that thing you’re always telling us? Love always finds a way?”
Jules’s eyes sparkled.
Meanwhile, Gran hummed. “That it does.”
As the conversation shifted to what we had going on in the coming months, my gaze shifted to where I’d connected those two puzzle pieces moments earlier, and I realized that they weren’t a match after all. It only seemed like it at first glance.
Was that what love was, too? Trying and trying to find your person, only to end up with the wrong one?
By the time I left my grandma’s house, I’d sobered up from my two drinks, and reality sunk in as I climbed the stairs to my apartment.
Lily didn’t live across the hall from me anymore. Both her and Jules were entering a different phase of life. Things were changing.
Don’t get me wrong—I was so excited for my friends. I loved hearing about their date nights, how they were going to decorate their new houses, and how they couldn’t wait to get married.
But it left me with a pit in my stomach that I couldn’t shake.
It wasn’t like they were leaving me behind. We saw each other regularly and had our girls’ nights, like tonight. But it had me thinking about my future. And I didn’t like that.
I wasn’t a planner. I hadn’t ever stopped to think about if I’d ever get married or settle down or have a house of my own.
But lately, those questions kept creeping into my mind, and I hadn’t gotten any closer to figuring out what I wanted.
I didn’t want to fall in love and lose myself. I also didn’t want to fall in love with someone who’d try to change the things I loved most about myself. Casual was better—no one got hurt that way.
Right before unlocking my door, I glanced over my shoulder. It should’ve been easy to knock on the door and say hi to my new neighbor. If this were anyone else, I would’ve walked up, knocked, and made small talk for a few minutes.
But this was my ex’s older brother. A man who I needed to stay away from—as much as I could, considering we’d be working together. It didn’t matter how well we got along the handful of times I’d seen him in the year Colin and I had dated.
And it wasn’t even worth broaching the subject of how we almost kissed after I broke up with Colin. Or how Leo didn’t respond to my text afterward.
That was all in the past.
Did he remember I was from Golden Falls? Did he know I lived here? That I worked at Lake Ridge?
I shook my head, turning the key and pushing my door open. Even if he did, it didn’t matter and didn’t change anything. We’d be coworkers—nothing more.
I desperately needed sleep. Maybe that would quiet the thoughts and questions whirling in my mind.
I didn’t bother turning on the lamp when I got inside my apartment; the moonlight shining in through the crack in the curtains created just enough light for me to get around.
I dropped my purse on the side table and slipped off my shoes.
As tempting as the couch looked, I knew tomorrow would be better if I slept in bed.
I went to the kitchen to fill a glass of water, and once I finished drinking it, I filled it again. This time, I used it to water the plants on the kitchen counter.
My apartment had turned into a greenhouse with how many plants I’d acquired over the years.
They were in every corner of the place, a pop of color among the neutral walls.
Not that my apartment needed more color.
There was already plenty between the art and photos hanging on the walls, my green couch, terracotta rug, and trinkets I’d collected from friends and family.
Once I got ready for bed and changed into my pajamas, I crawled under the cool, silky sheets and lay down with a content sigh, my legs and arms sprawled to take up as much space as I could.
The best part about being single was having the whole bed to yourself.