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“End of January. I’m taking a little vacation to celebrate before I start.”
“Wow. I can’t imagine going back to writing papers and attending classes again. You’ve wanted to do this for so long.”
“I know, but what could I do? We simply ran out of money and since the shop wasn’t doing well, Mom and Dad couldn’t help. It was almost depressing, seeing my classmates graduate without me. Once the shop started doing better, I could finally afford to save enough to go back.
“We have you to thank for that! It will all work out. You deserve this. Good luck! Where are you going for vacation?”
“Near Salt Lake City, Utah.”
Chey pulled the phone away from her ear when her sister screamed, “What the hell is in Utah?”
“I booked an amazing villa. I plan to ski, snowboard, drink hot chocolate in front of a cozy fire and work on that book that I’ve wanted to write forever.”
“I’m going to have to report this identity theft because you’re clearly not my sister.”
“This is just the beginning,” Chey declared.
“I love it! I may need to take a page from your book. I could use some excitement. Maybe I’ll come for a visit. You know how much New York City intrigues me.”
“Great idea! Let’s put it on the calendar.”
“It’s a plan!” Deanna gasped. “But I’ll wait until your spring break. That cold weather is unbearable. Anyway, I gotta run, sis! I just realized I’m late for a conference call. You know how it is dealing with coworkers on the West Coast. The time difference is a killer. Give me a call tomorrow. Okay? Love ya.” Deanna ended the call before Chey could say goodbye.
Since Deanna was a data analyst who worked from home, she was always mindful of making sure her bosses knew that she was a diligent employee. Even though she often worked from their parents’ variety shop, she was sure to get her reports in and respond to emails or calls as quickly as possible so her bosses would never have to question her dedication or whereabouts. She needed this job, since the family business didn’t pay much at all.
Chey laid the phone on the side table closest to the loveseat and walked over to the mirror near the door. Twisting her head, she took in the sleek look of her new hairstyle and ran her fingers through it once again. She recalled how nervous she’d felt when she’d sat in the hairdresser’s chair with a picture of Halle Berry and told her she wanted to look like that.
When the stylist finished, she’d been shocked at how different she looked. At first she’d wondered if her sudden change had been too drastic. In the days following, Chey would absentmindedly attempt to run her fingers through her hair and be reminded that she had chopped all of it off. As the days passed, Chey had received loads of compliments at her part-time job and eventually became so pleased with the style that she wondered why she hadn’t cut it before. Her new look highlighted her high cheekbones and made her big brown eyes pop in a good way. Then she remembered. She’d kept it long because Todd preferred that length.
Feeling free and light was becoming addictive. Chey had taken other actions and made plans to do things she had wanted to do for years. Now that she was no longer tied to Todd, she did whatever she desired and it felt great!
Chey’s phone rang. She walked over to retrieve her cell from the side table. She didn’t recognize the number but did recognize the area code as being from her hometown in Virginia. It had to be someone she knew.
“Hello,” she said in the same courteous tone she used at work.
“Chey?” Todd’s greeting sounded more like a scolding.
Chey hadn’t heard from him since the day she left home three months before. She resisted the initial urge to hang up. There was no reason to hide from him.
“Hello, Todd.” She kept her tone professional.
“I’ve given you enough time to get over whatever little fit you’ve been having. It’s time for you to come home. I need you here.”
Chey found herself laughing at how ridiculous he sounded. “You can’t be serious.”
“You find this funny?” He was clearly annoyed.
“As a matter of fact, I do. It’s not that at all, is it? You don’t like the idea of me being independent. You can’t handle the fact that I walked away from you! This is a joke!”
“This has gone on long enough.”
Chey dropped her head into her free hand and shook it. “Todd. We’re done. I have a new life. I truly wish you the best with yours.”
“Tell me where you are.”
“Goodbye, Todd.” Chey ended the call, but not before hearing him declare that he would find her.
Chey walked to the refrigerator and pulled out the bottle of champagne she’d purchased to bring in the New Year. Suddenly she felt as if there was no need to wait the few days. She popped open the bottle and toasted to all the fresh starts of the past few months and the ones on the horizon.
Chapter 2 (#ulink_6195bf77-70e7-5cae-8aca-30521508860b)
Hunter looked across the roomful of people at his brother Blake snuggled up against his fiancée, Cadence, on the couch and wondered if settling down was somewhere in his future. No one ever anticipated Blake finding a wife before his big brother, Hunter, who was more laid-back. Drew, forget about it! As the youngest, he was the rebel, completely commitment phobic and having way too much fun running through as many women in as many countries as he possibly could. Jade Donnelly, the only woman the family thought could have been “the one” for Drew, had run off with a chunk of his heart and was never to be seen again. Hunter believed that there was a slight possibility that Drew might have been holding out for her return.
“Hey, bro. You don’t hear me talking to you.” Drew pulled Hunter from his thoughts, bringing him back to the roomful of music and people attending his brother’s New Year’s Eve party.
“What’s up?” he asked, sipping the champagne in his hand.
“I said, look at Blake—he’s a sucker for love.” Drew’s infectious laugh roared, garnering the attention of nearby guests.
“Yeah! Rightfully so, though. Cadence is a great catch.”
“You’re right. I’m just teasing. She’s good people!” Drew took a long swig of his beer. “What about you? You think you’ll find someone that would make you want to quit the singles game?”
“I don’t know, li’l bro. I don’t know.” Hunter sipped again.
For a moment, Drew seemed caught in pensive thoughts. “I don’t know either.”
“What about Alana? The two of you went out before, right?”
For a quick second, Drew looked uncomfortable. “Hmm, Alana,” he said with a puzzled expression. Hunter gave him a look that told him he wasn’t buying his poor attempt at acting as though he didn’t know whom he was talking about. “Oh! Pfft!” He waved his hand dismissively. “She’s cool.”
“Ha!” Hunter shook his head at him and continued sipping.
“Hey, Hunter!” said some girl dressed in baby pink, looking like a happy Easter egg.
“Hey...” He hesitated, trying to figure out if he knew her name.
“Tricia,” she paused a moment, apparently waiting for some sign of recognition to spread across Hunter’s face. “I recently joined the New York Association of Attorneys.”
“Oh! Okay.” Hunter had no idea who this woman was. “Nice to see you, Tricia.” He held out his hand to shake hers. She was pretty enough not to forget. Hunter discreetly took in her curves. Obviously, he wasn’t inconspicuous enough. She smiled seductively and arched her back slightly, giving him an unobstructed view of her ample cleavage.
“I guess I’ll see you around,” she said, then turned slowly and swayed her hips, leaving an imprint on Hunter’s mind with her seductive gait.
“Who is that?” Drew reappeared by his side, ogling the woman as she walked away.
“Tricia!”
“Tricia?”
“Yeah...Tricia,” Hunter said, still eyeing her. Though she was beautiful, he already knew she wasn’t “the one” kind of material.
Hunter shook his head hard. Why was he even thinking like that? He hadn’t been assessing the women he met in order to determine if any of them might be “the one” material before. Maybe he was just caught up in all the love oozing from Blake and Cadence.
Hunter looked over at Drew, who was still taking Tricia in, and laughed. He was at a New Year’s Eve party. It was time to act like it. Old-school R & B floated through the hidden speakers. People were bunched in groups, chatting, laughing and sipping everything from hard liquor to bottles of water.
“Hey, Blake!” he yelled, snaking through the lively crowd with his empty flute leading the way. “It’s almost midnight! We need to get more champagne in here.”
Hunter’s announcement caused a stir of cheer. Excitement rose in the atmosphere.
Blake gave Cadence a quick peck, which brought a sweet smile to her face, and then jumped up. “Let’s get some more bottles from the cellar.”
“Turn on the TV!” Alana, Cadence’s best friend, shouted. “We have to watch the ball drop!”
Hunter and Drew accompanied Blake to his basement to retrieve more chilled bottles of champagne. When they returned, the crowd made a show of cheering them on as they carefully balanced several bottles in their arms on their way to the table reserved for beverages. Blake danced to the music as he opened a few of the bottles.
The party flowed on, getting louder as it drew closer to midnight. Hunter caught Tricia watching him from across the room. Nodding, he acknowledged her but kept his distance—surprising himself. Any other time, he would have had a pretty girl like that eating from his skillful hands, enjoying flirtatious chatter as he competently weakened her resolve—if in fact there was any resolve to weaken. Hunter simply smiled and raised his glass to her.
Despite the frenzy surrounding him, Hunter retreated into his own thoughts. He’d caught Tricia’s continued glances. Her seductive smile was stamped on his mind’s eye. Being a man who was keen on women’s behavior, he summed her up in seconds. Though she was beautiful, she seemed a little too eager. Like many men, Hunter loved the chase. He didn’t mind putting in a little work to earn a woman’s affection. The challenge was intoxicating.
“Thirty seconds!” With her champagne glass held high, Cadence yelled, “It’s almost time!”
Hunter became aware of his surroundings once again, taking in the excited voices and the clamor of the guests gathering in front of Blake’s TV. On the large flat-screen, the camera panned across the thick crowd of people in Times Square before cutting to the crystal-encrusted ball. The ticker on the TV indicated that there were only twenty seconds left in the year. Blake made his way to Cadence’s side. The sight of Drew being so close to Alana wasn’t lost on Hunter. He felt Tricia’s eyes on him from across the room. Everyone joined the countdown for the last ten seconds. As they drew closer to the final moments left in the year, excitement crackled in the air like fireworks.
“Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!” they all shouted in unison.
Glasses lifted in the air before sips and swallows drained them dry. Blake had taken Cadence in his arms. They kissed as if no one else were in the room. When Drew hugged Alana, it lingered. Lovers became entranced in deep long lip-locks. Others shared hearty hugs and friendly pecks. Hunter gave his brothers, cousins and a few male friends high fives.
After pulling back from his cousin Lance Barrington, he noticed Tricia had slid across the room and was now standing at his side. Mischief sparkled in her eyes as she raised her glass and said “Happy New Year” before wrapping her pink-painted lips around the rim of her champagne glass. Hunter felt as though a match had been lit somewhere in his loins. Tilting his glass, he too took a sip, never breaking eye contact.
Hunter licked his lips and winked. A smile exploded across Tricia’s face.
“Don’t I get a hug?” she asked seductively.
“You can have more than that,” Hunter leaned forward to kiss Tricia on her cheek. Just before his lips landed, she turned, surprising him with her plump lips. Hunter wasn’t one to shy away from a challenge and in response gently parted his mouth. She received his tongue zealously.
Hunter knew right then that she would end up in his bed, but he also knew that she definitely wasn’t “the one.”
Chapter 3 (#ulink_ca935d20-8a09-5883-9674-5b64f0829606)
The week had gone by in a flash and despite Hunter’s attempt to be prepared for his annual trip with his frat brothers, he found himself doing a lot of last-minute running around before hitting the road.
“Mom! Dad!” he called out as he entered his parents’ home in Long Island through the garage entrance.
“I’m in here, baby!” Joyce, his mother, called out from their laundry room.
Hunter followed the sound of her voice. “Hey, Ma!”
“Hey, honey!” Joyce reached up on her toes to give her eldest son a hug and kiss. “Are you all ready for your trip?” Joyce turned back to the clothes she’d just washed. “I don’t see why you need to go all the way to Utah when we’ve got enough snow right here in New York,” she said, snapping the towel she’d just pulled from the dryer.
Hunter laughed. “You know we try to go to different resorts every year. This will be our first time in Utah. Everyone is pretty excited about it.”
“Well, I guess that’s good, then. Your dad hasn’t gotten back from the gym yet.”
“Why didn’t you go with him?”
Joyce stopped what she was doing and looked at Hunter with twisted lips. “Your daddy bugs me when we go to the gym together. I have to do things at my pace. At my age, I’m not trying to be Serena Williams. Daddy doesn’t understand that, so we go to the gym separately.”
“Ha! Dad is still pretty competitive.”
“Yes, he is! Now, what time are you leaving?”
“Six in the morning. I have a few more errands to do, but I wanted to see you and Dad before I left.”
“Have you eaten breakfast yet?”
“Just a cup of coffee.”
Joyce folded the last towel and set it neatly on top of the others. “If you have time, let me make you a quick breakfast and he should be here by the time you finish eating.”
Hunter couldn’t say no to spending time with his mother. “Can you make me an egg sandwich?”
“That’s all you want?”
“Ma! You make the best egg sandwiches.” Hunter’s smile nearly split his face in half. “Nobody prepares them like you.”
Joyce shook her head and carried the laundry basket with her to the kitchen with Hunter on her heels. She washed her hands and then somehow guided the conversation in the direction of Hunter still being single.
“How are you going to let Blake get married before you? Do you even want to get married? I don’t know about you young people these days. Everyone wants to stay single. What kind of life is that? You need someone to rock on the porch with when you get old.” Joyce propped her hands on her hips.
“I didn’t say I don’t want to get married. I just haven’t found the right woman.”
“Are you even looking?” Joyce frowned, then turned her attention to the frying pan on the stove.
Hunter cleared his throat and then heard the churn of the garage door. He was saved! Jumping up, he headed for the door leading to the garage to greet his father as he pulled in.
“Hey, Dad!”
“Hey, boy! What brings you by?”
“I leave for my trip tomorrow. I just came by to see you guys before I left.”
“Oh, yeah! Tell the fellows I said hello.”
“Will do!”
Floyd stepped in carefully and walked over to Joyce in their sizable kitchen with a limp. Joyce inclined her head toward her tall husband. Floyd kissed her forehead. Something that all the towering Barrington men did with her.
“What happened to you?” She looked down at his leg.
