My Dad peaked over the edges of his bifocals. “You all right?”
“Y—Yes.” I cleared my throat hard. “I um, I wasn’t looking to date anyone. I mean, I’d have to be an idiot to get in a relationship with someone in another country.”
As the lies sputtered out of me I heard the front door creak open, followed by a familiar voice.
“Knock, knock! Hello?”
It was Chrissy and, ugh, not a moment too soon. Without wasting a second, I scooted my chair back and stood, relieved to have avoided any further interrogation from my parents.
“Tay.”
“Don’t start, Mom,” I sighed, slapping my hand against my thigh. “I’m not the same person I was before I left here. I’m used to living my own life now. Please. Can you and Dad at least try to accept that?”
Dad looked at her. “What’s going on with you two?”
“Nothing,” Mom said with a grimace. “Eat your dinner. We’ll talk about it later.”
I was barely back in town for a day and already I felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation.
Poor Chrissy.
While we bickered, she wandered into the dining room. Her genuine, ebullient smile met our collective scowls, and she stopped in her tracks.
“Oh, sorry.” Chrissy slowed, pointing toward the front door. “Did I interrupt? Tay, I can wait, really.”
“No!” I practically ran over to her and gave her a hug. “You look so cute! Ohhh, the ring. Let me see!”
I knew her fiance, Brad, went to trade school to become an electrician, but last time she mentioned anything about it, he was still apprenticing. Judging by the size of the rock on her finger though, he must have been apprencticing the hell out of half the homes in Boise. While she and I chatted, Mom and Dad stood, coming over to congratulate her.
Ten minutes later, I closed the front door behind us and we headed toward her car.
Chrissy turned and smiled at me, her big blue eyes flaring wide with eagerness. “Omigod, I can’t wait to hear all about your trip.”
Where would I even begin?
Even though I’d been accepted there, going to school in Pocatello wasn’t my first choice.
While I was in high school, I applied to more than a dozen colleges across the lower forty-eight thinking I’d expand my horizons beyond the Gem State.
But after a year and a half spent wandering across Europe, I realized I was an Idaho girl at heart. Give me those not-too-hot summers with clear, azure-blue skies and dramatic star-filled nights filled with twinkling dots of light. So many, in fact, that it was like the heavens couldn’t contain them and they might spill over, sparkling like rain across the rolling landscape.
I know I sound like I should work for the Chamber of Commerce or something, but it’s true. Like they say, the rest of the world might be an interesting place to visit, but nowhere I wanted to live.
So while I’d decided for good, my parents, though happy I’d hung around, weren’t so thrilled with my decision to move south. They would’ve preferred something like Boise State or maybe even Southern, but I’d decided on Idaho State. It was far enough from home not to be too inconvenient, but not so close that Mom and Dad might feel the need to pop in whenever the urge struck.
Not only that, but my desire to pursue a medical degree wasn’t super popular with them either. As usual, my parents’ concerns centered on money, mostly my lack of it. They would’ve preferred I ditched the high status gleam of med school and opted for something more pragmatic like a nursing degree. If I’d heard it once, I’d heard the reason I shouldn’t do it a thousand times more.
Because medical school will be costly and protracted. We won’t be able to finance it without student loans and neither will you, blah, blah, blah.
But whatever. Whether or not I disagreed with them, I would have to replenish my coffers soon. Medical school might’ve been a long way off, but weighing myself down with crushing debt wasn’t something I wanted either. On that, at least, my parents and I agreed. So, since borrowing was out, I’d have to earn my way there, which meant I’d need a job before enrollment started.
The good news was that I already had a place of my own, compliments of Chrissy’s dad. It was a cute little studio within five minutes of campus. For as long as I could remember, he fancied himself a bit of a land baron, sort of a modern-day Rich Uncle Pennybags. Over the years, he accumulated an assortment of single homes and a few multi-family units until they dotted the I-84 corridor like a collection of childhood board game pieces come to life.
It was a welcome home surprise and one that couldn’t have come at a better time. We’d stopped by her parents’ place before going to the bachelorette party. After hearing my plans, he was nice enough to give me a friends and family discount, not to mention no credit check required. It didn’t hurt that I’d be able to part with six months rent in advance, including all deposits, so there really wasn’t anything for him to risk.
At the very least, it was one less lecture I’d get from Mom and Dad.
Now all I had to do was line up a job before enrollment started and I’d be all set.
I plopped down on my bed, leaned against the wall, and started up my laptop, ready to peruse the help-wanted listings. My hope was I’d find something with flexible hours and understanding bosses, but before I got started, my phoned chimed with a text message. I picked it up to see it was from Chrissy’s dad, letting me know the apartment would be ready for occupancy soon. After thanking him with a quick reply, I exited out of the message, then noticed another one further down the list, but sadly, not far enough.
Crap.
I let out a groan. “I thought I deleted that, I—”
I mean, I really did.
I covered my eyes with my hand, shaking my head slowly.
I was doing it again.
And the worst part was, I didn’t even know why.
I mean, the closest I’d come to a relationship since high school wound up with me left alone, sitting in a nondescript Italian cafe and drowning my sorrows away with one too many cups of frothy cappuccino and decadent servings of Panna Cotta.
The dessert was good, though.
Whatever.
My thumb glided down the smooth surface of the display.
Do not click on it. Just erase it. God.
That thought lasted all of about one second.
When the message loaded, so did the photo he’d taken of us. Once it did, a pang of desire soon followed, sticking in my abdomen when his handsome face came into full focus. While I loved looking at him, I hated the sensations it triggered in me. Almost immediately, my mind wandered somewhere it shouldn’t as shadowy memories of his touch, the taste of his skin, and the unyielding hardness of his…
“No.” I shook my head. “Stop it.”
Only I couldn’t. It had to be lust. That’s all it was.
Right?
I hoped it was just an involuntary reaction, like a sneeze or something. But the longer I stared at the image, the more I realized the urge came from somewhere deeper, primitive. Whatever it was, I couldn’t seem to control it. It was like my body had been hijacked, taken over by some kind of ancient lizard brain synapses that’d gone haywire and short-circuited my rational mind.
How could it be anything else after only one night?