With another sigh, Caleb trailed his hand down my arm before turning for his truck. “Guess we should drive up.”
The war of excitement and disbelief abruptly vanished as I turned to watch him walk away. “It’s going to be fine,” I repeated. The same words I’d been saying ever since I’d gotten the job a month ago.
He cast a smile over his shoulder that was meant to be encouraging but was full of devastation.
“It has to be,” I whispered as I turned to slide back into my own car.
I’d always known I was meant for more than the small town I’d grown up in, and for just as long, Los Angeles had been calling to me. But even though I was finally chasing after that dream, leaving behind my family and everything I’d known, leaving behind the man I’d been with for a decade, was admittedly a little terrifying.
Maybe not for the reason it scared Caleb, but terrifying, nonetheless.
The distance didn’t bother him because he was just as sure as everyone else in my hometown that I’d be home soon enough . . . it was Los Angeles that bothered him. He was sure the city and people within it would change me. Sure I wouldn’t be the same Kinsley when I returned.
It’d been an ongoing fight for the past month, one that ended in us begging the other to stay or move, only to start up again the next day.
“You think we should leave everything in our cars until we know for sure we’re at the right place?” I asked once we were parked on the driveway and walking toward each other again, still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that this place was now my home. Sure there had been a miscommunication . . . somewhere.
“Or just leave it all in there until you decide this is the worst idea you’ve ever had,” Caleb mumbled hopefully even as sadness pulled at each word.
“My dream job,” I reminded him, stepping back when he tried to pull me into his arms.
“You were a labor and delivery nurse back home.”
“Not at this hospital,” I breathed. “This is huge for me.”
“Kinsley—”
“You can be a mechanic anywhere,” I said softly. “You can open a garage here.”
His expression fell the way it always did whenever I tried that approach. “I’m not moving to L.A.”
“And I have to do this,” I whispered. “I don’t want to have this argument again. I don’t want to argue with you at all.”
He searched my stare for a moment before dipping his head. “Yeah, all right.” Glancing toward the large house, he gave another sigh and gestured that way. “After you.”
Nervous energy swirled in my stomach and wove through my worries for my future with Caleb as I turned toward the door—
And once again was taken aback by the size of the house I was standing in front of.
“This has to be a mistake,” I repeated, the words tumbling from me like whispered disbelief.
Caleb’s fingers wove through mine and gave a light squeeze. “One way to find out.”
Right.
Pushing the doubt and unease down deep, I pulled my hand from his and walked along the pathway and up to the large wooden door hidden within the porch.
I mean, I liked to think I was a practical person. Car stop working? Thank God for mechanic boyfriends. Goldfish floating upside down? Well, I clearly shouldn’t have a fish. Find myself standing outside a mansion? Either my dreams were amazing, and I was going to wake up sorely disappointed, or I should start playing the lottery.
Sucking in a fortifying breath, I pressed the doorbell. My stomach in knots and my heart racing.
This is crazy. This is crazy.
There’s no way . . . right?
The barest hint of a smile began tugging at my lips just as the door was thrown open, revealing a blonde with excited, green eyes that instantly dulled with disappointment when she saw us standing there.
“Who are—you are not . . .” She breathed out a quick sigh. “Sorry, how can I help you?”
That earlier worry curled through my stomach again as I asked, “Are we at the right place because this . . .” Is a dream. A breathless laugh left me as I shook my head and continued. “Is there another Forest Knoll Drive? Because this is a mansion.”
Goodness, Kinsley . . . duh.
Of all the things I could’ve said, I had to go with ‘this is a mansion’ like she doesn’t already know she’s standing in one.
A sharp laugh tumbled from her lips, her brows drawing close in confusion and suspicion. “Uh . . . right. Sorry, was there something I could help you with?”
“Oh my gosh, so sorry,” I said, my head shaking as I briefly wondered if a person could drown in embarrassment. “I’m Kinsley.”
From the way she continued staring at me, my name meant nothing to her. And it had my brief curiosity disappearing as my worries magnified.
“Okay,” she said, drawing the word out. “I’m Hollis. How can I help—”
“Kinsley, hi,” another girl said as she pushed Hollis away. “I’m Ariana.”
Oh . . . oh my gosh . . .
A girl filled the doorway with whiskey-colored eyes that danced with amusement, making it seem as if she were always on the verge of laughing. Hair shaved short at the sides and pulled into a messy knot on her head. Dark tattoos wrapped around her right arm in elaborate designs.
All of it standing out so bright because she was nearly naked.
Literally standing there in nothing but her underwear . . . and my boyfriend was directly behind me.
“Don’t mind this one,” she continued as she gestured to Hollis, a wry smirk shaping her lips, “she’s waiting for someone else. Come on in.”
It wasn’t until then that I realized what she’d originally said—Ariana . . . this was Ariana. The girl I’d texted with a few times and who would be training me at the hospital. Which meant this flipping mansion truly was my new home.
And did I mention she was practically naked?
I struggled to clear my throat, my voice still coming out a little too soft and too uneven as I gestured to Caleb. “Um, this is . . . this is my boyfriend.”
“I was told you were coming alone,” Ariana said slowly as she looked from me to Caleb and back again. “Sorry, we can’t have partners living with us.”
Hollis gasped, her eyes brightening. “Oh, you’re the new roommate.” She made a face as if she should’ve known that. “Of course you are. Forgive me.”
I offered her a reassuring smile, then sent Caleb a wary look, but it was clear what he was thinking.
He didn’t want me to move. He didn’t want me here.
I could practically hear his argument even though he was just standing there, silently waiting.
“L.A. changes people—it’s gonna change you. When you come back to me, you won’t be my Kinsley.”
“He isn’t moving in,” I said, then hurried to explain, “he just drove down to help move everything. But, um . . .” I faced forward and glanced between Ariana and Hollis, struggling between not wanting my boyfriend around someone in their underwear who wasn’t me and not wanting to seem rude during our first meeting. “Yeah, okay.”
“It’s because you’re not wearing any clothes,” Hollis mumbled as she smacked Ariana’s arm.