Ready or Not (Ready #4)(4)
Isn’t it the same with men—the one you’re with is like a turquoise pendant until something better comes along?
So, I had just decided a long time ago to have a very large jewelry collection.
I used the same logic on the men I dated—fun and casual while it lasted but nothing permanent. Life was too short to settle.
As I parked my car on the curb in front of my house, I snuck a quick peek into my rearview mirror, trying to catch a glimpse of my new neighbor.
I’d lived next door to Mrs. Reid for as long as I could remember. She was a sweet, grandmotherly-type woman.
She used to bake cookies every Sunday until the nurses had started coming every day, and then the cookies had stopped. She wasn’t much of a fan of my all-natural version. I’d presented my plate of organic chocolate chip cookies and proudly boasted that I’d used applesauce instead of oil. She’d taken one hesitant bite and crinkled her nose.
“Cookies need fat, honey,” she’d told me.
I’d laughed, not feeling the least bit offended.
She had grown vegetables and roses in her backyard up until she couldn’t walk without assistance, and I’d been tending to her gardens ever since. Mrs. Reid was in her late eighties when she’d passed away.
When I finally stepped out of my car, a gasp escaped my lungs as my eyes lowered to the flower beds separating our two houses.
“Who would do such a thing?” I whispered, looking down at the decapitated and ravaged flowers.
The once beautiful display of multicolored perennials was now a churned-up disaster of footprints and soil.
My heated gaze settled on the lights glowing within the house. A shadow passed by an open window upstairs in what used to be Mrs. Reid’s master bedroom.
I took one step forward, ready to march over, meet my new neighbors, and give them a piece of my mind.
A strong gust of wind sent the curtain into a tailspin and suddenly the shadow solidified, and I saw the finest bare back I’d seen in years. It was tanned, broad, and so muscular that the defined muscles could be seen from two floors down. Hard, lean arms reached out toward a box and grabbed a T-shirt as I begged him to turn around—until my eyes found his ass.
Dear Lord.
My new neighbor was hot—or at least the back of him was.
Turn around, turn around, I silently begged.
The weather took that moment to remind me of its mighty power and sent a strong gust of wind whipping through the two houses. The curtain settled back in place, and I was once again left with shadows.
As the first raindrop fell, signaling the impending storm, I looked down at the once perfect garden that I had painstakingly kept alive as a tribute to my longtime friend and neighbor. It had been trampled on and was now ruined, and I felt the rage boiling back up to the surface.
Hot or not, my new neighbor was a plant-trampling jerk, and when I got home from work tomorrow, I’d make sure he knew it.
I’d also take a moment to see if that face of his matched his perfect back and ass.
Shut up, Liv.
~Jackson~
“You’re taking me where?” Noah asked once again, his voice taking on that edgy whine I’d grown to hate.
“She’s just someone you can talk to—besides me,” I offered with a shrug.
“A counselor, Dad? You said counselor before.”
I sighed. “Okay, yes. She’s a counselor, but she’s a very good one. She’s not a shrink or a doctor. She’s just someone other than your dad. Look, between the move and a new school, I know a lot is going on right now. This hasn’t been easy for either of us, especially you. I just thought it might be a good idea for you to have someone neutral.”
“Neutral?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.
“Yeah, you know, someone who won’t cringe if you say you want to keep wearing your hair like that man-child singer…or if you want to talk about girls.”
“This is not a Bieber haircut, Dad!” he huffed.
A hint of a smile escaped him, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s a skater cut,” he added.
I threw my hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay. It’s a skater cut. It’s cool.” He gave me a doubtful look, and I grinned. “Promise.”
“What is she like?” he asked as we made our way out the door and toward the car.
“I don’t know exactly. I did a bunch of research last night after you went to bed, and she came highly recommended on several boards. I called this morning, and it usually takes weeks, but I managed to get you in right away because she happened to have a cancellation.”
“Hmm,” was all I got in response. He pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his head in his phone.
When I’d made the decision to move from our hometown of Charleston to Richmond, I had finally caved and bought him a cell phone. I’d known he’d miss his friends back home and need a way to keep in touch. I just hadn’t realized how in touch kids stayed nowadays. I was surprised his fingers hadn’t fallen off from overuse.
I also wanted to slit my own wrists for using a phrase like nowadays.
God, I felt f*cking old.
Eleven years of single parenthood had done an amazing job of aging me past my years. At thirty-four, I felt a good ten years older most days, and that was even after running and going to the gym regularly.