Love At First Glance (Love at Firsts #1)
Muriel Garcia
To Ellie and Charlotte,
You both have been with me since pretty
much the beginning and I'll forever be
grateful to have you both by my side
Your continuous help and support mean
the world to me. Thank you for keeping
me sane and for pushing me when I doubt
myself. This book if for both of you.
For being such great friends. I love you both.
My name is Haven Lee and I hate Mondays.
PROLOGUE
Ugh…Mondays…
I.
Hate.
Mondays.
I hate them with such a passion that you can feel the loathing emanate from me like a little cloud of rage. Honestly, you could use my anger during the day to provide energy for a small town.
They are horrendous.
They are quite literally the worst day of the week. You’ve just spent two days with your family or friends, relaxing or partying and BOOM, without warning, Monday rears its ugly head with a vengeance. Everybody goes back to work all grumpy and depressed because the weekend has flown by at the speed of a bullet whilst the working week drags like tortoise. Mondays are always torturous. No matter how busy or full your day is, it’s always depressingly long.
Today should’ve been like any other Monday: slow, back to back meetings and endless tasks, but this Monday wasn’t. Nothing could've prepared me for what this Monday would throw at me.
I knew Mondays sucked but, this much? I never thought it’d be possible.
Let me walk you through my morning.
I woke up at seven thirty, as usual. Well, after I snoozed my alarm clock about ten times. I am by no means a morning person. Thank god for Bernard, my saving grace. If I press the snooze button too much, I can count on him to wake me up. He’s the sole reason that I’m not late for work every day and haven’t been fired. I honestly don’t know what I would do without him. Anyway, I digress. I begrudgingly woke up and clambered out of bed, but not without Bernard’s morning petting. Oh yeah, I should probably mention that Bernard is my six month old Siamese kitten.
I stumbled to the kitchen to feed an impatient Bernard before making my way to the bathroom to take a much needed shower in a vain attempt to wake myself up. At this point, there really isn’t much that can do the job properly that doesn’t contain caffeine. I pulled the glass shower door open and let out the loudest scream in the history of the world. I didn’t even know it was possible for me to be so loud and high pitched. I mean it was slasher-movie-scene worthy. You’d think I’d have found a dead body in my shower or even the killer, but no, just an eight legged monster. I’m not talking about a small one; I’m not that big of a wuss. Oh no, I’m talking about a huge ass spider that could eat a person alive. No joke. Needless to say, I skipped my shower. That was the first sign that today would suck balls. I should’ve known better. Finding a spider isn't that unusual, but I should have realized that it was a sign today wouldn't be any good.
Upon finding the evil creature, I ran straight to my room, grabbed my hairspray and proceeded to spray the shit out of the spider before running water over it to wash it down the drain. My final arachnid assault consisted of putting a huge pot over the drain so the little bugger couldn’t come back to haunt my ass. I’d get Adam, my boyfriend of three years, check if it's still there when he gets back from his business trip tonight.
After securing the bathroom, I backed out slowly, keeping an eye on the pot and half ran back to my room to get ready. Perfume and deodorant will have to do today. Not that I’m dirty, I did take a shower last night, but I love showering in the morning and it does help me wake up a little. I got ready quickly and left the apartment, not bothering with breakfast. Luckily, I live close to work and there’s a Starbucks on the way so I can get up as late as humanly possible and not have to worry about food. I stop for a coffee to go and, especially after this morning’s event, indulge in some sugary goodness.
After my much needed coffee fix and a chocolate chip muffin with a liquid caramel center, the left heel of my favorite Louboutin's broke. I got stuck in a crack in the sidewalk, stumbled and nearly fell face first onto the concrete. Strike two for this Monday. Thankfully, a kind gentleman caught me just in time. He helped me regain my balance before kneeling down in front of me. He tapped my right ankle for me to lift my foot and removed my shoe before breaking the other heel, all the while grinning up at me.
“Not really in style but at least you shouldn’t fall over anymore.” He smirked and kept ahold of my ankle for a few seconds too long before he placed my shoe back in on my foot.
“Shouldn’t being the key word. Thank you.” I smiled at him, grateful that he literally saved my life.
“You’re more than welcome. Have a nice day and keep smiling.” He winked at me and started to walk down the street.
“You too.” I watched him disappear in the sea of people. Looking down at my broken shoes, I cursed Adam. Real Louboutin's? Real my ass!
I walked the rest of the way to work like an idiot, but I guess it was better than walking with a broken heel and falling over again. I greeted Barry, the security guard, with a slice of carrot cake like I do every Monday before making my way to my office. Sighing, I sat down already exhausted despite it being only eight thirty.