Prologue
“So you are really going ahead with the roommate thing?” Matthew’s voice crackled over the telephone.
Blake wasn’t sure if her brother’s words were garbled due to her faulty cell reception or if they were laced with emotion. She had, of course, announced with a flourish approximately six months ago that it had been the appropriate time in her life to purchase her own place. Up until then, they had been roommates themselves. But her wildly independent streak as well as a buyer’s market had persuaded her to take the leap into homeownership. That and the fact that Matthew was still best friends with her ex.
She just never expected to feel so alone.
“Yes, I guess I am,” she replied as she paced her floor.
“And you’re sure about this?” he pressed.
Blake sighed. No, not really. But posting a room for rent online and actually having someone sign a lease for it were two entirely different things. So what if someone was coming to look at the place tomorrow morning? If things didn’t feel right, she could always lie and say that she had been fielding a lot of calls and that, unfortunately, she had chosen someone else.
“You’re not having money problems, are you?” he continued.
“No,” she responded quickly. Now that had upset her a little bit.
“Just be careful.” Matthew warned.
Despite herself, Blake chuckled. If anyone should be giving that advice, it should be the other way around. Matthew’s indiscretions had been the whole reason that they themselves had been roommates. Although it had been a terrible, uncomfortable time in both their lives, it had been the beginning of their beautiful friendship. There was no one else that she trusted as wholly and completely as her brother. Their past had forced them to lean on each other in a way she never would have imagined when she was younger, and they had ended up on the other side as better people for it.
Matthew either chose to ignore the giggle or he found the irony in the situation. There was silence on the other end of the line until Blake whispered her response.
“Always am.”
When everything she ever wanted turns out not to be enough…
Lauren Jefferies is on the verge of having it all. Hard work and determination have culminated in a promotion that promises to put her on track with her upwardly mobile boyfriend Eric. High school sweethearts and together for ten years, they are young enough to have their whole lives ahead of them, but old enough to have established themselves as forces to be reckoned with.
The news should be cause for celebration.
But taking the job means moving two hours away.
Instead of planning their reign as an up and coming power couple, they find their already tenuous relationship further damaged by their conflicting opinions. Eric doesn’t want her to leave. Lauren refuses to back down. In the end, she packs her things and heads up north to her new life, the abstract promise of figuring this all out later hanging between them.
Lauren settles into her new routine quite easily, thanks largely in part to her fast friendship with her roommate Blake. Blake’s companionship comes in a package deal with that of her older brother Matthew. One night over dinner, an innocent conversation leads to the discovery that the three of them have more in common than they’d ever imagined.
Ashamed of his role in the thread that ties them together, Matthew begins to withdraw. As Lauren devises a game plan to ease his torment, Eric inadvertently pushes them together with his selfish actions.
Lauren’s relationship with Eric continues to flounder. The distance is an issue, but Eric’s indifference does nothing to help. Every bright spot in their courtship is countered by darkness and bitterness. More often than not, Matthew is there to pick up the pieces that Eric leaves behind.
Prior to meeting Matthew, Lauren thought she knew what she wanted. Now that she’s just about to obtain everything on her list, she’s left to question if she ever really knew what that was.
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Genre – Romance / Chick Lit
Rating – PG13
Connect with Alicia Renee Kline on Twitter
Website http://aliciareneekline.com/
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