days to think I went from a four-bedroom house with a two-car garage and a brand-new SUV every year to almost on the verge of couch-surfing in two years.
I might not have the house or a fancy new car—both my choices—but getting out of my loveless marriage was worth it. By the time we decided to get divorced, I couldn’t remember the last time Patrick and I had so much as kissed.
“A suite?” Dean’s brows fly up. “Remind me, Maya, how friendly are you and Patrick again? Could he, say, score me some tickets?”
“Dean!” River swats at him.
“What?” He dodges her assault. “It’s just a question! I’m not asking her to sleep with him again. Just get a few tickets to a hockey game.”
River huffs. “Ignore him.”
I laugh. “Thank god for that. Been there, done that. Got the mediocre sex badge to prove it.”
Nolan grunts beside me, and I ignore him.
“Oh! Shit!” Dean slaps the table, then points across from him. “Why the fuck didn’t I think of this before?”
“What?” River asks. “What’s going on?”
“Nolan!”
“That’d be my name,” he drawls, fingering the label on his beer bottle.
“You have rooms. You were telling me yesterday how you were looking for roommates.”
“I’m curious how the mention of shitty sex reminded you of me, but yes, I do.”
“Mediocre,” I correct.
He glances over at me. “There’s no such thing as mediocre sex. It’s either shitty or it’s not. There’s no in-between.”
“This is perfect,” Dean rambles on. “Maya can move in and help cover the rent while you go through the vetting process of finding someone. It’s a total win-win.”
I don’t say anything.
I’m not sure what Dean’s version of win-win is, but mine doesn’t include moving my son and myself in with a guy I just met.
“Plus, you’ll be living in my building. Which, if you ask me, is the biggest advantage of all this,” River adds with a megawatt grin.
I narrow my eyes at her, frustrated as hell.
To her credit, she doesn’t shrink away.
“While I appreciate both of you trying to find me a place to stay, I don’t think Nolan appreciates you offering up his apartment to a stranger.”
Nolan clears his throat and shifts beside me again, appearing as uncomfortable with the idea as I am.
I wonder if it’s for the same reasons as me.
“Actually, it’s not a bad idea.”
My jaw drops.
I didn’t hear him right.
There is no way I heard him right.
“What?”
He shrugs. “Dean’s right. I do need a roommate to help cover the rent. I have savings I’ve been digging into until I could find someone, and, well, savings ain’t savings if I’m spending it, right?”
“You’re serious?”
He tips his head. “Why are you surprised by that?”
“Because we don’t know each other.”
His brow rises just the slightest bit. “I highly doubt you’re going to murder me in my sleep.”
“What if you murder me in my sleep?”
“Nah.” He shakes his head. “Don’t want the hassle.”
“Not you don’t want to murder me, just you don’t want the hassle?”
River raises her hand. “I, too, have a problem with that statement, Nolan.”
He chuckles, then points to Dean. “I’ve been best friends with this idiot for the last two-plus decades. If I haven’t murdered him yet, you’re safe.”
“I can’t even be upset by that statement.” Dean lifts his beer to his lips, taking a swig. “So, we’re all set? Maya can move in?”
Nolan nods. “If she wants it, she can have the room.”
“I have a son.”
“Yeah, I heard. I also heard he got some pretty sweet tickets to a hockey game from his dad who is shitty at sex.”
River snickers, and Dean almost spits his beer out.
I ignore them, narrowing my eyes at Nolan.
“Where would he sleep?”
“I imagine the other bedroom I have.”
My brows crush together. “You have a three-bedroom apartment?”
Another nod. “I do.”
“Why?”
“You’re asking a lot of questions…”
“Just trying to get to know my potential roommate.” I give him a saccharine smile.
His lips quirk upward. “Because it was the only thing available when the owner of my previous place died. Dean put in a good word with his building manager, and she got me into the first available unit.”
“What the hell, Dean?” I glare at him. “Why didn’t you put in a good word for me with Lucy?”
“Because you weren’t homeless then!”
“If it makes you feel any better, I would have put in a good word for you. I’d much rather have you living there than Nolan.” River smiles at him, lifting her glass to her lips. “No offense, Nolan.”
“That is highly offensive,” he argues.
She shrugs,