hours away . . . and thought Ellery was her mother. Not to mention she’d been bordering on flirtation in her emails. Oh, and, yeah, she was engaged to another man.
Ellery looked up at her fiancé, who was pouring the delicious red wine they’d bought on a rare morning when Josh had agreed to skip study group for the farmers’ market. Josh was wholly gorgeous—blond, blue eyed, with a cute swoop of hair that looked preppy and edgy at the same time. When she’d seen him across the room at the frat house, she’d known she’d found the perfect complement to her own style. She’d made her way toward him, skirting a guy gatoring on the fraternity house floor, which had been covered with sticky spilled drinks and God only knew what else. When Josh had turned toward her and rolled eyes that were the exact same shade as hers, she’d known they were meant to be.
Things had been so good—football tailgates, fraternity formals, ski trips—and then Josh had been accepted to med school in her hometown. The fates had stamped their futures together. Ellery finished up school, applied for the internship, and waited for glory to find her. She’d work in the city—New York City—while Josh completed medical school. Then they would reunite and begin their life together. Josh would be a plastic surgeon, and Ellery would own her own company or work for Neiman Marcus; either way she’d blossom into greatness. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Oh, she’d gotten the lemons all right.
“This is good wine. Where’d you find it?” Josh said, holding the goblet to the light. They’d taken a wine-tasting class this past summer—Josh’s concession to help Ellery feel better about not getting the Krause internship—and he loved to show off what he had learned.
“Look at the label,” she snapped, feeling annoyed he hadn’t remembered he’d picked out that particular wine.
“One Tree Estates? Is this what we bought a few weeks ago?”
“Yeah, back when we actually did things together,” she said, closing her computer and setting it on the glass-and-cypress coffee table Josh had bought without her. She’d wanted to protest him picking out a coffee table without her approval, but she couldn’t because the thing was gorgeous and exactly what she’d pick anyway. “I’m going to bed. You coming?”
He sank onto a barstool. “Don’t be mad, baby.”
“I’m not mad,” she lied. She’d known med school would be tough on both of them. Just not this tough. She hated feeling the way she did.
“You sure? Because I don’t want you to be mad at me.”
She nodded. “I’m not.”
“Good. I’m going to run over to Drew’s. I borrowed his notes for a class. Besides, I think I left my coat in his trunk.”
“It’s almost eleven o’clock,” she said, standing and smoothing the men’s undershirt tank over her baggy gym shorts. Her bun was falling out, and she wore the glasses that made her look smart. Josh loved when she worked the sexy nerd vibe. Or he used to. Back before they got engaged and he became so consumed with being at the top of his class.
On one hand, she was enormously pleased at how driven Josh was; on the other, she wished she mattered as much as his career goals. He rarely made time to be with her anymore, unless he counted sitting on the couch typing on his laptop as quality time with her. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d actually looked each other in the eye and had a conversation about something other than what had happened at school that day. Ellery wanted Josh to see her.
Maybe she was being selfish. Josh was such a good guy, and he loved her. She knew this, but she’d never been so lonely in her entire life, which was strange because she had moved back to Shreveport, a place where her family lived, where she knew people who were happy to meet up for happy hour.
So what was wrong with her?
Perhaps if she’d gotten the internship, she wouldn’t have time to be so introspective or discontent. She would have been too busy to miss her man. She’d be Ubering to fashion week locations and meeting designers at intimate parties. New York City and J.J. Krause had betrayed her.
If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
Her mother had told her that all her life, but Ellery hadn’t had to hear it all that often. She’d gotten what she wanted—the cute car, head cheerleader, the “right” sorority, good grades, and the perfect