Where Would I Be Without You - By CJ Hawk Page 0,49

sunlight that flooded the room and growled. "What the hey?" My head went under my blanket.

"Stop sulking." She sounded motherly. "Crying and grieving over a man is one thing. Hiding away and stuffing M&M's down your throat like it's no tomorrow is another. No guy is worth it. Even if you're married." Then she climbed down, tossed the duct tape in the new trash bag she put in my kitchen trash can for me.

I peeked out of my blanket and glared. "That's easy for you to say. You've had three husbands." I caught the hurt look that immediately crossed her face, and I felt bad. It wasn't her fault she had bad choices in men.

"And honey, not a single one of them was the charm. I'm going for number four. He's looking prospectively handsome. However, I need to borrow your new tan cowgirl boots you bragged about buying on Facebook for a fraction of their value. It's not really smart to post your shopping award picture of shoes and great prices where your broke aunt can see. It only makes me find a reason to borrow them." She smiled at me as she bent down to pick up the bench cushion off the floor and set it on the window bench.

I caught myself peeking towards his window to see if he was there, but he wasn't. "Well. Gee. I thought you came to see me because you love me." I grumbled.

"I do love you. That is why I am here, hauling your happy ass off to the shower, and telling you that no man is worth it. The boots is just an excuse to wear on this date with my new cowboy. I met him at the gym." Her eyes twinkled.

"Real cowboy or wanna be a cowboy?" I teased. I got up from under my blanket, threw it off to the side and clicked the TV off with the remote. I had on the same sleep shirt I had on twenty-four hours ago; only a lot of food smears and tearstains that made it look as if I had ran it through a sink disposal run.

"Darling. He's real. Like wear the wranglers with a strain real. Like dually truck and cowboy hat real. Like works on a ranch and likes to get dirty in the barn real."

"Then what the heck is he doing at the gym, picking up women?" I started for my room, and she followed behind. I might as well get her the boots, because I had no intention of wearing them anytime soon.

I pointed to my closet and then headed to my bathroom as my aunt went on about how they met the first time when she was called out for a sick horse. My aunt is a large animal veterinarian who works on contract for the zoo. "See, he manages a ranch. I got a call from their regular vet to take a replacement call. I usually don't go to places like this. Any ways, I happen to mention to him about the cruise and getting in shape in a month. This was over a month ago. I didn't tell you because, well, it was just bad luck to talk about a man until things are a bit more under way." I laughed internally at the fact that my aunt and I shared the gift of gab, the brook of babble; we talked a lot and talked in circles. I thought of how I had been babbling about Mason and wondered if that is why the relationship was cursed.

My aunt kept right on talking while my brain went right on thinking. "So one day, he shows up at my gym. Not like he doesn't get enough of a workout at the ranch. I was sure he was there to see me as he had called my office three times looking for me and asked my secretary what time I go to the gym. We went out for a drink, next thing I know, I've got him sharing a cabin with me on this cruise four weeks later. Sorry I missed your birthday family party. He was worth the miss." Then she winked at me. "If you know what I mean."

I did. And what sucks, is I knew what if felt like to fall hard and fast for a man and then have things come to a complete halt. If only I had taken him into my room to change that morning, we would never have made