Dead Set by Melissa Pearl & Anna Cruise

Author:Melissa Pearl & Anna Cruise [Pearl, Melissa & Cruise, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, contemporary, Suspense
Goodreads: 39091186
Published: 2018-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

18

Thursday, March 22nd

8:25pm

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them.

What was wrong with her? Why was she literally spilling her guts to this man sitting on her couch? She’d met him a matter of days ago and had just basically word-vomited her entire life story to him.

She drained the wine in her glass, swallowing it down in two massive gulps. She was already tipsy and knew this would send her over the edge. She could end the conversation with Lucas, show him the door, and then drop into bed to sleep off the alcohol…and the emotions she’d been trying to drown.

Alaina hadn’t been lying when she told Lucas she didn’t drink often. It wasn’t that she didn’t like alcohol, and it wasn’t because she was worried about drinking too much. She just didn’t have the time. The time to go out for drinks or the time to enjoy them at home.

Most nights she was poring over house listings or planning remodels or going over contracts. A glass of wine or a cocktail would just slow her down. She always had a bottle or two on hand, but lately they had seemed more like decorations than actual beverages she intended to consume.

But tonight? She’d come home from the high school mentally and emotionally exhausted. And because her guard was down, because she was weak from being so tired, thoughts of Noah had filtered in.

She had an uncanny ability to turn things off, to compartmentalize every aspect of her life. It was probably the only reason she was still functioning, especially considering Noah had died just a few weeks ago. Any normal person would still be in the throes of grief. Not Alaina. Those first few days had been a blur, mostly because she’d had to take control of all the arrangements. She’d been so focused on choosing a casket and ordering flowers and arranging food for the reception afterward that she’d shelved her grief, putting it in the far recesses of her mind. Immediately after, she’d jumped right back into work, tackling projects she’s had to put on hold for those few days. And now…well, now she was focused on finding out what really happened to Noah. She’d had her mental breakdown in the cemetery. She’d allowed herself to cry, to feel the guilt wash over her. And then she’d decided to do something about it.

This gave her purpose, sure, but it also gave her something else: a new task to focus on.

She wasn’t naïve. She knew exactly what she was doing.

She wasn’t facing reality. She wasn’t allowing herself to focus on the truth that was staring her in the face, and she wasn’t letting herself deal with all of the emotions connected to that truth.

Her brother was gone. And he was never coming back. And yes, she’d had her moments when the tears had crept in, when her throat had clogged and her heart raced, when she felt the emotion welling up inside her. But always, always, she’d beaten it back down.

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