Hotshot Neighbor by Boyes Shandi

Author:Boyes, Shandi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skye High Publishing
Published: 2022-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 26

JESS

JULY FOURTH

A grin furls on my lips when a familiar voice over my shoulder says, “Is it a mutual connection, or is he refusing to let go because he knows he’s batting way out of his league?”

After squealing my excitement about her arrival to Fourth of July festivities, I hug Heidi tight, conscious her rapidly growing stomach has her loathing endearing embraces even more but uncaring of her neuroses.

They don’t matter with friends. They never did with Caleb and me.

Hating that he has once again popped into my head, I lather attention on people more deserving of my time. “I’m so glad you guys made it. I’ve missed you so much.”

With Samuel’s position moving them to San Diego only weeks after they returned from their honeymoon, I haven’t seen them in months. They’re only up this way for Laurel’s engagement party.

She got engaged on Valentine’s Day—the same day I made a fool of myself.

While rubbing her pregnant stomach, Heidi shifts her focus back to Octavia, who’s being dunked into the frigidly cold Seattle water by Ronnie. “Please tell me they’re not dating. Ronnie is…” A chill shuddering through her tiny frame finalizes her answer.

“Ronnie thinks he has the wool pulled over Tivy’s eyes.”

Heidi waits for Ronnie to toss a drenched Octavia onto his shoulder before twisting to face me. “Only thinks?”

Hair falls into my eyes when I briskly nod. “We’re close. She’d tell me if they were messing the sheets.”

A brick lodges into my throat when Heidi interrupts, “Like you told her about Caleb and you?”

I immaturely roll my eyes before making my way to the snack table to drown my sorrows with a thousand calories. I’ve found comfort in food a lot the past few months. Mercifully, my bank account isn’t feeling the pinch since my father’s food hampers arrive every two weeks without fail.

I groan when Heidi reads me like no one else can. Well, no one since Caleb. “Still an open wound?”

She picks through the box of chocolates for the caramel ones while I contemplate a reply. The wound is still open, but solely because Caleb has made no effort to close it. We’ve bypassed each other a handful of times over the past eleven months, but our interactions are as lackluster as my run-ins with Lou. There is no heat to them whatsoever, which is shocking considering how combustible we once were.

I want to blame the lack of fire on Caleb’s obvious drunken state, but there’s more to blame than that. He never looks me in the eyes, and anytime I force a connection, it doubles the iciness between us even further.

I’m truly lost on what happened between us.

“I’ve never had the preacher’s daughter tag backfire on me so badly before,” I huff out with a groan.

Heidi laughs. It isn’t her true laugh, merely the one she uses while guiding me off the ledge. “Usually, it works in your favor. They either think they have the skills to coerce you to the wild side or know you’re already there since you lived such a bland and boring childhood.

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