Forced Proximity Bundle (ebook)

Single Chance, Chapter One

As I opened the door to the noisy, crowded ballroom of the Honeysuckle Inn on New Year’s Eve, a seed of optimism took root in me for the first time in more than two years.

I needed this. So badly. Needed to have fun, forget reality for a few hours, and immerse myself in happy people.

The beat of the music pounded through me. Shimmers of light from a disco ball shifted over every person and surface. The energy of the party enveloped me, making me feel alive even before I fully entered the room.

“Hello. Got your ticket?” a guy in a Luigi costume asked as my eyes adjusted to the dimness.

“Oh,” I said. “I just checked into the inn tonight. Ava invited me. She loaned me this costume.”

He looked me up and down briefly and tilted his head.

“Claire from The Breakfast Club,” I told him.

“I was getting there,” he said with a smile. “Red hair would complete it.”

“Last minute,” I explained. “Do you need to talk to Ava?”

“Nah. Welcome,” Luigi said. “Happy New Year, eighties version.” He gestured me past him.

I stepped to the left, where I spotted a bar. I’d need a drink—actually I was overdue for one hell of a bender—but first, a moment.

Taking in the scene, I breathed. Like, took a chest-lifting inhalation that filled my lungs fuller than they’d been in…months.

There was a live band at one end, playing a Culture Club song. People were stacked about fifteen deep around the stage, dancing and giving the musicians their full attention.

Every corner was filled with people. People who didn’t know me, didn’t know what I’d been through. People who wouldn’t scrutinize me to figure out whether a sympathetic look or a hug would be better received.

I was so tired of needing sympathy. Of my eyes filling with tears at an empathetic smile.

Even when I’d met Ava, the inn owner, at the check-in desk, more damn tears had threatened.

I sucked in another life-affirming breath.

Festive people. Upbeat music.

Freedom.

I needed all of it even more than I’d realized.

In the next second, a pang of guilt jabbed at me, but I shook it off.

Tonight was about looking ahead, not mourning the past.
This town might turn out to be my future, at least my short-term future. My respite. My chance to rediscover myself and focus on my life.

Drink, Rowan. You need a drink, girl.

At the bar, I ordered one of the eighties cocktails, a Blue Lagoon. It tasted like a blue vodka lemonade and had a festive curl of lemon peel floating on top.

It’d been months since I’d dared to try to relax with anything alcoholic. Now I carried my drink to a spot along the wall and took a sip. I let the sweetness and the distinct taste of alcohol sit on my tongue for several seconds. My eyes fluttered shut in appreciation.

When I opened them, my attention caught on a guy at the bar whose gaze was on me. He smiled, and I felt a pulse of something I hadn’t felt in ages.

Interest.

He was tall with dark hair and broad shoulders under a light brown trench coat. What tripped up my heart was that smile. It reached across the room and grabbed me.

I smiled back, then glanced away self-consciously, resisting the urge to check behind me to verify it was actually me he’d been looking at.

I was out of practice on more than enjoying a cocktail. I hadn’t been on a date for over three years, since the early days with Christian. Hadn’t been with a man since he’d dumped me because of my inability to give him enough of my time, or really, any of my time, once I’d become my grandmother’s full-time caretaker.

Alzheimer’s was like that. It not only robbed its victims of their brain, identity, and life but also took so much from the victims’ loved ones. I didn’t regret a single minute with my grandmother, felt genuinely grateful I’d been her trusted one at her side as she gradually transitioned out of a long, love-filled life. But recovery would take a while. Finding my way forward would be a process.

My next breath was shaky, and I had to force my grandmother, my grief, and my profound loss out of my mind.

Not tonight.

Tonight was about possibilities.

I glanced around for the guy from the bar. He was no longer there, and my gaze skimmed the room until I spotted him among a group of people gathered around several of the standing cocktail tables. At the same moment I saw him, he turned his head my way, and we made eye contact again.

There was the smile. He had an irresistible dimple on one side.

My heart raced, and a feeling of lightness rushed through my chest.

I lifted my glass for a drink and looked away, trying to play it cool.

As the band started a Billy Idol song, I meandered closer to the stage, sipping my drink and bobbing my head slightly to the beat. They were good. The lead singer had the Billy Idol growl down. The guitarist’s hair was very eighties, like those guys from Duran Duran.

I was angled just enough to the side of the stage that I could easily, nonchalantly glance toward the brown-coat guy, and I’m not even kidding, he happened to look my way again.

I might be out of practice, but I was pretty sure he was checking me out.

I didn’t hate it.

I also knew better than to come across as a desperate girl. I’d just gotten here, for Pete’s sake. The outdated expression had been my grandmother’s favorite and came to mind automatically, bringing with it a pang of sadness and a bittersweet smile.

I was a certifiable mess in my head. I didn’t need to hook up with anyone. I just needed to enjoy the mental space. Savor the lack of responsibility.

I watched the band through three more songs, hovering along the wall so I wasn’t really part of the crowd. When they went to intermission, I wandered toward a different bar, planning to order another Blue Lagoon.

How long had it been since I’d danced? Just set aside reality for three minutes and felt the music?

Ages.

Dancing was good for the soul, I decided. I needed to dance more, even though I wasn’t a particularly good dancer.

And laughter? Mine was almost rusty.

More dancing, more laughing.

More alcohol.

I resumed my path to the bar near the arcade, taking in the costumes and characters on my way. The eighties were before my time, but I’d fallen asleep to so many movies in the past two years that I’d seen at least pieces of all the big ones from that decade and beyond. I spotted a group of ninja turtles, a Ms. Pac-Man, the couple from The Princess Bride, Prince, and a lot I couldn’t identify in a flash as I walked by.

This little town was going all out for its New Year’s celebration.

I’d never been to Dragonfly Lake before, but Presley had promised me it was adorable and friendly and would make a good landing place. She’d arranged for me to meet her best friend, Chloe Henry, to discuss a possible job opening. I had no idea whether it would pan out, but I was grateful to have a starting point.

I waited in a short line at the bar, keeping my head down but my ears open. I was curious about this place but not up for meeting bunches of people. With each introduction would come questions I wasn’t sure I could answer without getting emotional. My introverted self was content to be in the crowd but not too connected to it.

“What can I get for you?” the female bartender asked when it was my turn.

“A Blue Lagoon.”

She tilted her head as I said it, studying my light pink blouse and white scarf. “The popular girl from The Breakfast Club?”

I nodded, impressed because she looked several years younger than my twenty-nine. “You got it.”

When she handed over my drink, she said, “Good luck finding your bad boy.”

I laughed as I turned around, then stopped short.

The brown-coat guy stood there, front and center, six feet from me, all his attention on me, holding a large boom box in both hands above his head. He was even better-looking this close, with one side of his mouth quirked up in a half grin and his warm, hopeful eyes gauging my reaction.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "This is a sweet, emotional, and steamy story that took on life's complications with honesty, making it feel real and authentic." —Review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "A wonderfully witty, tender, and steamy story that you can't help but devour as it captures your heart." —Review