One of the absolute best things about living in a college town was that you could get nearly everything delivered to you. It didn’t matter if you wanted fresh cookies at two in the morning, or if you needed more toilet paper and there was a thunderstorm. Almost every single store in town delivered, and I was taking full advantage of that situation. I bit into another cookie, moaning a bit as the freshly hot pieces of chocolate melted onto my tongue, the warm fudge cookies one of my favorite things in the world. I was currently trying to figure out how my hero was going to escape from a room full of death rays and a plot by the evil queen to destroy the last astronaut in space, and I needed all the sugar and caffeine I could pump into my system. It was brain food, no matter what science said.

“Boo!” The yell at my ear had me screeching as I fell from my chair, dragging my keyboard with me. I threw it towards the disembodied voice with all of my might, hoping the momentum from my fall would make the hit more effective—if I managed to hit the damn robber at all. I heard the solid thwack as the keyboard connected with my target, and I attempted to scramble from my floor and run from whatever the hell the threat in my office was. “Fuck, Em, that hurt like a bitch.” I nearly tripped over my own feet as I ground to a halt, turning to stare at my older sister. Jenna was rubbing the side of her head where a welt was already forming. I must have really connected with that keyboard, I realized. I hoped I hadn’t busted it…

“Jenna.” The word came out with both exasperation and affection. “Why the hell are you sneaking into my house and scaring the hell out of me?” I picked my keyboard up and dusted it off, pleased to see that all of the keys were still intact.

“You haven’t been answering your phone. It’s been almost six days since the kids left, and you haven’t returned a single call or text.” She arched an eyebrow at me as she continued to rub her forehead. Her blonde hair was a sleek waterfall from her high ponytail, her slender frame voguely accented in a well-cut red suit. It would be really, really easy to hate Jenna if I let myself. Here I was in stinky sweats, a coffee-stained flannel shirt, and the largest and warmest socks I owned. She swore that the only reason she got the metabolism in the family was because I got the imagination. Having heard some of the lies she had told, I wasn’t quite sure I believed that excuse.

“I’m on deadline, Jenna. Of course I haven’t been answering the phone.” I glanced back towards my computer and the attempted escape I was in the middle of. “You happened to interrupt. I should never have given you that spare key.”

She simply shrugged, wrinkling her nose as she studied the room. “Wouldn’t matter if you gave me the spare, I’m your landlord remember?”

I threw up my hands in frustration. “Of course. Silly me. Strange to think that a landlord would be expected to call and make an appointment before entering the premises.” I cocked my arm, trying to study the scrapes on my elbow to figure out if any of them were bleeding bad enough to need a bandage. That wood flooring was hard when you hit it full force.

“I did call. So did Cade, by the way. Multiple times. He ended up calling me.”

“Cade?” I blinked, confused for a moment. “Why was he calling you?” Sometimes it was easy to forget that I had introduced my editor to my sister. While the two had casually met a few times, they weren’t exactly what I would call friends, just casual acquaintances who would party together at times if they ended up at the same event with me.

“He was calling me because he’s concerned about you. Again, you haven’t been answering your phone!” The words were nearly a yell at this point.

“Deadline.” I enunciated the word as clearly as I could, dragging out the syllables. “Not all of us run an inn.”

She rolled her eyes, straightening her ponytail as she considered the room and wrinkled her nose. “It seriously smells like something died in here, Em. I talked to Cade, remember? You finished your book up for release here. Edits are done. It’s uploaded. You’re working on a completely different project so you can’t throw the deadline in my face this time.”

Ok, she was right, but damn Cade for telling her that. People were much more likely to leave me in peace to work if I told them my deadline was about to hit. Nobody seemed to realize how much work writing was, that it wasn’t just a few hours at a keyboard and voila the book was finished! It was days, weeks, months of fighting with characters and my own head, of figuring out plot holes and correcting grammar, of left turns when the characters decided they didn’t like the lovely, highlighted, detailed outline I had spent days writing and careful planning. “Ok, so this one isn’t up for deadline. I know “The Last Astronaut’s Escape” is up already, but people are going to want the third one out soon, so that’s what I’m working on. I hit a groove, so I’ve been running with it.”

“In this groove, you decided that showering and throwing out the trash weren’t necessary?” She used the tips of her fingers to shove some of the pizza boxes that were piled on my bookcase and nudged empty coffee cups with her toe where they had fallen out of my currently overflowing garbage pail.

I rubbed the back of my neck, really taking in the room. Okay, maybe she was right. There was a little bit of a smell in here. Though, with a subtle sniff, I realized that may just be me. “I’ll clean it.” I said the words on a sigh. “I wasn’t expecting company. Plus, I don’t like people in my office anyhow. As you can see, I’m very busy and I’m very much alive, so you can go on about your way now.” I made a shooing motion with my hand as I pulled my greasy hair out of my eyes with a wince. Okay, yeah, I definitely needed a shower.

“From the look and smell of you, you’re far from alive.” Jenna’s words were sharp and I stuck my tongue out at her. “You’re avoiding everything, is what you’re doing. You’ve got a release next week and you’re going to use everything you’re doing with that as an excuse not to leave this office. The week after that you’ll use reviews and contests as a way not to leave your office, and the cycle will continue for two months until your kids come back.” She began to stack paper plates and empty mugs as she talked, her slender hands graceful and quick in a way I could never emulate. I had not been a very good waitress, if I tried to stack plates like that, I would have ended up wearing whatever was on them and breaking ninety percent of them.

“Those are all necessary things.” I tugged the plates out of her hands, tossing them heedlessly onto the overfilled trash can and ignoring her groan as they cascaded around my feet. “I’m not avoiding anything. I’m doing a ton!”

“Uh-huh. Have you stepped outside of your house once since you put the kids on that plane?” Her eyes were full of pity as she studied me and I felt my back go up at the insinuation.

“I have.” I scrambled for something I had done, considering I had ordered in everything from coffee to tampons this week. “I went over to Alex’s and watched the baseball game with him and his friends.” She froze for a moment, considering me, debating with herself whether I was telling the truth.

“Alex, as in Alexander?” At my nod she grabbed my arm, ignoring my wince as she pressed on the scrapes she had caused on my elbow, and hauled me from the room and down the hall. “You shower. You need it. Then you’re telling me all about this guy and his friends. You have not mentioned a man once since you moved here.”

“That’s not true. I told you about Dr. Sampson,” I muttered the words, indignant at her behavior. I blew gently towards my elbow when she let me go.

She shoved me into the bathroom, grabbed a towel from my linen closet and tossed it on my sink. “You know what I mean. You haven’t talked about any male by his first name, not just your dentist.” She grabbed a spare razor from the shelf and a toothbrush still in its box, throwing both at me. When I fumbled the catch and sent them cascading onto the floor, she rolled her eyes.

“You know, I’m the one who’s a parent. I know how to bathe and take care of myself, thank you very much.” I couldn’t resist the commentary as she continued poking through my closet.

“Here use this too. You’ve got a zit the size of Mt. Vesuvius.” She tossed a spare tube of Brooke’s acne cream at me. I stuck my tongue out at her and she slammed the door, very nearly smacking my face with it in turn. I considered myself in the mirror for a moment and winced. Well, she wasn’t kidding. I had a giant zit on my forehead, probably from the fact that I hadn’t washed my hair in days. I groaned, stripping down and pulling back the curtain to turn on the water. “Ouch!” I rubbed at the lump on my head from where the shower curtain rod hit when it fell.

“You okay in there?” Jenna’s amused voice floated through the door.

“Just this shower curtain again.” I picked it up, trying to ensure all the rings were still on this time as I rehung it. “I really need to find a better way to bolt this thing into the wall.” I considered for a moment as I turned on the water and let it run before yelling, “Isn’t that your duty as a landlord? I could sue you, ya know!”

“You brought the shower curtain, numbskull.” Jenna’s voice was muffled and I was glad my computer auto-locked. Knowing her she’d hop on to see what I had written, and I didn’t need her accidentally deleting anything—or deleting it on purpose because she was pissed at me. I just shrugged and hopped into the shower, hissing at the hot water as it stung into my scrapes, and then enjoying the flow as I let it relax muscles tense from days in an office chair and hunched over a computer. I had indulged in the massaging showerhead when I moved in and I loved it more and more every day. It was the only thing that kept my back from being permanently hunched.

I sang to myself, ignoring Jenna’s pounding on the door at my tone-deaf renditions of everything from Disney songs to Mariah Carey’s Christmas tunes. No one appreciated shower music anymore. Finally feeling human again, and with the hot water basically gone, I stepped from the shower and wrapped myself in the towel, continuing to hum as I brushed my teeth and listened to Jenna chatter away on her cell. From what I could hear, she was assuring Cade that she had indeed pulled me from my writing cave and was ensuring my return to the mortal world. Well, screw both of them. This book was going to turn out incredible despite their interference.

I glanced into my office before heading to the bedroom, seeing a stack of trash bags in the doorway. Apparently, Jenna decided to clean up a bit while she waited for me. I really hoped she hadn’t thrown out my cookies… they were still warm, damn it. In my go-to leggings and t-shirt, I went to face off with her, dragging a brush through my hair. “See, I’m human again.” I taunted her when she spun in my desk chair.

“Finally.” She ground to a halt, rolling her eyes as she saw me tug at the wet, knotted strands of my hair. “You know that’s how you damage your hair, right? Don’t you have any leave-in conditioner or something?” I just shrugged, continuing the chore. “Alex.” She pointed at me.

I shook my head, stopping my brushing to point at myself. “Emily. Em-uh-lee” I dragged out the syllables. She grabbed the stuffed bear from my desk and threw it at me.

“Oh, fuck you. You knew exactly what I meant.” She couldn’t stop the grin, though, at my antics.

I plopped down on the floor with a sigh, ignoring the trash bags as I stretched out. “You’ve heard me mention him, just not by name I guess. Or you weren’t paying attention, per usual.” She simply shrugged, not even denying the accusation. “He’s my next door neighbor. The one who helped me haul the bed upstairs.”

“The one I told you to jump when you moved here months ago?” She cocked her head and pursed her lips, racking her memory.

“You’ve told me to jump anyone and everyone.” My tone was dry.

“Well, you need to.” She shrugged again, still completely nonchalant. “You and Ian were over years ago, you just never made it official. Seriously, how long has it been since you had sex?”

I winced, knowing she would push me even harder if she knew the answer. “It’s been awhile.”

Her eyes were shrewd as she studied me. “Awhile as in a couple months? A year? Two years?” Her eyes widened as I bit my lip. “Two and half years? Two and three-quarters?”

It was my turn to giggle. “About five years. More than that, I guess, since Cal’s six and he’ll be seven in August.” I groaned as I did that math in my head. Okay, so it was closer to eight years since Ian and I hadn’t had sex during my pregnancy. Not that I was going to admit that to my overbearing sister. I swear she’d start paying men to sleep with me if she knew my dry spell was that long.

“Is Alex hot? Or you mentioned he had friends over. Is there potential there?” She was nearly bouncing in my chair at this point.

“He is hot,” I admitted. “He’s got this really dark hair and these gorgeously electric blue eyes. He’s a lawyer. He always wears these tailored suits and whew.” I fanned myself. “Let me tell you, that man’s tailor deserves some serious coin. He’s got an ass like steel.”

Jenna perked up considerably. “You’ve felt said ass?”

I rolled my eyes. “Unfortunately, no. He’s just my neighbor.”

“What about the friends?”

I sighed knowing damn well it was faster just to tell her. “Max is blond and gorgeous. He’s built like a swimmer. Troy’s an ass, but an attractive one. Man’s built like a house with all that chocolate hair and these glass green eyes.”

Jenna paused for a moment. “Troy. Troy Walker?” I simply shrugged. If last names had been passed around, I had completely missed it during the rest of the exchange.

“He’s a teacher, that’s all I know.”

Jenna whistled. “Oh, yeah. I know exactly who that is. He’s not only a teacher, but he’s also the football coach for the high school. Took us to state last year. That man is the only damn reason to go to a football game, let me tell you.” She steepled her fingers and sent me a sly grin. “Well aren’t you a lucky one, Em. You’ve got three gorgeous men all right next door. I’m sure one of them would be more than happy to help you out of your dry spell.”

I groaned as I pushed up from the floor. When had that gotten so hard? I swear, it must be farther down now than it was a few years ago, that was the only explanation. “First of all, they don’t all live next door, just Alex. Secondly, they all just wanted to hang out and watch baseball, so we watched the Pirates game and had some beer and pizza. It was completely casual, especially after I dumped cranberry juice and vodka all over Troy.” Jenna winced, knowing damn well that wasn’t an unusual occurrence for me. “Third, you’ve seen Troy. And—” I cut off as a car door slammed and I tried to casually jog towards the window. Yeah right, I couldn’t jog in the first place, let alone make it look casual. Jenna was by me in an instant and wolf whistled.

“I assume that’s Alex as he’s not a blond.” I could practically hear her licking her lips.

“Yeah, that’s Alex.” He seemed to be buried in a case file in his hands, unaware of our observation, thank goodness.

“You’ve been living next to that for months now and you haven’t gotten a piece? Nor have you offered him up to your beloved sister? What kind of woman are you!” She shoved me as Alex disappear into his house.

“I was on thirdly.” I reminded her. “Thirdly, I was surprised that you didn’t know guys this hot and hadn’t staked a claim on them or had them before, for that matter.” I wrinkled my nose. “I’m not exactly sure about having my sister’s leftovers.”

“Is that why you wouldn’t go out with Leo? He’s an okay guy, I swear. He just talks a lot, and it’s always about sports.” She scoffed and I rolled my eyes at the reminder of the sleazy guy she had tried to set me up with when I first moved here.

“Different scenario altogether. One, he tried to look down my blouse as soon as he was introduced to me and my kids were with me! Two, it’s just weird knowing that he slept with you already. He’d be comparing us.” I didn’t want to say there wasn’t a comparison. Jenna was blonde, slender, and curved like a pinup. I was ‘rubenesque’ if a man was feeling romantic, or ‘solid and comfortable’ if he was being encouraging. Sexy, not so much.

“He wouldn’t be comparing us. Geez. Besides, I doubt his memory is that good,” Jenna admitted, still straining her neck as if she would be able to catch another glimpse of Alex. “He really did have a nice ass. However, despite what you may think, I have not slept with every available bachelor—or bachelorette,” she added as I opened my mouth, “in this town. I’ve seen Troy at the football games, hello, who wouldn’t look at all of that yumminess? I don’t know Alex or, what was the other one, Max? I haven’t touched Troy, despite my attempts. He wasn’t exactly interested.”

I groaned, flopping back onto the floor. “You don’t think he’s gay too, do you? Maybe it’s just something in my pheromones. Proximity to me, and men turn gay.” Jenna snorted, deciding against joining me on the floor and settling back into my desk chair.

“I highly doubt he’s gay. I’ve seen him around with women before. I’m just not his type. He seems to like athletic women, or at least that’s the picture I’ve gotten.”

I snorted. “Well, then I’m out again.”

“So, three isn’t a problem now.” Jenna steamrolled right over me. “Two can be overcome. Getting in as a friend can make the rest easier, especially if you’re just keeping it casual. As for one, proximity is important! Even if you don’t want to sleep with Alex since screwing neighbors can sometimes take a turn for the worse, the other two don’t live here! I say you go for it.”

“Didn’t you hear me?” I was exasperated now, propping my head on my knee as I studied her. “I can’t sleep with Alex. He’s a neighbor and a friend. I can’t sleep with Troy, he’s an ass. Max is the type to do anything in a skirt, so I bet he’s already got a girlfriend. Plus, they’re all hot as hell. It’s like a buffet of goodness.” I imagined the three of them laid out side by side, Max’s creamy blond locks mingling with Troy’s chocolate and into Alec’s dark coffee colored strands—a three flavor torte all spread out to melt over my tongue in different flavors. Yowza. I really did need to get laid…

“The point is that they’re all hot as hell.” Jenna reached out to rap me hard on the forehead.

I scowled, rubbing the spot. I injured myself often enough, I didn’t need additional bruises! “That’s my point, Jenna. You said you’ve seen Troy with women. Now you’ve seen Alex. Be honest, don’t be a sister. Have you ever seen them with a girl who looks like me?” I gestured, indicating the laid-back clothing, the messed up hair, and then continued, gesturing to her. “Or have you seen them with women dressed like you?” She paused for a moment, and I knew she was searching for the right words.

“Troy had his chance with me and didn’t take it.” She spoke slowly, as though weighing every word before it fell from her lips. “Yes, you’re different than the type I’ve seen him with, but that doesn’t mean anything. Plus, you don’t know the other guys' types. They could go for the whole tomboy thing.”

I groaned at the renewed enthusiasm in her voice. “I don’t exactly qualify as a tomboy, Jen. I can’t play sports without injuring myself and usually at least one other person.” I slid up my leggings to show the bandage on my leg from when I’d played catch with Cal the night before they left. I had tripped over my own feet, and landed on an upraised stick. “I just like to be comfortable.”

“You watch sports though!” She bounced slightly, pointing at me as if she had won something, and I rolled my eyes.

“I watch baseball. Cal and Jake aren’t into the other sports too much as of yet, thank goodness. You know Ian never was. I’ll learn them if I need to and be the supportive mom, but for the most part, I’d simply tune them out and possibly write death scenes for their favorite players in my heads if they refuse to stop talking.”

She snorted but couldn’t prevent the smile that crossed her face. “Well, it’s still a sport and you watched it with all of them. That’s definite friends with benefits territory.”

“Blech. Friends with benefits? Isn’t that something people do in their twenties? I can’t exactly say, ‘Hey, come on over for a late night booty call’ when I’ve got to deal with homework and nightmares and temper tantrums over which Paw Patrol member is actually the best.” I arched a brow at her as she considered my statement.

“Well, yes. It’s summer though!” Her eyes lit up and I could tell she was plotting in that twisted, golden head of hers. “You need something to help distract yourself while the kids are gone, and this could be the perfect thing!”

“I’ve got writing to help distract me. Plus, I get paid for that!”

“Pfft.” Jenna spat the noise through her teeth. Ugh, it was completely unfair. If I made that noise it couldn’t be considered cute, yet she does it and it’s adorable. My life was never going to be fair. “You write more than enough as it is.”

“Tell that to my fans,” I muttered. “Or the voices in my head for that matter.”

She just waved my words away, heedless of how sincere I was being. “You’ve finally got time all to yourself. No noses to wipe, no homework to do, no excuses! Use the time wisely, my friend. They will be home before you know it.” My chest squeezed and I closed my eyes for a moment against the pain. God, I hoped so. Skype calls every night were no substitute for their arms around me. Especially when I could see the tears well up in Cal’s eyes as his lip quivered or hear the chill that permeated Jake’s few mumbled words about it being hot there. I hoped the trip Ian had planned to Disneyland for this weekend would be enough to help turn their time with him around, though I knew that would hurt in its own wonderful way.

Jenna pursed her lips for a moment and studied me, seeming to realize I intended to bury myself back into my alien war the minute her back was turned. Well, that, or fly myself to California… that idea was looking better and better by the moment.

“Emily Paige DeWitt.” I raised a brow at her. It was rare for my sister to call me by full name, though she had frequently pulled the older sister card and used it when we were kids. “You will get out of this house. You will meet people. I’m not saying you have to sleep with everyone you meet. I’m not telling you to try opening up your preferences and taking on women as well as men.” I rolled my eyes at that. My sister had been trying to turn me bi for years. I couldn’t help myself, that just wasn’t something I was interested in, though I could appreciate when a woman was beautiful. I liked my men and the harder, the better.

“Make friends. Close down this computer. Have fun.” Her eyes softened for a moment as she ruffled my still wet hair. “You moved here to make a change to your life, it’s damn well time you made it. This was your routine before. Get up, take care of the kids, work, take care of the kids, work some more, fall asleep at your desk, and repeat. You need to change, and by God, if you won’t change yourself, I will make you change.” The last words were said as she pushed her face up to mine, her blue eyes hard as steel, her words carved from ice. “I don’t care if I have to throw that damn computer out the window, put you in a skin tight dress, and throw you into a comic con. I’m not saying become me. I’m saying get your butt out and do something!”

I froze for a moment. “You can’t do that.” She simply raised a brow in a challenge and I winced. She absolutely would do that. Jenna lived to interfere, especially if she thought it was for your own good. In high school she had thrown away my glasses and chopped off my hair while I slept, forcing me to wear my contacts and not allowing me to hide behind the curtain of hair I had developed. I gathered my shoulder length hair protectively behind me as I slowly nodded. “I guess I did say I wanted to make some changes.”

She brightened and hopped up from the chair. “Great. That’s exactly what I wanted to hear. Now, let’s see if you’ve got any vodka left in the freezer. We can start tonight and make a plan over martinis.” I threw a last, protective look at my computer, flipping the lock as I exited. It wasn’t much of a safety strategy, but it was something.