Chapter 2
I step out of the taxi and stare up at the swanky condo building towering above me that overlooks Lake Michigan. Huge, puffy snowflakes drift down from the midnight blue sky, dusting the city in white yet again.
I breathe in the sharp, freezing air as people bustle around me on the sidewalk, which is still filled with pedestrians at this early evening hour. The sounds of traffic and car horns fill the air, and the energy of the city feeds my soul.
Chicago.
Tears fill my eyes. I had no idea how much I would miss it. I was born here. Raised here. It’s rooted in my heart. As I stand here on this street, I know I’ve come home.
I’ll never leave again.
Okay, that’s a lie. I must go back to Minnesota in a few days to pack up my apartment and drive home, but other than that, I’m here for good.
Now, I don’t have a place to live, and my parents still don’t know I up and quit my job without a new one.
All of this is going to be alarming because I’m always the girl with a plan. A year ago, the Taylor Hartigan I was would never have left a job without another one in place.
But that Taylor is gone.
A knot forms in the pit of my stomach. Yes. The girl with the big plans—ones followed and checked off as she completed them—disappeared the second I took a box from the storeroom at Melon and George, dumped my personal belongings into it, and walked out the door.
The question is, who is the new Taylor?
For the first time in my life, I don’t have an answer for that.
I enter the condo lobby, tugging off my gloves as I step inside, pushing the fearful, sick feeling aside. I will deal with that later.
Now, however, it’s time to surprise my friends for dinner—and tell them I’m coming back not for a visit, but to stay.
I drag my small, wheeled suitcase behind me and stop at the concierge counter.
“Good evening. How may I help you?” a man greets me.
“I’m here to see Livy Holder, please. Taylor Hartigan. Tell her I heard there was going to be kale served for dinner, and I had to be here.”
He chuckles. “Yes, Ms. Hartigan. One moment while I call her unit.”
I grin. Livy and Collins are going to freak out when they find out I’m here. They have been begging me to come home for months, and now I’ve done it. They are going to support this decision one hundred percent.
As opposed to my parents, who will oppose this decision one hundred percent.
Hmm. At least I have balance.
“Ms. Holder?” the concierge says. “This is Marcus at the concierge desk. There is a Miss Taylor Hartigan in the lobby who wishes to come up for dinner. She heard you were having kale.”
He flinches and then adjusts his earpiece. “It’s all right. I’ll send her up. Thank you.”
Marcus disconnects and shakes his head.
“Is everything okay?” I ask.
“Yes. She apologized for screaming in my ear. You may go up on elevator four.”
“I’m sorry about that. It was a surprise.”
“It’s all good. Enjoy your evening.”
“Thank you, you too.”
I hurry over to the elevator, eager to be with my friends. I didn’t even get to see Livy over my two-day break, as she was entertaining Landon’s family from Canada, and my time with Collins was way too short.
The doors open. I step inside and punch the button for Livy’s floor. As the doors close, I catch a glimpse of my reflection in the mirrored walls. My hair is tousled by the winds off the lake, so I take a moment to push my layers back into place. Hmm. I study myself, wondering if I should grow my hair out longer. I’ve always had layered cuts; maybe it’s time for a change.
But the idea of letting my layers grow out drives me nuts, because you have to go through an awkward period where it looks overgrown and it’s downright impossible to style and you have to wait forever for the layers to reach the ends.
It’s messy.
Hmm. Maybe New Taylor would embrace the challenge of having imperfect hair.
I lean in closer, checking my makeup, which I touched up in the back of the taxi in the dark. My signature red lipstick, Revlon’s Cherries in the Snow, is not outside the lines, so that task gets a complete check in my head. Eyeliner with gaps? Incomplete task.
I retrieve my pencil and compact and dot a bit more on my right eye, which is uneven, and try to adjust it. I scrutinize my work. My dark blue eyes, so blue they can sometimes appear violet, now pop with evenly-lined lids.
Victory.
The doors chime open on Livy’s floor, and I hurry toward her unit. I can’t wait to see my friends, to celebrate my homecoming with them, to share some drinks and discuss the future that I don’t know but will figure out with them by my side.
I reach her door and pause as I hear excited voices on the other side.
Of course, I recognize all of them: Collins and Livy, my friends since high school, and Aubrey Riley. Aubrey is Livy’s best friend from her University of Washington days, and the reason Livy met Landon.
She’s also married to Beckett Riley.
The captain of the Chicago Buffaloes.
Hunter’s brother.
Yes, it’s very strange my friends ended up with hockey players, but all their roads intertwined when Aubrey began dating Beckett. Through her social circle, they met not just players, but the men they fell in love with.
It was Aubrey, in fact, who invited me to that hockey game where Hunter smashed into the glass in front of me.
The second I think of Hunter, my mind does a flashback to the night I met him. How he arranged to see me after the game to give me the replacement nachos, dressed in a sweaty T-shirt that stretched across his massive chest and outlined his powerful shoulders. I vividly remember his thick, deep brown hair, which was sexily tousled from playing a hard game.
Then my eyes met his. I’ll never forget that moment, how I felt my skin prickle with excitement when I looked into his amazing eyes, ones the color of whiskey with flecks of gold. They were the most beautiful eyes I had ever se—
And he’s living in Houston.
Well, my brain sure knows how to shut down the sexy man fantasy, but since that’s never going to happen, I need to focus on reality tonight.
Dinner with my friends.
I eagerly knock on the door, and within seconds, Livy opens it, her expressive face lighting up the moment she sees me.
“Oh my God! Taylor!” she cries, throwing her arms around me. “I can’t believe you’re here! This is the best surprise ever!”
“I know,” I say, embracing her tightly.
I step back from her, seeing how her blue eyes are sparkling, and I nearly want to cry. I haven’t seen her since her wedding last July.
“How did you manage this? You barely got off for Christmas!” Collins exclaims, stepping in to hug me next.
“You might want to open a bottle of wine for that story,” I say cryptically.
Collins breaks the embrace, a look of concern filling her freckled face. “What does that mean?”
“Let me hug Aubrey, and if someone can please open a bottle of anything, I’ll tell you,” I say.
I move over to Aubrey and give her a friendly hug. I hate that I don’t know her as well as Collins and Livy do, but I vow to change that now that I’m moving back home. I like her company already, and I have a feeling I’ll love her just as much as Collins and Livy do as soon as I get to spend more time with her.
“So good to see you again,” Aubrey says, hugging me warmly.
“You, too,” I say, stepping out of the hug and smiling at her.
“Red or white?” Livy asks from the kitchen.
“What do you have open?” I ask, sinking down on her black, modern sofa.
“A burgundy,” Livy says.
“Perfect,” I answer.
Collins sits down right next to me. “Start talking. Now. I’m worried about you.”
“Wine first,” I say.
Livy walks into the room holding a glass with a generous pour of rich red wine and hands it to me.
“Thank you,” I murmur.
She reaches for a bottled water and sinks down on the end of her sofa, curling her feet up underneath her.
“Not that I’m not absolutely thrilled you surprised us by coming here tonight,” Livy says, “but this is very out of character for you, to appear on a Monday night in Chicago, which isn’t exactly a commute from Minneapolis.”
Anxiousness fills me. I swirl the wine in my glass, staring down at it, as it hits me that I must tell people I’ve done something I’ve never done in my life.
I’ve quit.
While I’m overjoyed to be home, to be with the girls who are my family, I can’t help but feel like I’ve failed. I walked away from a job thousands of other applicants will fight for. I walked away from one of the most prestigious department stores in the United States.
Without another job.
Or even a plan.
While I was all fired up about it this morning and on the plane ride here, distracted by going home and getting back to my friends, now I realize I have nothing.
I take a sip of wine for courage. “I quit my job.”
Silence fills the room, except for the pop music Livy has on.
Irony. The song is “Ready for It” by Taylor Swift.
“What? You quit?” Collins gasps.
“Oh my God,” Livy cries.
Shame fills me. “I did,” I admit quietly. “I didn’t even give notice. I resigned my position and walked out.”
Stunned silence fills the room.
“I can’t believe you actually quit,” Livy says, shock resonating in her voice. “I mean, I’ve wanted you to do this for a long time; I just can’t believe you did it.”
“I’m proud of you,” Collins says, putting her hand over mine and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I hated seeing you miserable, Taylor. It hurt all of us. But now you can get your life back. This is a fresh start for you, in the city you love, with your family and friends by your side. It’s the right decision; don’t ever doubt that.”
“Proud?” I ask, furrowing my brow. “I don’t have a job. I don’t have a place to live. I have no plan or income. I don’t know what my life is now, except a huge mess.”
“Do you know how badass you had to be to walk out like that?” Livy asks. “That took a lot of courage. I know how awful it must have been for you to get to that place, Taylor. And you were brave to admit it wasn’t what you wanted.”
“Was it courage to blow up a bridge?” I ask aloud, as I know the past year of my life will not be able to get me any recommendations for future work in the industry.
“We’ll help you work everything out,” Collins says. “You can stay with me. It will be nice having someone around while Luca is on the road. I mean, it’s sleeping on the sofa and all, but it will work until you get a job.”
“Oh, no, this is not going to be Three’s Company,” I say, referring to the old sitcom that involved one male roommate with two women, all living together.
“Would you stop?” Collins counters. “You know Luca doesn’t care. Half the time I’m at his place anyway.”
“Only if I can pay some rent,” I insist.
“Okay, but the first six months are free as part of your lease,” Collins says, cocking an eyebrow at me.
“You’re impossible,” I say, but feel somewhat relieved that I won’t have to go home to my parents and listen to how impractical I was to leave an excellent job with benefits without having another one lined up.
Which they are right about, in an ideal world.
“I quit my job in social media like that,” Aubrey says. “I had enough of being treated poorly and quit. Quit and walked out. I know exactly where you are coming from.”
That’s right, my brain remembers. When Aubrey was dating Beckett, she had a horrible boss who was very manipulative and underhanded, and she did the exact same thing I did.
“We need to do lunch when I’m back,” I say, as Aubrey is the one person who has actually walked in my shoes.
“I’d love that,” Aubrey says, pausing to take a sip of her wine. “As long as the place doesn’t serve kale.”
“Would you all stop with the kale jokes?” Livy groans.
“We will when you stop eating kale,” Aubrey counters, her eyes dancing wickedly at Livy.
“What if the baby likes kale? I might crave it more than ever now,” Livy says, smiling broadly at us. “Baby Holder might be born a kale lover.”
Aubrey leaps up. “Livy! Are you…? Are you going…?” She starts sputtering, as if the words can’t keep up with her thoughts. “Are you pregnant?”
Livy is glowing.
She’s pregnant.
“Yes. That’s why it’s fate that you quit today and came here tonight,” Livy says. “Please don’t say anything. It’s very early; I just took a pregnancy test a few days ago. But Landon and I wanted to tell our families and closest friends. We’re not going to tell anyone else until I reach second trimester. But we’re having a baby this September!”
“Livy!” Aubrey cries happily, rushing over to her. “Oh my gosh, this is the best news ever!”
We all embrace in a happy hug, and I can’t believe the turn Livy’s life is about to take.
Livy is going to be a mom.
We all start bombarding her with questions. She tells us she’s been tired and sleeping a lot, her energy is down, but otherwise she feels fantastic. Landon is over the moon happy, as they decided they wanted to start their family soon after they married.
“Landon is going to dinner tonight with Beckett, Luca, and Pierre in Miami,” Livy says, referring to his friends on the team, “and he’s telling them, too. So only the people closest to us know.”
“Is Nana going nuts?” I ask, thinking of Livy’s hip and fantastic grandmother.
“She is thrilled,” Livy says, her eyes dancing at me. “But she made me promise to wear hipper maternity clothes than my mom did. Nana said no hiding my bump but owning it.”
I burst out laughing. That’s so Nana.
“Well, as an unemployed fashion buyer, I’d be happy to go along on any shopping consults.”
“You so are,” Livy says. “It’s so amazing you’re home. I’m so glad you will be a part of my pregnancy, Taylor.”
Happy tears fill my eyes. “Me, too.”
“Okay, a toast to Livy and Landon and the baby,” Aubrey says, reaching for her wineglass. “And we’ll all take an extra sip for you, mom-to-be!”
We all rise and pick up our glasses.
“To Livy,” Aubrey says. “You’re going to be a fantastic mother, and we are all so happy to be a part of your life. We love you.”
“I’m hormonal; you’re making me cry,” Livy says, her voice wobbling.
“Cheers,” we say, clinking our glasses to Livy’s water bottle.
Aubrey’s phone starts ringing, and she retrieves it off the coffee table.
“Oh, it’s Beckett, hold on,” Aubrey takes the call, heading into the kitchen so she can talk.
“I can’t believe you’re pregnant,” Collins says, staring at Livy.
“I know, it’s crazy. We’re growing up,” Livy teases.
“When did this happen?” Collins says, grinning. “I swear we were just in college yesterday!”
I’m quiet while they talk. Livy is married, running her jewelry line, and is now becoming a mother. Collins will marry Luca this summer and is living her dream as a riding instructor.
Their lives are sorted. They have plans for their futures.
Which only underscores in my head what a mess my life is.
Aubrey comes back into the living room, interrupting my thoughts.
“Apparently, you aren’t the only one who is coming to Chicago,” she says, looking directly at me.
“What?” I ask, confused by her comment.
“There’s been a trade,” Aubrey says slowly. “Beckett just found out. In exchange for future draft picks, Houston has sent a player to the Buffaloes.”
My heart stops. I can’t speak.
Houston.
The team Hunter plays for.
Could it be?
No. It can’t.
That’s stupid.
The odds are ridiculous of this happening.
Aren’t they?
“One Hunter Riley is on his way to join his new team in Florida tonight,” she says.