Dangerous Curves Ahead: A Perfect Fit Novel Read Free Page A

between Ellis and her sister. After their huge argument they didn’t speak for months. Even four years later they could barely stand to be in the same room. Dina had broken her trust as a sister, but Mike … Even though he had been inside her home, even though they spent three hours alone talking about everything that came to their minds, as soon as Dina came around he had forgotten about her. He proved to her that hot guys don’t go after brainy fat girls.
    She wanted to blame him for Jack. For making her feel like she was not good enough. But that wasn’t fair because that’s just what guys like him did. Maybe she should blog about the experience and call her post “The Man Who Ruined Love for Me.” But she disregarded that thought as soon as it entered her mind. It was too dramatic even for her.
    “Ellis?”
    She looked up to see Belinda in the doorway. Belinda became her best friend in high school. She was curvy and exotic and the most fashionable person Ellis had ever met. But besides just her best friend, she was Size Me Up’s store manager. Ellis thanked God daily for her experienced, efficient retail manager. She would have been sunk long ago without her.
    “I love you, Belinda,” she blurted out. “I mean it. I’m really glad that you quit your job and took a pay cut to work for me. You know I couldn’t do this without you and I promise that as soon as we start bringing in more cash I will give you a huge raise.”
    “I rather have a shrine built to my awesomeness,” the redhead grinned. “But honestly, honey, you know I’d rather work for you than that old bitch who was draining the life out of me. That combined with the much shorter commute is worth the shitty pay.”
    “I really wish I could pay you more,” she said seriously.
    “I know.” Belinda sighed after hearing that promise for the hundredth time. “I won’t leave here until we go down in flames, and we won’t. So stop stressing so much. The customers love this place. We’re going to be fine.”
    “From your lips to God’s ears,” Ellis mumbled, feeling slightly better.
    “Well, boss lady.” Belinda glanced at the clock. “I came in here to remind you that if you don’t leave right now, you’re going to be late for dinner at your parents’ house.”
    “Shit.” Ellis looked at the clock and then at her calendar. “Shit. Was that tonight?”
    She wasn’t sure if she could tolerate a dinner with her parents (her mother) after the day she’d had.
    “Yes, and hurry before Phillipa calls here.”
    “I’m going.” She stood, shoving the last bit of cookie in her mouth before running out the door.
    *   *   *
    Instead of driving to her parents’ cottage she decided to walk. It gave her a chance to burn off the cookie she’d inhaled and get reacquainted with the town she had left ten years ago. Rhode Island. Boston. Manhattan. The whole time she was away pursuing a career she didn’t want she knew that something was missing in her life. It took a brutal breakup with Jack to make her realize that this place was what was missing in her life. Durant was a college town. A cool place with dozens of funky shops and cafés, an expansive green where new bands played every Saturday night, and young idealistic kids filling the streets. But it was more than that. At its heart Durant was a small town, with locals who cared about one another and a sense of community that she had a hard time finding elsewhere.
    She opened her shop on St. Lucy Street because it was the lifeline of the small city, and even though she had been away for so long not much had changed. Mrs. Underwood still ran the yarn shop. Postal worker Mr. Conner still stopped into every shop on his daily route, and the guy in the purple bandanna still played his guitar on the patio of the Don Luca Café for lunchgoers every day.
    It was good to be home. And good to be near her parents again. Even though they sometimes drove her crazy, she’d rather be near them