Tessa Ever After by Brighton Walsh Read Free Book Online Page A

you’ll be able to go through. That’ll really piss him off.”
    For the first time all day, I laugh. “You have a point.”
    “All right, I gotta run. Keep me posted on the Tess thing.”
    “There’s no Tess thing.”
    “Like I said . . . Later.”
    I shake my head as I end the call, knowing he’s wrong. He has to be. There can’t be anything between me and Tess . . . period. She is the very definition of off-limits.
    And a night out is exactly the thing I need to remind me of that.
    tessa
    I slip out of Haley’s room, having just tucked her in, and head into the living room. I have time to do only a quick pickup of the shit lying all over the floor before the back door swings open. Iglance up to see my best friend, Paige, standing there with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. “Hey,” I say as I go over and give her a hug. “What’s with the ice cream?”
    “I broke up with Tom.”
    “Who’s Tom?” I follow behind her as she heads straight for the kitchen.
    She pulls out two spoons, offering me one, then uncaps the container and digs in. Despite partaking in my ice cream obsession with me, she never manages to gain an ounce. Or if she does, it goes straight to the right places—the places that give her the perfect hourglass shape. The first time I met her, I had her pegged as a snooty, real-life Barbie doll with her long, wavy blond hair, her bright blue eyes, and a figure that makes girls hate her. And then she opened her mouth and swore like a sailor, and we’ve been best friends ever since. Around a mouthful of ice cream, she says, “I met him last weekend when I was out.”
    “And you were seeing each other seriously enough that you had to have a breakup conversation? I didn’t even know about him.”
    “Well, I stayed at his place the whole weekend . . . and a couple times this week.”
    I roll my eyes and scoop out some ice cream. “When are you going to realize you’re not going to meet a good guy in a freakin’ bar?”
    “Hey, Winter and Cade met in a bar,” she says, pointing her spoon at me.
    “That’s different. She worked there, and Cade’s not a sleazy asshole.”
    “I’m just saying . . . you never know what kind of guys are going to be there.”
    “But you do know! They’re the same assholes you’ve been spending nearly every weekend with for the last six months!”
    She waves me off before digging in for another bite. “Whatever.”
    “So what was wrong with this one?”
    Scrunching up her nose, she shudders a little. “He left his used floss on the sink. If that’s how he is after only a weekend with each other, can you imagine how he’d be after a year? No thank you .” She scoops another bite and around the mouthful asks, “How about you? Any keepers in the sea of online dating?”
    I groan, slumping in my seat. My thoughts about wanting someone around to share the burden, someone around to make the nights less lonely come back to me, and I’m even more defeated. Because I haven’t gone out with anyone I can see a future with. “I don’t know. They’re all . . . fine. I mean, on paper they’re perfect. And then I meet them, and I . . .”
    “Want to punch yourself in the face?”
    Laughing, I say, “Something like that. I just haven’t clicked with anyone. I want to click with someone, you know? Where when that first kiss happens, it’s like all that cheesy stuff you see in the movies.” I sigh. “It’s stupid, but I want to be swept off my feet.”
    Paige just stares at me, blinking a couple times. She shakes her head and sighs. “Sweetie, it’s time to put the romance novels down, m’kay? Shit like that doesn’t happen in real life. Hell, I’m just thrilled if the guy gets me off before he passes out on top of me, to hell with sweeping me off my feet. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
    I cough, nearly choking on the bite of ice cream I just inhaled. “God, Paige.”
    “What? It’s the truth. Haven’t these guys ever