Obsession Falls (The Haven Brothers #1)

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Thanks. What about your parents?”

“They’re still here, in the house I grew up in. Honestly, I partially blame them for my unrealistic relationship expectations. They met in preschool, were friends their entire lives, started dating in high school, got married, and have been blissfully happy ever since.”

“That’s so sweet.”

“They really are. My parents are nice, but they don’t understand why I’m still single in my thirties.” She paused, letting a piece of my hair drop. “Actually, I don’t understand why I’m still single in my thirties, but here we are.”

“I know the feeling. I’ve dated and even had a couple of relationships that I thought might be the one. But nothing has ever worked out. Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing wrong. I’d love to get married and have a family but it just hasn’t happened yet.”

“I feel the exact same way. Are we long lost sisters?”

“I think we might be.”

“At least you have the advantage of being the new girl. You’re interesting. And you don’t have memories of every eligible bachelor in town from when they were still afraid of your girl cooties.”

“Have you ever thought about moving somewhere else?”

She shrugged. “Yes, but no. I love living here and I don’t particularly want to live anywhere else. Plus I have my salon and it would be hard to start over professionally. I just keep hoping some dashing gentleman will appear and sweep me off my feet with over-the-top romantic gestures and we’ll build a house on the river and fill it with babies.”

“That’s not specific at all.”

“I know, I know.” She sighed again. “But it could happen.”

“It absolutely could. You deserve a dashing gentleman.”

“Thank you.” She stopped cutting and fluffed my hair, then checked the length on either side of my face. “Speaking of gentlemen, I can’t say I know everyone in Tilikum, but I do know a lot of people. If you ever want the inside scoop on someone before you take a chance on a date, let me know. There are plenty of good guys around, but definitely a few I’d need to warn you about.”

I felt a nervous flutter in my belly. I hoped Josiah Haven wasn’t one of the ones she’d warn me about. Not that I wanted to date him or anything. “Oh, really? Who would you suggest I avoid?”

“Let’s see. Joel Decker for sure. He’s been divorced twice and he’s a jerk in general. His sidekick, Cory Wilcox, is just as high on the jerk scale. I probably don’t even need to warn you about those two, though. If you meet them, you’ll see what I mean.”

“I don’t think I’ve met either of them.”

“And I’d be careful of anyone with the last name Montgomery. Some of them are perfectly decent people, but there are some bad eggs in that family.”

“Good to know.” I waited, wondering if she was saving the worst for last and I was about to find out that Josiah had ten kids with six different women or something. But she didn’t continue. “I guess I haven’t met a lot of people, now that I think about it. Mostly the people at work and Missy at Happy Paws. And Josiah Haven.”

“Oh yeah? How do you know Josiah?”

“I’m renting a house from him.”

“You must have met Annika Bailey, then. She’s one of my best friends.”

“I did. She seems super nice.”

“She’s fabulous. You’d love her. We’ve been friends since we were little, along with our other bestie, Isabelle. You’d love her, too. I’ll have to see if we can all get together. Although planning things is tricky, since they have six kids between them.”

“Wow, six?”

She nodded. “Annika has four and Isabelle has two. I adore their sweet little families.”

I heard a hint of sadness in her voice, despite her smile. “I bet it makes the single in your thirties thing a little bit harder, though.”

“Does it ever. I feel like I can’t admit that to them, though. I love being the favorite auntie and I don’t want them to feel like they have to hold things back from me to spare my feelings. But yes, seeing my two best friends living their dream lives does make mine seem a little lonely.”

“I totally understand.”