PROLOGUE
“I amliterally living the dream right now,” I said into the phone, tipping my headback to gaze up at a dark, gloomy, Scottish sky.
Ihad to say it. It was the type of statement a woman in my position was supposedto say, except this wasn’t the dream. It wasn’t even close. The dream was totraipse this countryside with my husband, to make love on the bank of a remotelake, and kiss in the dark corners of every pub Scotland has to offer, the waynewlyweds do. The dream was never to do it alone, or to find my fiancé’s dickburied between the legs of his best man’s wife.
Alot of dreams were shattered that day.
“See?”Rosie said, using a voice too heavily coated with encouragement and positivity.“Didn’t I tell you that you’d still have a good time?”
“Yeah,you did.”
Shehad said I would, very insistently, in fact, and I had eventually believed it.But now that I was here, in the adorably quaint little town of Fort Crow,Scotland, I couldn’t confidently say that I was having a good time at all. Eventhough I could now say I had done everything I had always wanted to do, andseen everything I had always wanted to see, I was still never supposed to do orsee any of it alone.
“But?”
Isighed, dropping my gaze to the cobblestone road beneath my feet. “I wish youcould’ve come,” I said, repeating the same sentiment I’d had on a loop beforeembarking on what should have been the adventure of a lifetime.
“Iknow, Gracie, and if I didn’t have to do this mom thing, I would’ve.”
Isniffed a small, sorrowful laugh. “We could’ve gotten a ticket for TJ, too, youknow.”
Rosiescoffed. “Uh, excuse me. There is no way I’d ever go to Scotland while beingsaddled with my sixteen-year-old pain in the ass.”
“Comeon,” I groaned, rolling my eyes, as I turned a corner toward a busier part oftown. “It would have been good for him.”
“Oh,absolutely! But you know who it wouldn’t have been good for?”
“Who?”I asked, feeling my smile building and knowing exactly what she was going tosay.
“Me!”she exclaimed. “How the hell could I find some hot, kilted guy to have aone-night stand with, if I also had my kid to worry about?”
Mylaugh rang loud and clear above the bustling street of restaurants, shops, andpubs. Flickering lanterns lit my way toward the corner, where I’d find theinnI had called home for the past week and a half, and Icould hardly wait for my head to hit the pillow. It had been a long, exhaustingtrip, full of tour groups, a seemingly never-ending amount of walking, and alittle more shopping than my credit card could afford. Now, with my flightscheduled for bright and early the next morning, I was more than ready for agood night’s sleep.
“That’strue,” I agreed. “He definitely would’ve cock-blocked you.”
“Yeah,no kidding. I swear he isn’t happy unless he knows I’m miserable.”
Ismiled fondly at the thought of my only nephew, who recently turned sixteen andwore it well. His attitude filled even the biggest room, and he was slowlydriving us all toward insanity with his disinterest in everything other thangirls and video games. Yet I adored that boy,hormonesand all, and I couldn’t wait to see him again.
“Youknow that’s not true,” I insisted, stilllaughingandshaking my head.
“Well,then you go ahead and tell him that his mom needs to get laid, okay? Because ifhe ruins another one of my dates, I’mgonnahave tokill him.”
“Oh,stop. It’s not that bad.”
“Gracie,”Rosie drawled dryly. “It’s been five years, and that was with Tommy.”
Mylips turned downward with sympathy at the mention of her ex-husband. It hadbeen an amicable divorce, but TJ hadn’t taken it well, as was expected. Evenafter all these years had passed and his dad had gotten remarried, TJ was stillguarding his mother with teenaged threats and murderous glares at any man whodared to look her way.
“I’mgonnabuy you a dildo for your birthday,” I teased,before clapping a hand over my mouth at the shocked expressions I received froma few wandering locals.
“Youreally think I don’t have one already?”
“Oh,God,” I groaned, laughing.
“BecauseI do. Like, I’m talking about a whole arsenal.”
“I’mso happy for you,” I muttered, tittering with giggles as I wandered past thelarge, front window of a dimly lit pub.
