Titolo: Getting by
Autore: Claudia Y. Burgoa
Genere: New adult contemporaneo
Trama: When Emma Anderson arrived at San Francisco International Airport, she regretted accepting the distinction of being the maid of honor to Gaby’s—her childhood friend—wedding. It had been years since the last time she set foot in Menlo Park, where her parents had been killed. The rug where she had been shoving her feelings since that day looked bumpier than a camel’s hump. Who could blame her; if she hadn’t been selfish they’d still be around. Ever since that fateful day, Emma has been perfecting the knack of Getting By.
Cade’s wedding in Menlo Park—a city close to San Francisco—might be the perfect place for Jake Knight to shake the memories of his ex, Emma Anderson for good. Single, available women galore for an entire week was the perfect medication, one he intended to take three times a day for an entire week to return to his player days. It was a plan the former spy thought flawless until he came face to face with the maid of honor. Jake’s perfect retreat turns into a flight, fight or hide week of celebrations.
Trama: When Emma Anderson arrived at San Francisco International Airport, she regretted accepting the distinction of being the maid of honor to Gaby’s—her childhood friend—wedding. It had been years since the last time she set foot in Menlo Park, where her parents had been killed. The rug where she had been shoving her feelings since that day looked bumpier than a camel’s hump. Who could blame her; if she hadn’t been selfish they’d still be around. Ever since that fateful day, Emma has been perfecting the knack of Getting By.
Cade’s wedding in Menlo Park—a city close to San Francisco—might be the perfect place for Jake Knight to shake the memories of his ex, Emma Anderson for good. Single, available women galore for an entire week was the perfect medication, one he intended to take three times a day for an entire week to return to his player days. It was a plan the former spy thought flawless until he came face to face with the maid of honor. Jake’s perfect retreat turns into a flight, fight or hide week of celebrations.
Claudia Y. Burgoa lives in Colorado with her family and three dogs. Two beagles who believe they are human, and a bichon who thinks she’s a beagle. While managing life, she works as a CFO at a small IT Company. She’s a dreamer who enjoys music, laughter and a good story.
ESTRATTI
#1
Nights meant sleep and dreams—my archenemies. The Crowley to my Dean Winchester, the Green Goblin to my Spider-man, the list of superheroes and their opposites was long, and so became the analogies I used on a daily basis. My lack of sleep began with Dad and his conditions for me to continue my art. Then came my parents' deaths. Those took a toll on me because I mixed dreams with realities and hopes. Not once did I have a nightmare, all of them were sweet and real. Seeing Mom and Dad on those nights filled my gut with nails, and my head pounded with the reminder that they were gone the next morning. Those had been merely fantasies that would never become a reality.
For the past three months I had been evading sleep and working overtime, over the overtime. The dreams of elevators, trips to sophisticated-secluded spots after a week of work and delicious nights with a man who I was required to forget in order to move on, came daily—nightly. They not only hit me with vengeance, but they came tangled with what humans liked to call hope. The urge to crawl inside myself to avoid the need of his touch, kisses and whatever it was that we had not long ago, consumed me. If I had the powers to morph into an animal, it’d be a sea turtle and I’d stay inside my shell for the next hundred years. Past the stage of melancholy and into the real world, I pushed my body outside of the bed and into the shower, where I got ready to face the Clements and the house next door.
#2
On the drive back to the hotel, Mom, Dad and Cade talked about what a great family those Clements were. I continued driving, tuning them out. Mitch gave me the ‘what’s going on’ look. The twin connection kicked in. He knew me too well. Gaby’s like my best friend, maid of honor and loner by choice reminded me of Emma, my Emma Anderson, whose sister was into weird stuff. Pain, and two guys…. I shook my head at the mental picture that came to my mind by fusing Chloe and her sister.
Funny I never ran a background check on my girl, nor did I check if such a sister existed or what her story was. I respected her boundaries, we did light and uncomplicated. Emma didn’t know much of my background either. She didn’t know what I truly did for a living. She used to call me a Rent a Cop. Mercenary, bounty hunter and security intelligence were more accurate. The fortune I owned wasn’t important to her, or how I made it. Grandfather left us enough money to begin a few ventures, and by the age of nineteen Mitch and I had started a few businesses. Our game was to start businesses and then sell them at a high price. While my brother tended said ventures, I went through special training and worked for a specialized agency; the easiest term to apply was spy.
I did the gig until a tender loving asshole blew a whistle and compromised my mission, killing my unit and barely missing me. The said unknown agency made me retire, and I went back into the business world while my body recuperated. The hero gig ended and my years as a civilian began, though when I recovered the itch to open my own operation and claim part of who I wanted to be pushed me to open a high security company. Liam joined our business ventures when he graduated and now we owned a sizable amount of places, including an advertising company—where my lovely Emma worked.
In a foul mood, I parked close to the emergency exit, got out of the car and headed toward the bar. Mom yelled something about breakfast behind me, but I ignored the woman.
What were the odds that Emma would be Gaby’s friend? Serendipity had a fucked up sense of humor; the odds increased five percent with each step I took toward the bar of the hotel. And Chloe’s little sister, fuck, no way would I get tangled with the freak case Gavin had described for years. Hold on, yes, I was with her for more than twenty four months.
Liam sat next to me and ordered two scotches. “Emma’s on vacation,” he said. Was this a conversation about Gaby’s friend? Because I had come to the bar to numb myself, not rehash my screwed up life.
“So?” I shrugged, gulped my shot and ordered another one.
He shook his head and continued talking. “I sent a general email to the creative department to see who’ll pick up your project.” I gave him a glare. “She’s out.”
“Emma is never on vacation. She might still answer,” I responded. Emma didn’t respect her free time. She craved work, needed it, her drug of choice, like Gaby said. I told him to give it to whoever he thought directly, not… fuck. I worried, because why was she on holiday? The wedding? “Why is she off, is her grandfather sick, again?”
“I don’t know,” Liam answered, and Mitch arrived from wherever he had been and sat on my other side. Why were they flanking me? I didn’t need babysitting. “Though, I heard she moved them from their house to an assisted living community. Again, not much information, you know she keeps to herself. But you’re over her, right?” Liam, who adored Emma for her amazing talent, kept my relationship and her job separate. “I think she’s Gaby’s little friend, Jay.
We saw her. Here, today.” The words were said with enough pause so they would sink in.
I gulped two more shots ignoring the conclusion Liam gave me. Clearly I was going to run into her, wedding or not. The question was what the fuck was I going to do when I saw her?
“One week of unadulterated awkwardness,” Mitch finally spoke. I wanted to punch the smirk off his face. “So, you getting drunk again?”
#3
“You sure about being here?” She nodded, answering my question. Then I slipped one of the migraine pills in her hand and opened a bottle of water. I noticed that Mom and Dad had walked over to Gaby, who waited for them on the corner of the street. After gulping her medicine and water, she handed the bottle over to me. “Text me if you need me to pick you up earlier, Pretty Girl.” She nodded again and I kissed her temples. “Liam, can you walk her to the shop, please?”
Mitch couldn’t hold his tongue any longer, and spoke up, saying, “What was that about?” I glared at him. “Mom being too quiet is scary, right? You want to throw her at her own game? Am I next to be extremely nice with Emma, as if she was my girl?” I grinned, he got me. “Pointers for it to work. Try to change your concerned look, stop drooling and perhaps Mom might believe you.” I narrowed my eyes. “Yeah, it was that obvious since we hit the hotel restaurant at eight this morning, Jay. You were too couple-like. Let’s run you through the breakfast highlights.
“You spotted the girl and ran to her whispering in her ear, giving her a stupid smile I’ve never seen you wear before.” I smirked, remembering the fork, and snorted. Ignoring me, he continued, “At breakfast you two were sitting too close for comfort. Not even Mom and Dad were that close. The best part wasn’t the medicine errand you ran for her. No.” No? I put a hand on the back of my neck and continued listening to the play by play that made me look like a moron in love. “The freaky part, where everyone dropped their jaw at the table, was when Emma reached toward your plate and grabbed strips of your bacon.” I shrugged, what was wrong with it? “Not once, but several times. No one is allowed to touch your food, Jake. Ever since we were little, you hated it. Yet, Emma touched your food, and while she was doing it, you were a millimeter from kissing her. You two are too comfortable with each other, and the daunting part, Jake, is that the two of you fit so well that you don’t realize how wrong everything looked for the ones that don’t know about your relationship.”
“Or for the ones that know you two broke up,” Liam added. I didn’t notice when he came back. “The parental units are suspicious, Jake. Come clean and put some space between you and Emma before Mom chooses the wedding location and makes Dad buy the two of you a house next door to theirs.”
“Did you have to deal with the TMI all the time, Li?” Mitch shivered after Liam nodded with a blank stare. “I never checked to see if the girl I slept with used the pill or not. Add to that the hot factor that she carries condoms in her magic bag.”
“It’s different when you’re with a girl for more than one n—” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Can we not talk about my girl?” I gulped after uttering the last two words and began to think about some form of rehabilitation to move on.
Nights meant sleep and dreams—my archenemies. The Crowley to my Dean Winchester, the Green Goblin to my Spider-man, the list of superheroes and their opposites was long, and so became the analogies I used on a daily basis. My lack of sleep began with Dad and his conditions for me to continue my art. Then came my parents' deaths. Those took a toll on me because I mixed dreams with realities and hopes. Not once did I have a nightmare, all of them were sweet and real. Seeing Mom and Dad on those nights filled my gut with nails, and my head pounded with the reminder that they were gone the next morning. Those had been merely fantasies that would never become a reality.
For the past three months I had been evading sleep and working overtime, over the overtime. The dreams of elevators, trips to sophisticated-secluded spots after a week of work and delicious nights with a man who I was required to forget in order to move on, came daily—nightly. They not only hit me with vengeance, but they came tangled with what humans liked to call hope. The urge to crawl inside myself to avoid the need of his touch, kisses and whatever it was that we had not long ago, consumed me. If I had the powers to morph into an animal, it’d be a sea turtle and I’d stay inside my shell for the next hundred years. Past the stage of melancholy and into the real world, I pushed my body outside of the bed and into the shower, where I got ready to face the Clements and the house next door.
#2
On the drive back to the hotel, Mom, Dad and Cade talked about what a great family those Clements were. I continued driving, tuning them out. Mitch gave me the ‘what’s going on’ look. The twin connection kicked in. He knew me too well. Gaby’s like my best friend, maid of honor and loner by choice reminded me of Emma, my Emma Anderson, whose sister was into weird stuff. Pain, and two guys…. I shook my head at the mental picture that came to my mind by fusing Chloe and her sister.
Funny I never ran a background check on my girl, nor did I check if such a sister existed or what her story was. I respected her boundaries, we did light and uncomplicated. Emma didn’t know much of my background either. She didn’t know what I truly did for a living. She used to call me a Rent a Cop. Mercenary, bounty hunter and security intelligence were more accurate. The fortune I owned wasn’t important to her, or how I made it. Grandfather left us enough money to begin a few ventures, and by the age of nineteen Mitch and I had started a few businesses. Our game was to start businesses and then sell them at a high price. While my brother tended said ventures, I went through special training and worked for a specialized agency; the easiest term to apply was spy.
I did the gig until a tender loving asshole blew a whistle and compromised my mission, killing my unit and barely missing me. The said unknown agency made me retire, and I went back into the business world while my body recuperated. The hero gig ended and my years as a civilian began, though when I recovered the itch to open my own operation and claim part of who I wanted to be pushed me to open a high security company. Liam joined our business ventures when he graduated and now we owned a sizable amount of places, including an advertising company—where my lovely Emma worked.
In a foul mood, I parked close to the emergency exit, got out of the car and headed toward the bar. Mom yelled something about breakfast behind me, but I ignored the woman.
What were the odds that Emma would be Gaby’s friend? Serendipity had a fucked up sense of humor; the odds increased five percent with each step I took toward the bar of the hotel. And Chloe’s little sister, fuck, no way would I get tangled with the freak case Gavin had described for years. Hold on, yes, I was with her for more than twenty four months.
Liam sat next to me and ordered two scotches. “Emma’s on vacation,” he said. Was this a conversation about Gaby’s friend? Because I had come to the bar to numb myself, not rehash my screwed up life.
“So?” I shrugged, gulped my shot and ordered another one.
He shook his head and continued talking. “I sent a general email to the creative department to see who’ll pick up your project.” I gave him a glare. “She’s out.”
“Emma is never on vacation. She might still answer,” I responded. Emma didn’t respect her free time. She craved work, needed it, her drug of choice, like Gaby said. I told him to give it to whoever he thought directly, not… fuck. I worried, because why was she on holiday? The wedding? “Why is she off, is her grandfather sick, again?”
“I don’t know,” Liam answered, and Mitch arrived from wherever he had been and sat on my other side. Why were they flanking me? I didn’t need babysitting. “Though, I heard she moved them from their house to an assisted living community. Again, not much information, you know she keeps to herself. But you’re over her, right?” Liam, who adored Emma for her amazing talent, kept my relationship and her job separate. “I think she’s Gaby’s little friend, Jay.
We saw her. Here, today.” The words were said with enough pause so they would sink in.
I gulped two more shots ignoring the conclusion Liam gave me. Clearly I was going to run into her, wedding or not. The question was what the fuck was I going to do when I saw her?
“One week of unadulterated awkwardness,” Mitch finally spoke. I wanted to punch the smirk off his face. “So, you getting drunk again?”
#3
“You sure about being here?” She nodded, answering my question. Then I slipped one of the migraine pills in her hand and opened a bottle of water. I noticed that Mom and Dad had walked over to Gaby, who waited for them on the corner of the street. After gulping her medicine and water, she handed the bottle over to me. “Text me if you need me to pick you up earlier, Pretty Girl.” She nodded again and I kissed her temples. “Liam, can you walk her to the shop, please?”
Mitch couldn’t hold his tongue any longer, and spoke up, saying, “What was that about?” I glared at him. “Mom being too quiet is scary, right? You want to throw her at her own game? Am I next to be extremely nice with Emma, as if she was my girl?” I grinned, he got me. “Pointers for it to work. Try to change your concerned look, stop drooling and perhaps Mom might believe you.” I narrowed my eyes. “Yeah, it was that obvious since we hit the hotel restaurant at eight this morning, Jay. You were too couple-like. Let’s run you through the breakfast highlights.
“You spotted the girl and ran to her whispering in her ear, giving her a stupid smile I’ve never seen you wear before.” I smirked, remembering the fork, and snorted. Ignoring me, he continued, “At breakfast you two were sitting too close for comfort. Not even Mom and Dad were that close. The best part wasn’t the medicine errand you ran for her. No.” No? I put a hand on the back of my neck and continued listening to the play by play that made me look like a moron in love. “The freaky part, where everyone dropped their jaw at the table, was when Emma reached toward your plate and grabbed strips of your bacon.” I shrugged, what was wrong with it? “Not once, but several times. No one is allowed to touch your food, Jake. Ever since we were little, you hated it. Yet, Emma touched your food, and while she was doing it, you were a millimeter from kissing her. You two are too comfortable with each other, and the daunting part, Jake, is that the two of you fit so well that you don’t realize how wrong everything looked for the ones that don’t know about your relationship.”
“Or for the ones that know you two broke up,” Liam added. I didn’t notice when he came back. “The parental units are suspicious, Jake. Come clean and put some space between you and Emma before Mom chooses the wedding location and makes Dad buy the two of you a house next door to theirs.”
“Did you have to deal with the TMI all the time, Li?” Mitch shivered after Liam nodded with a blank stare. “I never checked to see if the girl I slept with used the pill or not. Add to that the hot factor that she carries condoms in her magic bag.”
“It’s different when you’re with a girl for more than one n—” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Can we not talk about my girl?” I gulped after uttering the last two words and began to think about some form of rehabilitation to move on.
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