The Things We Leave Unfinished Novel Free

“Hey,” she said with an awkward smile as she opened the door. “Thanks for seeing me.” One day I would get used to those eyes knocking me off my feet, but today was not that day. Her hair was up, too, revealing the long line of her neck. I wanted to run my lips along…

She laughed, and an ache flared in my chest, demanding to hear the sound again. “What would yours read?” she asked. “You first.” “Hmm…” She shut off the faucet, then lifted and tipped the watering can over the rosebush. “Warning-trust issues.” She lifted a brow at me. That made perfect sense. “Warning-always right.” She scoffed,…

“You could have had more than one. I think it’s expected.” Scarlett’s own glass was still full. “I wanted to have a clear head.” His lips tugged upward. He wasn’t about to be drunk the first time he got his hands on her. Hell, he’d nearly carried her over his shoulder to their new house…

That was one year more than Gran had lived, and though I knew it was greedy, I wanted it. Out of every year I’d been alive, this was the one I’d needed her the most. Noah pivoted, consuming the space in front of me, looking at me with such intensity that I had to fight…

I miss you. I need you. Nothing here is the same without you. Constance thinks we might be able to move the rosebush, but I’m not sure we should. Why uproot something that is happy right where it is? Unlike me. I’m wilting here without you. Keeping busy, of course, but you’re never far from…

I flinched. It wasn’t, though. “Give it back!” Oliver wailed. “It’s mine!” Danielle shrieked. Both Hazel and I spun, but Danielle raced right past us, Oliver on her heels. “For fuck’s sake,” Hazel muttered to the heavens, already moving. “You cannot leave your door-oomph!” Noah’s voice bellowed from the entry. Before we could make it…

“I didn’t mind-whoa.” He came up short, staring at the expanse of garden that Gran had loved. “It’s an English-style garden, naturally,” I explained as we started down the path between the trimmed hedges. Fall had set in, bringing out the oranges and golds everywhere but the greenhouse. “Naturally,” he said, taking it all in,…

“Both, like you said. Do you want to know the marketing budget, too?” he teased. I shot him a glare. “Are you really willing to forsake general fiction and be shelved in the-gasp-romance section? Because the guy I met in the bookstore last month definitely wasn’t.” He blinked, drawing back slightly. “Hmm. Hadn’t made it…

I grinned. “I never make them,” I admitted like it was a dirty little secret. She tugged her bottom lip between her teeth. Shit. I wanted to suck it free. The bottle crinkled in my hand. “Never stood a woman up for a date?” “I always say that I’ll do my best to make it,…

Stop looking at her fucking hips. “What are you afraid of?” I turned my Mets cap backward and shoved my glasses to the top of my head. “Falling off the mountain!” She pointed to the rock face. “It’s a pretty realistic fear when you think about climbing it.” “Think of it as vertical hiking.” I…