Page 1 of Firecracker

Chapter One

Moving into a fifty-five-plus seniors’ complex in Fort Meyers, Florida, was about as appealing as having her hoo-haw bleached.

Hey, apparently vaginal whitening was a thing.

Arden shook her head. Never mind cosmetic procedures for rarely seen body parts. She had more important things to focus on. Like where the hell she was going to live.

She sighed and stared at her email on her laptop. It was nice of Mom and Dad to offer their spare bedroom, but it wasn’t going to happen. She knew exactly how that would go down—they’d wrap her up in a blanket and hug her and feed her carbs and tell her everything was going to be okay.

That sounded pretty good, actually.

No. Arden lifted her chin. She’d handled all the crap for the last year on her own. She wasn’t going to regress into the pampered princess she’d been when she last lived with her parents. She was a grown woman and she was taking charge of her life.

She was going to have to take her little brother’s charity offer instead.

She rubbed her forehead where the chronic ache was worsening. She had enough money in her bank account to cover the move from Phoenix to Chicago, and a tiny cushion, but the word “tiny” when referring to her savings made her stomach cramp and panic flutter in her throat. She had to be out of the house on June 30. That gave her three weeks to pack and ship what furniture and household items she wanted to keep, sell off the rest, and get out of town.

Going home to Chicago wasn’t so bad. She’d left there to go to college ten years ago and she still missed it. Phoenix was lovely, but it was different, and now it felt like a prison. She couldn’t leave home without thinking people were looking at her, judging her, pitying her, or wondering how she could have been so stupid.

She was wondering that herself.

For an intelligent, educated woman, she’d fucked up epically. Now here she was, twenty-eight years old, homeless, penniless, and widowed.

Arden squeezed her eyes closed at the stab of pain. It was still hard to believe Michael was gone. She’d spent the last ten months coming to terms with that, grieving, even though she’d no longer loved him at the end—and didn’t that jab of guilt just add to the pain—but he was her husband.

All their hopes and dreams, gone, in the blink of an eye.

Hell, the truth was, her hopes and dreams had been slowly dying over the last few years. While she’d watched her friends’ perfect lives unfold on Facebook, she’d pretended her life was equally perfect. But it wasn’t. And wasn’t that a guaranteed trip to Depressionville, constantly watching the illusion of everything her friends apparently had that she didn’t.

She sucked in a long breath, lifted her chin and focused on her laptop. Fingers flying over the keyboard, she messaged her brother.

Hey, Jamie! I’ve given it a lot of thought and decided to take you up on your offer of Apartment 4 if it’s still open!

Her little brother the tech geek had become a multimillionaire with his business StatTrakker, and had been buying properties in Chicago, including the four-unit building in Lincoln Park where he lived. He rented out two other units to friends, and one was currently vacant.

His reply came quickly.Great! When are you arriving? We’ll try to get it habitable before you get here.

Eeek. Habitable? That didn’t sound promising.

You sure this will work? I can go stay with Mom and Dad…*shudder*

Ha! Yes, it will work. We’re in the process of renovating that unit—the last one to be done. So you’ll have to put up with Tyler doing some work, that’s all.

Tyler was Jamie’s long-time best buddy. She remembered him hanging around with Jamie when they’d been younger. Nice kid, though he and Jamie had been equally gangly, awkward, and goofy. Tyler’d been tall and skinny with major orthodontic work. The two boys had been sixteen when she’d left for college.

Sure, that’s fine, she typed back.Beggars can’t be choosers. Then she added a smiley face, even though it was a sad truth.I’ll let you know my flight details as soon as I book it.

She looked around the nearly empty ranch-style house she’d shared with Michael the last four years of their five-year marriage, filled with brilliant Arizona sun. She loved this house and giving it up was hard. But in a way, it was for the best. There were painful memories here that she wanted to leave behind. She’d start over in Chicago.

The uncertainty of her life filled her with churning dread. But it would be okay.Shewas okay. The last year had been a nightmare, but it was done now, and it was time to move on.

She couldn’t book a flight online because she had no credit cards anymore, so she had to go to a travel agent where she could write a check. She’d already sold their two vehicles, so she had to walk to the bus stop, which wasn’t exactly close. In the hundred-degree afternoon heat, she was soon wilted and sweaty.

When she’d accomplished that errand, she had one more stop to make. She paused in front of the shop, eyeing the sign that said “Diamond Joe’s.” She sucked briefly on her bottom lip, then entered.

The small store was lined with glass display counters full of gold, silver, and gems that glittered in the fluorescent lights. She crossed to the back counter where a man was inspecting a piece of jewelry with a loupe. He looked up at her and smiled, his round face creasing. He was round everywhere…the top of his bald head, his face, his belly in a strained white shirt. “Hello,” he greeted her. “How can I help you?”

She bent her head to look at the diamond wedding set on her left hand. She’d loved these rings so much. She couldn’t help but remember the day Michael had proposed to her, how giddy and in love they’d been—probably too young to get married but with stars in their eyes as bright as the diamonds on the engagement ring, they’d imagined a perfect life together.

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