Page 1 of Maybe This Time
CHAPTER 1
TALYA
The only appropriateway to officially celebrate reaching your midlife crisis was to spend your twenty-fifth birthday in complete darkness, wearing the extra-large stained shirt you’d kept longer than you should have, a display of too much Thai takeout to feed one person while watching Harry tell Sally that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her for the millionth time.
Others might call me boring, but when your birthday was on the busiest night of the year, going out wasn’t exactly something I was keen on doing. Especially when too many kids were roaming the streets trick-or-treating and bars were packed with people in their twenties dressed in barely anything while they got shit-faced.
There wasn’t anything wrong with drinking and dressing slutty—hell, I wished I did it more often—but when you got to my age, the idea of discomfort and bad hangovers wasn’t exactly high on my list of priorities.
I quickly wiped away the lone tear that had escaped as the credits rolled and grabbed the remote nestled next to me on the green fuzzy blanket that desperately needed a wash. I was aboutto press replay on one of my favorite movies when my phone buzzed with an incoming video call.
My parents were on a flight to Amsterdam to celebrate their fortieth anniversary and had already called me this morning while I was working at the shop. Which meant the only other person who could be calling was my dear older sister.
I wanted to ignore her call so badly, but I knew better. I loved Josephine, but she constantly reminded me that I ignored her call, claiming that she could have been dying and I was the reason for her perish. She still brought up the time when I didn’t answer her very important call to help her choose a dress for her date even though I was in the middle of a chemistry final.
Groaning, I stretched my body across the couch, blindly rummaging under the pillows for my phone until my fingers wrapped around the device. So much for uninterrupted time.
Before it sent her to voicemail, I swiped right and answered her call, settling back into my seat.
“Your frontal lobe is officially developed,” my sister screamed as her face filled the screen.
I chuckled and shook my head, my eyes briefly flitting to the vintage grandfather clock near my front door. “Technically, there are still a few hours before that happens. Also, isn’t it almost midnight in London?”
She raised one of her perfectly arched brows. “Your point?”
“Don’t you have your big special shoot bright and early tomorrow?” I asked.
Josephine was a photographer at Femmora, one of the biggest fashion magazines in the world. She’d been recruited right out of college after one of her photos had gone viral online. She split her time between New York and London and only came home to Boston for the holidays.Ifher schedule allowed it. I hated being apart from her for so long since we grew up joined at the hip despite our seven-year age gap.
She ignored my question and said, “Why are you sitting in the dark?” Her eyes narrowed and a scowl took over her features when she realized why. “Talya Morrone, tell me you’re not home alone on your birthday watchingWhen Harry Met Sallyinstead of going out with your friends?”
I winced, knowing I had been caught red-handed. While I spent most of my time either at home or at Roots,my pride and joy plant shop I opened three years ago after I graduated from Boston University, my sister was the complete opposite. She was daring and loved spending a night out. Whenever she was in town, she made it her mission to rectify my lack of social life by making me spend every waking second out of the house. Thank God I had my best friend Sammie to run the shop when Josie was here.
I made a mental list of excuses I could use to justify spending my twenty-fifth birthday at home, but with the terrifying way she was looking at me right now, I knew she’d instantly know I was lying. They usually said twins could read each other’s minds, but my older sister always had this weird sort of radar when it came to my bullshit.
“It’s Halloween, remember? Sammie took Rain and Frankie trick-or-treating with her husband.”
As much as it sucked to be alone on my birthday, I would never ask her to miss her son’s first Halloween to celebrate my birthday.
“What about everyone else?” she asked, confused that Sammie was my only option.
I sighed, unsure what to say. Sure, I had friends growing up, but it was hard keeping in touch when most moved out of state for college. Eventually, we all fizzled out and making new friends as an adult was hard as fuck. If Sammie hadn’t stumbled into my shop on opening day, desperately looking for a bathroombecause her morning sickness was so bad, we probably would have never met.
Besides, the only other person I really wanted to celebrate with other than my sister wasn’t here.
“Talya?” Josie said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“They were busy, too,” I settled on, my fingers toying with one of the loose strings fraying from the blanket. I really should buy a new one.
“It’s a good thing your favorite sister always plans ahead,” she quipped, a grin tugging at the corners of her lips.
Before I got a chance to ask what she meant by that, the doorbell rang. My brows furrowed because I wasn’t expecting anyone. I’d left a giant bowl of treats for the kids in my neighborhood with a sign that said to take whatever they wanted so I wouldn’t have to get up every time.
“I think that’s for you,” Josie remarked, her smile widening as the expression on my face grew more confused.
I hated surprises. They were unpredictable and Ithrivedon predictability. I hated feeling unsettled and unprepared for situations. Another reason in the long list of why I didn’t like going out. At least at home, I knew what to expect.
“What did you do?” I asked as I stood and headed for the front door. After signing for the package, I turned on the lights, wincing at the sudden brightness, and carried the large box to the wooden kitchen island since my coffee table was littered with food containers from the family restaurant I’d ordered from.
