Madison

Madison~

"This city better be everything that you promised, Blue."

I grinned at the grumpiness in his voice. "To be fair, I didn't exactly twist your arm to move here, Mr. Edleman," I pointed out. "You arrived in this fine city of your own free will."

Pierce shot me a look over the kitchen bar. "Did I really, though?"

Now, though I'd already had a best friend in River Primrose, Pierce Edleman was a close second to River. While River had claimed the title for the past seven years, Pierce had really put in the work these past twelve months, so he definitely deserved some credit.

Of course, River and Pierce weren't the only wonderful people in my life, something that I never took for granted. My parents, Wayne and Caroline Amber, were the best kind of parents that a girl could ever have, and I did my best to let them know it every chance that I got. My father was a pediatrician, and my mother was an arts professor, but they hadn't ever let their demanding careers take precedence over their children. My parents had put in the effort and hours to keep things in our household balanced as we'd been growing up, and they were still my life's safety net, always there for us.

In addition to my parents, River, and Pierce, I had a younger sister, and Eris was what I wanted to be when I grew up. While I wouldn't call her spoiled, she definitely danced to her own music. In fact, she was the kind of person that might hijack the DJ booth, unafraid to dance to whatever the hell she wanted. Eris owned a beauty salon, and my sister was in her element when she was playing hostess at her shop. She was a real people person, and she couldn't have chosen a better career.

As for River, she was a high school PE teacher, and she had the body to prove it. Though River was curvy, they were toned curves, and she wasn't afraid to show them off. With her auburn hair, green eyes, and five-foot-three frame of pure energy and drive, River Primrose was a hell of a catch. We were the same age at thirty-one, but River always seemed way more worldly than I was.

When I had first introduced River to Pierce, she'd been surprised, but accepting. It also hadn't hurt that Pierce was certified eye candy. He was six-foot-one of pure muscle, had light brown hair and hazel eyes, and the guy was smart as hell. He had also managed to get a job with House Marketing, only as a graphic/app designer and not a marketing executive like I'd had. Pierce Edleman was definitely easy on the eyes, and the fact that he was a great guy made him a certified unicorn in a world of donkeys.

Now, when I'd gotten the job at House Marketing, I really hadn't been expecting that Pierce might actually want to move to Fidelity with me. After making the decision to finally come home, I'd never guessed that I wouldn't be coming back alone. It also wasn't easy moving to a new town, but Pierce had embraced the new job and new adventure like a pro. He'd also been eager to meet my parents, Eris, and River. Even though I'd been gone a year, I had stayed in touch with my family and River through millions and millions of video chats, so Pierce had been adamant about wanting to finally meet them all.

I cocked my head as I looked over at Pierce. "Are you suggesting that I might have kidnapped you?"

"Are you suggesting that I would have allowed you to return home alone?" he countered, arching a perfectly sculpted brow. I was pretty sure that Pierce woke up looking perfect.

The day of my disastrous wedding, I'd gone straight back to my parents' house, had called up my Aunt Sheryl, then had gone all Mission Impossible on everyone. With the help of my parents, Eris, and River, I had managed to make it to Aunt Sheryl's without leaving a trace of where I'd gone. After my dad had driven me six hours away from Fidelity, he had convinced a stranger at the train station to purchase a ticket for me, lying about me running away from an abusive ex. Once I'd gotten on the train, my exhausted emotions had finally caught up with me, and I had slept for most of the trip to North Dakota.

When I had arrived in Coralship, my aunt had been waiting for me, and she'd been kind enough to let me live with her under the radar for as long as I'd needed to. However, because I wasn't a freeloader, in exchange for her help, I had worked my ass off on her ranch from morning until midnight most days. I had learned so much, and the solitude had been such a welcomed reprieve during that time in my life. Seriously, my aunt had been a godsend.

It hadn't been until four months after I'd moved in with my aunt that I'd met Pierce. He owned and had been managing the nearby horse ranch, and according to my aunt, he'd been her hero many times over the years. Aunt Sheryl had been widowed a few years back, but instead of selling her land and living comfortably off the profits, she had chosen to stay on the ranch and work it with the help of a few of her loyal ranch hands, Pierce teaching them everything that he knew.

"I'm a big girl, Pierce," I teased. "I can drive, buy beer, and even vote."

"You can also be a pain in the ass," he replied dryly. "Such a talented woman you are."

"I'm glad you finally noticed," I sassed back.

"Noticed that you're a pain in the ass?" he retorted. "I noticed that about you the second that your aunt introduced us, Blue."

Even though the nickname had come about from a very painful time in my life, I didn't mind it. Even after four months of licking my wounds, Pierce had begun calling me Blue almost right away because he'd said that he could feel the sadness radiating off me, no matter how much I'd lied about not being sad anymore. Unable to deny it for long, the nickname had stuck, but I was okay with it now.

When the videographer had burst into my dressing room at the church that day, I'd never felt such a level of betrayal, though heartbreak might be a better word. She'd overheard Raddix and Troy talking, and she'd felt that it'd been her duty to let me know what she'd heard, possibly preventing me from making the worst mistake of my life.

Thankfully, no one in my bridal party had tried to talk me out of my emotions. No one had placed their opinions over how I'd been feeling at the time, and that had been the support that I'd needed to fuel my escape. Even with all the money that my parents had spent on the wedding, they hadn't tried to convince me to talk to Raddix or work it out for the sake of ‘appearances'. I had needed to disappear, and they had helped me do that, keeping my secrets all this time later.

Honestly, without the help of my aunt and Pierce, I have no idea if I would have been strong enough to come back to Fidelity. Aunt Sheryl had provided me with peace, and Pierce had provided me with purpose, and I was never going to be able to pay them back for that. I'd never felt a heartbreak like that before, and when I remembered how I'd cry myself sick during those first few weeks, it was a miracle that I had managed to move on in just a year's time.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," I retorted, sticking my tongue out at him like a child.

"Luckily, I still have my ranch in Coralship in case living with you starts to drive me crazy," he said as he kept unpacking the kitchen boxes.

"Coward," I muttered as I started unboxing the living room stuff.

"Hey, be grateful," he said. "If I had sold the place, packing up everything, we'd be up to our necks in bullshit that needs to be unpacked."

"Okay, that's a valid point," I agreed. "Moving does suck."

"Plus, it'll give us an excuse to visit Sheryl when I go back to check on the place," he added.

I eyed him over the box sitting in front of me. "Do you plan on going back a lot?"

Pierce caught the tone in my voice. "No, you cuckoo clock," he replied. "In case you've forgotten, I have a job here that will require my utmost dedication for the first few years."

I grinned, taking the hint. "Then you can become lazy after that?"

"There's a lottery win in my five-year plan," he said, throwing me a wink.

"What a coincidence," I joked. "That happens to be in my five-year plan, too."

"All we have to do is start buying tickets, then we'll be halfway there."

The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking everything that we'd brought with us, which hadn't really been much. While Pierce had been adamant about wanting to move back with me, I understood why he hadn't sold his ranch. It was easier to make a big move in your life when you had a safety net in place. Fear of failure was a real thing, and while Pierce didn't suffer from that particular affliction, we all had our own emotional baggage that seemed to follow us around like melted gum on the bottom of our shoes.

Nevertheless, we'd made the decision to come back here, and the plan was to make the most of it. While living together was going to take some getting used to, I knew Pierce well enough to know that our little idiosyncrasies weren't anything that we wouldn't be able to work through. Plus, the things that we did have in common were the important things. Above everything else, Pierce and I had a mutual respect for one another, and that was far more important than whether or not someone left the cap off the toothpaste.

Hours later, my phone chimed with a text message, and I couldn't help but smile.

Eris: Dinner at my place 2night

Despite the painful memories, it really was good to be back home.