Fall Too Well (Cozy Creek Collection)

by Erin Branscom

Sometimes I wish he was on that little submarine that went searching for the Titanic. I’m just so tired of dealing with him. Just leave a girl alone to live and enjoy her autumn. The fall season gives me life, and I don’t need any nonsense right now.

I can’t help it that fictional characters are often better than real people.

But hindsight is twenty-twenty, right? Instead, I gave some of my precious younger years to dickhead Richie, who did nothing but treat me like crap.

My life is busy and empty at the same time. Most days, the silence is so fucking loud and lonely.

“Why the sudden interest in my dating life? I just got out of the worst marriage ever. I don’t need to date. In fact, I’m in my old-lady era now. I work at a library. I bake, read books, and drink tea. I’m in bed by nine o’clock reading. This is my life now. I won’t find an eligible man who would want that under eighty years old.”

We were practically strangers living alongside each other for years,

“I definitely do not need to find a guy. I’m all set. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt,” I say as I pull down three bowls. “And that T-shirt can go in the trash,” I mutter.