Because she needed the money.

She wasn’t struggling or anything, but she wanted to give Angie a good house. A big one with a huge yard and room for her play. She wanted to show Rick that she sure as hell didn’t need him. Yeah, he rubbed it in her face that he had a new house, but that was because his mom had bought it for him. He still bragged, though, and she couldn’t wait until the day she had everything she dreamed of. Because she had worked for it. To do that, though, she had to work and pay off her debt that she and Rick created during their short, hellish marriage. And because of that, she would put glitter on top of leopard if that meant she got paid. She just hoped that Michelle would like her ideas a little more. She had to keep her reputation, for God’s sake, and glitter on top of leopard for two twenty-five-year-olds was not going to do that.

Maybe she could pass it off as a teenager’s room on her webpage?

She didn’t get too far into orders before her phone rang once more.

“Gah,” she complained as she picked up her phone and saw it was her mother. Letting out an annoyed breath since she had so much to do, she knew she couldn’t ignore her mom. Not because she didn’t want to—she did—but because Autumn Sinclair would call back until she got ahold of her.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Honey! Guess what?” her mother cried out.

“What?” she groaned, not matching her mother’s excitement.

Her mother squealed, “River proposed! I’m getting married!”

Her heart stopped.

She knew she was supposed to smile. That she was supposed to be happy. Her mom was getting married! She was happy, and that’s all Lucy wanted for her after the nasty divorce from her sperm donor of a father. But in some weird, misery-loves-company way, Lucy liked that she and her mom were both single and lonely. Well, that was until Coach came around, but she’d never thought her mom would get married again.

Before her.

God, she was pathetic!

And an asshole. She was an asshole.

Letting her head fall to the table as she held back a groan, she closed her eyes tightly.

Wow. Could this week get any worse?

“I love this weather. It’s not cold but it’s not hot, and you need a coat, y’know?”

Talk.

Fucking talk.

Move your mouth.

You haven’t been laid in months.

Okay, years.

You need this!

She’s willing!

Jesus, you’re hopeless.

Looking away, Benji Paxton shook his head as the beautiful blonde eyed him with confusion lacing her blue eyes. She probably thought he was interested. Probably thought he wanted to go home with her. Hell, he needed to go home with her. It had been way too long and they were clicking. He was ignoring his friends just to talk to her, but something was holding him back.

She just wasn’t his type.

She was too much like her.

Like Ava.

Shaking his head, he looked back at her. “Sorry, you’re gorgeous, but I don’t want to lead you on. I’m hanging with my friends, so yeah, I wish you the best. Sorry.”

Of course, he was awkward about it. That was Benji, one big, awkward son of a bitch. The girl obviously meant no harm. She was nice and had a pretty face, but he couldn’t do it. It just didn’t seem right. Disrespectful almost to Ava’s name.

When he heard his buddy, Vaughn Johansson, the newly acquired forward for the Nashville Assassins, the NHL team Benji played for, laugh, he held back an eye roll as he tried to smile at the girl. But he looked more like he was in pain.

Twisting her face in confusion, she held up her palms up at him. “Whoa, I just wanted to know where you got your jacket so I can get it for my husband. Didn’t want to seem weird, started some small talk, but never mind,” she said before getting up and walking away.

Oh.

“Macy’s,” he called to her retreating back, feeling every bit the idiot he was. Wow, he misread that to the extreme. But, really, what was he thinking? Girls don’t pick up dudes in Chipotle. God, he was pathetic.

Sputtering with laughter, Vaughn leaned back in his chair as his big body shook with the hilarity of Benji’s mistake.

“Shut it, asshole,” Benji mumbled as he jerkily grabbed for his burrito. Well, wasn’t he the mayor of idiot city? Taking a huge bite while Vaughn continued to cackle at him, Benji sat there thinking this was getting old. One would think that by now he would have this female game down. But then, how could he, when he hadn’t had a real relationship since Ava died? A few little flings but nothing that was real. It was insane and something had to change; the only problem was he didn’t know how to change it.

He didn’t know how to get rid of the guilt.

And he was lonely.

Really fucking lonely.

“What made you think she was hitting on you?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. She had the eyes on her.”

“Yeah, the eyes on your coat,” Vaughn scoffed, his blue eyes blazing with amusement. “You’re such a dork.”

Making a face, Benji shook his head. “Why am I friends with you?”

Vaughn grinned widely, his false, white teeth shining in the light as he pointed to them. “Because you knocked all my teeth out when we were back in Jersey and you feel bad for it.”

Benji thought that over. It hadn’t been a good day when he shot from the blue line and Vaughn dropped down to block the puck. But the puck didn’t hit the pads on his body. Nope, it hit the front of his mouth. He was right, Benji felt like shit for a while, but that wasn’t why he was friends with him.