Page 14 of Not On Your Life

“No, I don’t see any more moles.”

Lyndi sighs before returning to me. “Crew, of course. He was hoping he had more moles than Jaxon, but he only has three and Jaxon has seven.”

I snort. “And what does the winner get?”

“Hopefully the dead snake currently decaying on my back porch. Crew dug it up this morning when I made the horrible mistake of going to the bathroom alone.”

“How dare you relieve yourself in peace!” I joke. I can just picture Lyndi discovering a dead snake in her child’s hands. I’d pay good money to see that show.

“So what happened with Connor?” she says. “Did you make him do all those awful things in the gym that I hate?”

I pull a salad from the fridge. She hates every exercise at the gym, so the odds are on her side.

“I might have given him a few week-twelve exercises,” I admit, smiling even now. It was one of the best moments of my life, seeing that six-three man crumpled in half and wheezing.

“And was he as stubborn as you and made the whole thing a competition?”

I scoff. “I didn’t make it a competition.”I did win on the treadmill, though.

“You makeeverythinga competition,” Lyndi says. “Remember the cupcake contest with Ward’s family?”

I purse my lips. “Vaguely.” I also vaguely remember making Ward’s niece cry when my masterpiece was chosen over hers.So?“What’s wrong with a little competition?”

“Besides making kids cry? Hmm, what else? Oh yeah, it makes everyone else feel insecure, insignificant, inadequate, in—”

“All right, I get it.” I cut her off. “But Connor has done that enough to me. He deserved it.”

“Maybe he deserved it,” she says, “but how long are you going to make him pay?”

“That’s a good question.” I drizzle some vinaigrette over my salad. “Is forever too soon?”

“You said he wanted to talk, right? Wouldn’t it be so much easier on you if you listened to what he had to say and sent him on his merry way?”

I’ve thought of that. But it would be far too easy to let him win in that scenario. I don’t want to hear his excuses. I want my job back. Case closed.

“Someday you’re going to have to let a man catch up to you,” Lyndi says, and I freeze with a bite of spinach halfway to my mouth.

“I go out all the time.” Well, I haven’t in a couple of months, but… “It’s not like I’m out of reach.”

“No, you don’t have a problem attracting men, but you scare them all away. You’re too good at everything, too perfect.”

“I do not scare men away.”

“Then what happened with Matt?”

I knew she was going to bring him up. “We weren’t right for each other.”

“Agreed, but he was still a good guy. A sweet man who was so intimidated by you that when you broke up with him, he practically rolled over like a puppy so you could rub his tummy.”

I cringe. “You made that sound worse than it was.”

“He fixed your faucet. And put a new lock on your door.Afteryou broke up with him.”

Yeah, that was awkward. “I didn’t want him to. I told him I’d hire someone.”

“But he was so lovestruck, you could probably call him up right now and he’d drop everything to help you.”

“That seems like a personal problem.” She’s right, Matt was very sweet. But this had been during the almost kidnapping situation. Had I pushed him away too easily?