Category: Other
Language: EnglishKeywords: Contemporary Contemporary Romance Enemies-to-Lovers Forced Proximity Friends to Lovers New Adult Romance Slow Burn Small Town Romance
Written by Michelle Gross
Format: M4B
Make no mistakes about it. I know what I look like to others. Young, government-aided, pregnant mom. They see Lucy on my hip, and they see a mistake. I mean, why else would someone have a child so young, right? They couldnât be more wrong. Iâm too busy most days between parenting, work, and finishing up my last year of nursing school to let their judging gaze tear me down until he moves in the vacant house next to the apartments I live in.
His cold, blunt observation of us doesnât differ from any other stranger. He doesnât know me, but heâs already painting a picture of who he thinks I am in his mind. He judges my very round belly, Lucyâs inability to leave him alone, the bags under my eyes, and the fact that I could not care less what I look like anymore.
Heâs a rude guy. Stays that way for months too. Then something happens, Iâm not even sure what. Judgmental Guy decides Lucy and me â as well as baby Eli â are worth his friendship.
Turns out, Judgmental Guy isnât too mean â okay, he kind of still is. But he graduates to Elijah. I build an unlikely friendship with him which deems it necessary for him to start smiling around me and my kids.
Iâm wrong again. Elijah isnât rude. Heâs terrifying. His strange acts of kindness are unraveling me. Elijah is only my friend.
Right?
Oh, fudge. I think Iâm wrong. Again.
Make no mistakes about it. I know what I look like to others. Young, government-aided, pregnant mom. They see Lucy on my hip, and they see a mistake. I mean, why else would someone have a child so young, right? They couldnât be more wrong. Iâm too busy most days between parenting, work, and finishing up my last year of nursing school to let their judging gaze tear me down until he moves in the vacant house next to the apartments I live in.
His cold, blunt observation of us doesnât differ from any other stranger. He doesnât know me, but heâs already painting a picture of who he thinks I am in his mind. He judges my very round belly, Lucyâs inability to leave him alone, the bags under my eyes, and the fact that I could not care less what I look like anymore.
Heâs a rude guy. Stays that way for months too. Then something happens, Iâm not even sure what. Judgmental Guy decides Lucy and me â as well as baby Eli â are worth his friendship.
Turns out, Judgmental Guy isnât too mean â okay, he kind of still is. But he graduates to Elijah. I build an unlikely friendship with him which deems it necessary for him to start smiling around me and my kids.
Iâm wrong again. Elijah isnât rude. Heâs terrifying. His strange acts of kindness are unraveling me. Elijah is only my friend.
Right?
Oh, fudge. I think Iâm wrong. Again.