My Favorite Mistake
A Love Like That Novel
R.L. Kenderson
Contents
1. Madeline
2. Griffin
3. Madeline
4. Griffin
5. Madeline
6. Madeline
7. Madeline
8. Madeline
9. Griffin
10. Madeline
11. Griffin
12. Madeline
13. Madeline
14. Griffin
15. Madeline
16. Madeline
17. Griffin
18. Madeline
19. Madeline
20. Griffin
21. Griffin
22. Madeline
23. Griffin
24. Madeline
25. Madeline
26. Griffin
27. Madeline
28. Madeline
29. Griffin
30. Griffin
31. Madeline
32. Madeline
33. Griffin
34. Madeline
35. Griffin
36. Madeline
37. Madeline
38. Madeline
39. Griffin
40. Madeline
41. Madeline
Epilogue
Also by R.L. Kenderson
About the Author
My Favorite Mistake
Copyright © 2020 by R.L. Kenderson
All Rights Reserved
* * *
ISBN-13: 978-1-950918-12-6
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Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com
Cover image:
Photographer: J. Ashley Converse, J. Ashely Photography, www.facebook.com/jashleyconversephotography
Model: Austin Loes
Designer: R.L. Kenderson at R.L. Cover Designs, www.rlcoverdesigns.com
* * *
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
My Favorite Mistake
My First Mistake:
Breaking up with my boyfriend right before I turn thirty.
* * *
My Second Mistake:
Requesting my expert-in-the-sack best friend, Griffin, give me a leg-shaking orgasm as a birthday gift.
* * *
My Third Mistake:
Lying to myself that I wouldn’t fall for my best friend just because we slept together.
* * *
My Fourth Mistake:
Accidentally telling Griffin I love him.And losing our friendship forever.
One
Madeline
I watched my boyfriend, Harris, pull a suit from his closet and frown.
“Did you hear what I said?” I asked from my seat on the end of his bed.
Harris walked over and laid his clothes over his traveling garment bag without taking a single glance in my direction.
“Harris?”
He looked up at me, startled, almost as if he’d forgotten I was even there.
Sadly, this had been the state of our relationship lately.
“What?” he asked.
“Friday night.”
“What about Friday night?”
I ground my teeth together as I stopped myself from reaching over and strangling him. “My friends want to get together for my birthday.”
I watched a variety of emotions cross Harris’s face. In the year and a half we’d been dating, he’d never hidden the fact that he didn’t care for my friends, and I sat and waited for him to make up an excuse as to why we couldn’t go.
Harris pursed his lips. “Why don’t you and I go out to dinner on Friday instead?” He smiled at me, giving me one hundred percent of the Harris Starling charm. It was the Harris smile that had gotten me to go on a date with him. And it was the Harris smile that had gotten me to sleep with him.
But now, it did nothing for me.
I mentally rolled my eyes because I was not some business deal he had to make. And I didn’t answer right away because I didn’t want to say something snarky I’d regret.
I picked up my phone and texted my best friend, Griffin.
Me: Guess what.
* * *
Griffin: You won the lottery.
* * *
Me: Ha! I wish. No. I called it. Harris is trying to convince me to ditch you guys on Friday and go to dinner with him alone.
* * *
Griffin: Fucking prick. And you didn’t call it. I did.
* * *
Me: Technically, we both did.
* * *
Griffin: What did you tell him?
I looked up from my phone to see Harris had moved over to his dresser and was pulling out socks and underwear. I hated his tighty-whities. I never found them attractive.
Boxers or boxer briefs were better.
Commando was the best.
My phone buzzed in my hand.
Griffin: You still there? What did he say?
“We’re going to dinner on Saturday night,” I reminded Harris.
He paused and turned around. “Hmm?”
I sighed. “We’re having dinner on Saturday, remember? That’s why I wanted to go out with my friends on Friday.” My tone had gone from casual to firm as I had to remind him of our plans once again. This was not the first time he’d forgotten.
Guilt flooded Harris’s face, and his brown eyes avoided mine.
“What?” I asked with full-on irritation now. I knew him well enough to know that whatever he was going to say, I wasn’t going to like it.
“I’m leaving town.”
I lifted an eyebrow and looked at his clothes and luggage strewn about his bed. “I know.”
“No, I mean, I’m leaving on Saturday now instead of Sunday.”
“It’s Wednesday, and you’re just telling me this now?”
He shrugged. Shrugged.
“You do realize, my birthday is on Friday? A birthday you promised to be in town for.” It wasn’t every day that your girlfriend turned thirty.
Harris’s blond brow furrowed. “I thought that your birthday was on Saturday.”
I dropped my face in my hand and rubbed my forehead. I was so tired.
My phone vibrated in my other hand, so I peeked at it.
Griffin: Dump his ass.
Keeping my head down, I shot back a quick message.
Me: You don’t even know what he said.
* * *
Griffin: It wasn’t good if you’re not even telling me what he said.
* * *
Me: You’re right. He doesn’t even know what day my birthday is.
* * *
Griffin: Break it off. You deserve better. Besides, you’re always whining about not getting any.
I chuckled. Griffin always had a way of making me smile.
And that was why he was my best friend.
Me: I don’t whine.
But Griffin was right. Harris and I hadn’t had sex in weeks. We hadn’t had decent sex in months. And unfortunately, we’d never had great sex.
Maybe I did complain a lot. I would never admit to whining though.
“What’s so funny?”
I looked up at Harris, standing there with his hand on his hip, judgment on his face.
He probably
had a good guess as to who I was texting, and I was sure he didn’t like it.
Griffin and Harris had never gotten along.
I lost all humor as I stood and looked Harris in the eyes. It wasn’t hard, as he was only two inches taller than me.
“Don’t worry about dinner on Friday or Saturday.”
Harris cocked his head. “I don’t understand.”
“We’re not going to dinner either night.”
“Don’t you want your birthday present?”
“From you?” I said as I headed for the bedroom door. “No.”
I heard the dresser drawer close behind me and the click of Harris’s dress shoes on his hardwood floor as he followed.
Thank God it’d never become my hardwood floor.
Harris had asked me to move in more than once, but I always had a reason to say no.
Now, I knew the reason was gut instinct.
“Madeline, I don’t understand.”
I grabbed my jacket and purse from the couch on my way to the front door without answering right away.
The man was undeniably clueless.
I yanked open the thick oak door and turned around as the cool autumn air hit my back. “I don’t need your birthday present because I am giving myself the best one.”
He frowned. “And what’s that?”
I grinned. “I am getting rid of you.”
“What?”
“It’s over, Harris. I’m done.”
A thousand pounds fell from my shoulders, and I felt freer than I had in months.
I turned toward the outside air and sucked in a deep breath before pulling on my coat.
Damn, it felt good.
“You can’t break up with me.”
I looked over my shoulder at Harris. “I just did. Have fun on your business trip. Please don’t call me when you get back.”
I stepped out onto the front stoop and closed the door behind me. “Good riddance,” I muttered. I hit a button on my phone and lifted it to my ear.
“You got Griffin,” a deep rasp said in my ear.
Hearing his voice made me realize I had made the absolute best decision. My bestie was going to be so proud of me.
“Hey.”
“Hey. I was wondering if I was ever going to hear back from you.”
“I did it.”
“Did what?”
“I broke up with Harris.”
Griffin laughed in disbelief. “You’re shitting me.”
I smiled at the sound of hope in his voice as I unlocked my car and got behind the wheel. “I’m serious.”
“About fucking time,” Griffin said a little too loudly in my ear, and I pulled the phone back with a grin.
I heard his big boots hit the floor and then the creak of his office door opening. I pictured him walking the hallway to the main room of his bar.
“She dumped his ass,” Griffin shouted to the room, and I heard a bunch of cheers erupt. He put the receiver back to his mouth and said, “Hear that? Everyone’s excited for you.”
Griffin had worked hard on opening his bar, and he had a steady stream of regulars who liked to hang out almost every night. They all knew about my boyfriend and how Griffin didn’t like the guy.
I grinned. “Yeah, I heard.”
“They all want you to come in, so they can buy you a drink,” he told me.
I didn’t know if that was true, but I didn’t care. I could use one right about now. “I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“See ya then, Mads.”
Two
Griffin
The second Madeline walked into my bar, I slid over a cold bottle of her favorite beer.
She took a long swig before she even sat down.
“Ahh…” she said as she pushed her dark blonde hair over her shoulder. “That tasted better than it should have.”
I grinned. “It’s the taste of being single.”
She rolled her eyes. “And you would know.”
“Hey,” I said as I picked up a glass to dry it. “I’m not against relationships.” I was just against relationships where my best friend dated assholes who thought they were better than other people.
“Then, why are you never in one?” Madeline asked with a sparkle in her brown eyes.
She liked to put me on the spot.
But the joke was on her because I wasn’t embarrassed.
I shrugged. “I date. I’ve just never met anyone I wanted to get serious with.”
She eyed me over her beer as she took another sip. “Mmhmm,” she said knowingly.
“He’s too busy sleeping around.”
I turned my eyes to Albert, one of my regulars. He was in his eighties and was in my bar every afternoon. He said alcohol kept him young. I was pretty sure his liver might disagree, but I wasn’t going to judge. After all, he never got wasted, and his moderate drinking habit helped pay the bills.
I spread my hands out onto the bar and leaned in. “And how would you know, old man?”
Albert wasn’t wrong. I did like to have sex, and it wasn’t always with the same woman.
But I didn’t shit where I ate, which meant I never took a woman home from my bar. This was my place of business, and I wasn’t going to jeopardize everything I’d worked so hard for. I didn’t need rumors floating around that I slept with customers, and I didn’t need someone getting clingy with me and wanting more than I had to give. It would look bad.
Plus, I found that the illusion of me and my bartenders being unattached kept the single women coming to my bar. And if single women came, the single men followed, and they were the ones who really brought in the money. My regulars who lingered through the week kept the lights on, but it was the Friday and Saturday night singles crowds that made it possible for me to pay for everything outside the bar, like food and clothes.
Albert scanned me up and down. “You remind me of when I was your age. Good-looking. You work out and own a business. You can’t tell me the ladies don’t like you.”
Madeline laughed and leaned over to get closer to Albert. “You’re right. Our friend here is an S-L-U-T.”
I frowned at her.
She shrugged and sat up. “What? I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. It’s just a statement of fact.” She took a drink. “I’m thinking of becoming a slut myself.”
“Becoming?” I teased.
“Ha-ha, Griff. You’re hilarious.” She stuck her tongue out at me. “In case you forgot, I just got out of a year-and-a-half relationship.”
“True. But you have to remember, I’ve known you forever. I remember how you were in high school and heard plenty of stories from college.”
She smiled wistfully, as if she was reminiscing about the past. “Yeah, I had some good times.”
“I like loose women.” Albert sighed. “But they don’t seem to like me much anymore these days.”
While I laughed, Madeline almost choked on the beer she’d sipped on when Albert spoke, and she patted his hand after she was able to stop coughing. “Hang in there. I’m sure you’ll find someone.”
Not if he kept coming to my bar every day rather than putting himself out there, but I wasn’t complaining.
I propped my elbows on the bar and moved in close to Madeline. “How are you doing? Really?” I asked in a low voice.
She picked at the label on her beer bottle before meeting my eyes. “I’m good. Really.”
I raised my eyebrows.
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, I’m a little sad, but things hadn’t been good with Harris for a long time. I only wish it hadn’t taken me so long to realize it.”
“So, what did you tell him?”
She snorted. “Well, after he told me he was going to be out of town for my birthday—”
I winced. Jackass.
“I told him not to worry about going out to celebrate Friday or Saturday.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked if I still wanted my birthday present.”
“And?”
She grinned. “I told him that I was already giving myself the best birthday present. I was breaking up with him.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “I bet he loved that.”
“Not so much.”
I laughed some more, picturing Harris’s face as she’d delivered her birthday line. I wish I could have been there.
“Aren’t you the least bit curious as to what he got you for your birthday?”
Madeline scrunched up her nose. “After Christmas, no.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
Harris had gotten her a new vacuum after her other one broke. It was top of the line and expensive, but…dude.
“Even I’m not that clueless.”
She wiggled her eyebrows at me. “So, what are you getting me for my birthday?”
“I read online that all women want is a dress with pockets, so…”
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