Page 41 of Life’s Too Short

He lowered the temperature on the oven. “Other than making it hard to get to Seattle to see her, I don’t think my issues had any bearing on Rachel.”

“So did you have any serious relationships before her?” I asked.

Adrian folded his kitchen towel into a perfect square and set it on the counter. “A few. I dated someone in college for a couple of years. Dated people on and off. My job makes it hard to make time. She was the first girlfriend I had in…three years?”

I pulled my face back. “Wow. She must have been pretty special.”

He blew a breath out, but he didn’t answer.

I felt my face go soft. “Are you okay? Finding out someone’s married is a really shitty way to break up.”

He nodded. “I’m okay. Or I will be. Eventually. Having someone to hang out with helps.”

I smiled and kissed the top of Grace’s head. “We should toast.” I picked up my wineglass and raised it. “To just friends.”

He gave me a crooked smile. “To just friends.”

We clinked our glasses.

CHAPTER 9

MAN TRAPPED IN GRUESOME AVALANCHE! YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT BURIED HIM!

ADRIAN

I woke up thinking about Vanessa.

It was incredible to me that I didn’t know her before this. That I didn’t realize someone so vibrant lived right next door. It seemed like the kind of thing that would have been self-evident. A warmth that I felt through the wall.

Last night she’d brought over a 2013 Far Niente cabernet. It was exquisite. We ate dinner and started watching The Office, but we ended up talking so much we paused it and never got back to it.

I’d done some digging around on her while she was dealing with her dad and his “stolen vehicle.” I searched “Vanessa Price” and clicked on the video with the most views. It was with some other YouTuber named Willow Shea and the video was the two of them eating ghost peppers. It was hilarious.

Then I’d checked her Wikipedia. It was brief. She was a staunch advocate for disability rights and had a charity committed to raising funds for the cure of ALS—and she was famous, a fact I’d gleaned from the amount of fan mail she had and the five million views on the ghost pepper video I’d watched.

I was hoping I’d see what her old job used to be, but the Wikipedia page was sparse.

She’d said she didn’t date because the women in her family die young.

Her mom had died in a car accident and her sister died of ALS. I’d done a quick Google search of it. It was a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Causes muscle atrophy and eventually leads to death. Raising money for ALS had spawned that Ice Bucket Challenge from a few years ago. Stephen Hawking had had a slowly advancing version of it.

It was very awful and very rare. Ninety-five percent of all cases were random, which meant it probably wasn’t hereditary for her. Her dad was alive and well and while her mother had died when Vanessa was young, it wasn’t ALS that killed her. Wikipedia didn’t list any other of her relatives that had had it. Shit luck that her sister developed it, but it didn’t sound like anything Vanessa had to worry about.

With two untimely deaths in the same family and a sister hell-bent on self-destruction, Vanessa probably thought she was living out some real-life Final Destination movie.

Of course, that was ridiculous and something I think she’d eventually get over. Something I hoped she’d get over. She was too incredible to be lonely forever.

And she’d been right. I’d underestimated the restorative nature of a new sink sponge.

I was standing in the kitchen making a cappuccino. It was barely 8:15. I had no plans today and was thinking of hitting the treadmill when my phone rang.

The house phone at Richard’s.

My good mood immediately evaporated.

When I’d called Mom yesterday to ask her how to clean up Grace after her diaper fiasco, she’d thought I was calling to tell her I was coming for Christmas. She was surprised that I was watching someone’s baby. She was less surprised that I was still sticking to my guns and refusing to be anywhere in Richard’s presence.

I picked up, thinking it was going to be another guilt-trip phone call from her.