Hearts Like Ours | Red View Romance #1

🍎 One

The long drive through the late-summer countryside was just what Layla needed. By the time she was driving into Red View, a quaint and picturesque town, there was a smile on her face that she hadn't felt in months. Brick sidewalks were lined with rowhouses that had been converted into businesses, while large trees and lush flowerbeds brought the Virginia nature right into town. By the looks of it, staying there for the next two weeks would be even more of a vacation than she thought.

Funny to consider it a vacation, when she was on the most important job of her life. But being away from New York City, away from her parents and her fiancé, all while getting to do the one thing she really loved? Yeah, she had a feeling she wasn't going to be happy when all this was over.

Layla's phone rang just as she pulled up to a stop sign, while a young mother and her toddler crossed in the crosswalk in front of her car, both holding ice cream cones. She willed the call to be spam—no such luck. The word Mom stared her in the face until she answered it, pulling over to the curb.

"Mom, hi. I just pulled into Red View."

"Oh, good," her mother's voice came through the car speakers that had been playing music from her phone. "Your father got antsy when you hadn't called yet. Kept going on about how we should've insisted you fly there."

Her mother said it as if she hadn't been droning on for the past week about how ridiculous it was to drive to Virginia when she could fly first class.

You'd think I was attempting to drive across the Atlantic, Layla thought with a silent, humorless laugh.

"Yeah, well, I'm running a little late." She checked her smartwatch, frowning at the time. It was already five, and she was supposed to head out to have dinner with her clients and the family of the bride. At this rate, she'd have to head over there first and check into the hotel after. "Besides, I told you guys I wanted to go for a drive. I mean, don't you ever miss driving? God knows you don't get to do any in the city."

"God knows I don't want to. No, Layla, I'm normal. I do not miss driving. I happen to like that there's no traffic in the sky."

"There isn't much traffic outside of New York City, relatively speaking." Even as she shook her head, there was a half-smile on her face, equal parts amusement and annoyance. "You'd book a flight for something that was thirty minutes away if you could."

"I just don't get it is all, but I'm happy you're enjoying yourself. We'll be happy when you're back home though—you know, it's a shame you left today. Jake Roberts had his first session today to bulk up for that superhero movie."

Layla's body relaxed at the unexpected topic—she'd been braced for another lecture about the "irresponsible" and "pointless" business venture she was "wasting everyone's time with." She welcomed the celebrity talk with open arms, even if it wasn't her favorite topic of conversation.

The name Jake Roberts would surely have given a normal twenty-four year old woman some kind of an emotional response—or physical, at least—but growing up as the heir for Foster Fitness had soured her opinion for celebrities. Especially the dreamy-looking ones, whose interiors didn't match their exteriors nine times out of ten.

"How'd it go?" she feigned interest as her eyes wandered Red View. Thanks to the map she'd looked at online, she knew the hotel was further into town, right on the river that divided the more lively side of Red View from the suburbs scattered along the water. But the pictures she'd seen hadn't been able to really capture the town's charm. The August sun filtered down through the thick canopies of the trees she was parked under, and the spots of light danced as a breeze rolled through. It was refreshing—a big change from skyscrapers and busy-bodies on their way to their next meeting.