Divorced Men's Club

Payne. In search of: Room to rent. Must ignore the patheticness of a 40-year-old roommate. Preferably dirt cheap as funds are tight (nonexistent). There’s nothing sadder than moving back to my hometown newly divorced, homeless, and lost for what my next move is. When my little brother’s best friend offers me a place to stay in exchange for menial duties, I swallow my pride and jump at the offer. I need this. I also need Beau to wear a shirt. And ditch the gray sweatpants. And not leave his door ajar when he’s in compromising positions...

Walking away from my marriage was my idea of a fresh start. My kid is in college, my ex-wife and I are on good terms…but being single in my 40s is a world different to being single in my teens. I’m thankful for my best friend, Heath. He’s got my back like he always does and is ready to take me out and show me how the bachelor life is done. He was never supposed to show me literally. After we wake up in bed together, I can’t stop looking at him differently, and one thing becomes abundantly clear.

I’ve never thought much about Orson Naples. He’s a cute guy who I’d seen around town a few times, but then one day he up and left and didn’t reappear until a few years later. No one knows where he went or what he was doing, all this gossipy town knows is that he’s a widower, owns the florist, and is friends with that divorced group that hang out at the Killer Brew all the time.

When it comes to regrets, I have none. My life is perfect. I own a bar, work hard, party harder, and smother my niblings in all the love they deserve. I don’t need to settle down, as much as my sister might want me to. But then, Joey Manning walks into my office and leaves me all but begging to give him a job, and wanting to give him so much more.

Banging my son’s bestie was a total accident that will never, ever happen again. I’m sure of it. While he might be gorgeous and caught me in a weak moment, when it comes right down to it, my son has been my entire life for the last twenty-six years. I don’t know how to be anything other than his dad. But with Molly heading off to Seattle, he leaves me with a parting gift: Will. His best friend. And my new roommate.

In a list of what’s most important to me, three things are right up there at the top. My kids, my husband Mack, and my career I’ve spent my life building. Unfortunately that career has me away from home more than I'd like, and when I refuse to walk away from it, my husband walks away from me instead.