Page 48 of Double Booked

CHAPTER 22

RILEY

The magic of avoidance continued well into the next morning. I sipped my coffee at the kitchen table dressed only in Colton’s oversized t-shirt and my underwear. In front of me, Colton and Justin stood in front of the open refrigerator arguing about what to make for breakfast. Both were shirtless and dressed in gray sweatpants, every woman’s weakness. As it was, I kept getting distracted from what they were saying by all their bare skin. I shifted in my seat. Down girl.

“Dude, we’ve had eggs almost every day this week.”

“So?” Colton argued. “Eggs are a vital food group.”

“I’m not disagreeing with that but at least let’s do a little bit of variety. What about french toast?”

Colton’s nose wrinkled. “It never turns out right unless Momma makes it.”

I hid my laugh with another sip of my perfectly made coffee.

“A lot of things don’t taste the same as Momma A’s cooking but we still need to eat.” Justin pointed out practically. “Besides, it’s not like we have anywhere to be.”

Colton had texted Jake while we were still in bed saying that he and Justin would be late to work this morning. Neither man was sold on going in at all but I encouraged them to take the morning and see how they felt.

After a good night’s sleep, I felt better. We were still going to have to figure out what to do if the town turned against them and their business but both Colton and Justin were still adamant this morning that they would just move if they needed to. But I didn’t want that for them. This place was their home. But I didn’t know how to overcome small-town values. But we were still in avoidance mode so I pushed those thoughts aside.

Three knocks sounded at the front door and we all turned towards it just as a key turned in the latch and the door popped open. An older couple walked in, the man dressed in khaki shorts and a bright blue hawaiian print shirt that reminded me of the one Colton wore on the island. His hazel eyes looked so similar to Colton that I knew instantly these had to be his parents. Colton’s mom was dressed in a bright blue and yellow skirt and a neon yellow top that almost hurt to look at. Her long silver hair was tied back with a blue scarf. She swept into the room like a brightly colored hurricane, eyes narrowed at my men.

“Colton James Anderson and Justin Tanaka Anderson, you have some explaining to do.”

Both men froze at her words and if I also wasn’t in shock I would have laughed at the guilty looks on their faces. But as it was I was sitting in their kitchen in just Colton’s t-shirt and my underwear about to meet his parents for the first time.

“Momma–” Colton started.

“Don’t you ‘Momma’ me!” She wagged her finger at him. “No calls, no texts, no emails, not even a pigeon to let us know what was going on.” Uh oh. This wasn’t good. Her blue eyes were flashing and every inch of her radiated disapproval. She turned to me and I braced myself for whatever she was about to throw my way.

The disapproval melted away into a wide grin as she yanked me out of the chair and into a big hug. I felt like a board in her warm grip. I never felt so much warmth in a hug before.

“Oh my goodness, aren’t you just gorgeous? I can see why my boys fell for you. And you’re an author? You’ll have to tell me all about that so I can brag to my friends in Florida. But first…”

She looped an arm around my waist and turned back to the guys, glaring at them. I stared at them with wide eyes, not quite sure what was happening. I discreetly tugged the hem of Colton’s shirt down before she launched into a full blown lecture. Forrest, Colton’s dad, poured himself a cup of coffee, completely unphased as his wife started scolding my men like they were twelve years old again. His eyes twinkled at me and he winked.

“Momma, what are you doing here?” Colton interrupted before she could get very far.

Agnes let go of me to go over and smack both of my guys upside the head. “Did you think I wouldn’t know? I still chat with Beverly weekly and she’s been keeping me updated on all of your shenanigans but I was good and I patiently–”

Forrest coughed and Agnes rolled her eyes at him. I bit my lip to keep from laughing and Justin arched an eyebrow at me with a small smirk that fell away as Agnes kept talking.

“Fine, not patiently waiting for my two boys to tell me that they fell in love with not only the most gorgeous woman but also each other but nooooo. Now I’ve got some vicious little trollop trying to embarrass my future daughter-in-law because my idiot sons didn’t tell me. So of course I came.”

Emotion clogged my throat at her passionate defense of us and our relationship even if she didn’t know me. Aside from the guys, I never experienced that from anyone before. My parents would never, too concerned with their image and what people thought of them. If anything, after they passed their critical judgments, they would have started talking me out of it and listing all the reasons it wasn’t going to work out.

I didn’t realize a tear was rolling down my cheek until Agnes turned around and her face softened. She wrapped me up in another hug.

“There, there, don't you worry. I’ll make it better, you sweet girl.” I had to bite my tongue and close my eyes to stave off the tears that threatened to fall at her words. When I opened them, Colton and Justin had soft smiles on their faces as they watched us both.

Agnes pulled back after one more squeeze. “Okay,” she clapped her hands. “You boys are going to take your father to work with you and I’m going to take our sweet girl here around town and put some self-righteous biddies in their place.”

She pushed me gently towards Colton and Justin. “Say goodbye to your men, dear, we’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”

“Momma A, are you going to let us have breakfast and get dressed before you go terrorize the town?” Justin asked, pulling me close, his hand running up and down my back and easing my frazzled emotions.

Agnes sighed dramatically, hands on her hips as she looked at the ceiling. “If I must. Y’all go get dressed and I’ll finish up breakfast. I’m thinking French toast.”

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