Page 10 of You Found Me
Coming to the realization she revealed that out loud, her face turns bright crimson. She quickly stands and heads into the bathroom with a mumbled, “Thanks for getting us home.”
I search the kitchen for some Tylenol and grab a bottle of water for her. There’s a notepad and pen attached to the fridge, so I scribble a little note on it with my number and room at the Inn, then take everything to what I assume is the guest room.
I send Theo a message letting him know I got them home and that I’ll see him Monday morning as I head back to the Wildflower Inn.
***
I wake up to the sound of my phone buzzing all over the bedside table. Without looking, I answer, “‘Lo?”
The deep chuckle that fills my ear immediately lets me know who it is.
“Jay,” my older brother Beckett’s voice rings out. When I was born, he couldn’t say Spencer. All he got from our mom telling him my full name, was James—Jay for short. “Don’t tell me you were still asleep. It’s nine o’clock in the morning. You’re typically up and at ‘em by now.”
“Yeah, yeah. Last night was kind of hectic and I stayed up later than I intended.”
“A hot date I can tell Mom about? I need her to lay off me for a while.”
I laugh and reply, “Good lord. Don’t even joke about that. I’d never hear the end of it. I went to an anniversary party for a friend’s parents and ended up walking Theo’s very drunk sister and a friend back to her apartment. Anyway, what’s up?”
“I’m just calling to make sure it’s still cool for me to come stay Thursday night? That way we can ride together to the airport on Friday to visit Bastian for his birthday.”
Sebastian is our cousin. Our moms are sisters that could pass as twins—even with their ten-year age gap. The only difference in their appearance is the color of blue in their eyes. Aunt Sarah’s are icy, giving him a pale enough blue that’s could be called silver. And even though Bastian has a warmer brown skin tone like Uncle Ellison’s, the three of us could have passed as siblings.
Since he’s pretty busy during the season, we make it a point to visit him whenever he has the time to hang out.“Yeah, that still works for me. Just let me know when you’re on your way.” Forcing myself out of bed, I let Beckett know I’ll make sure I’m home and then add, “But I do need to get up sincesomeonepointed out the time of day. I have things I need to do, the first thing being to take a shower. Followed most importantly by grabbing a breakfast sandwich from the cafe. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Alright, see you in a couple days.”
I hop in the shower and quickly run through the things I have to do this week to make sure all my work is finished before weleave for Nashville. I’m almost done showering when I hear a knock at the front door.
I call out for whoever it is to hold on just a second while I grab my towel. The knocking, while not frantic, is consistent, so rather than take the time to find and put on sweatpants, I open the front door wearing nothing but the towel and see the woman who filled my thoughts all night.
"Emmaline?"
Chapter 4
Emmaline
I thought taking a quick shower and some meds before I went to bed last night would have prevented a hangover.
Boy, was I freaking wrong.
I owe Spencer the biggest thank you for setting me up with the necessities before he left last night and a giant apology for having to deal with a drunk Mia and me.
Mia was uncharacteristically understanding with my not wanting to talk about whatever tension or awkwardness she noticed between Spencer and me at the diner Thursday, but that all went out the window this morning.
I knew it the moment I smelled coffee and fresh cinnamon rolls wafting throughout the place. Her patience had worn thin, and I felt it in my bones that she wasn’t going to let me leave until I gave her what she wanted.
Two bites into the most decadent cinnamon roll on the planet was all I managed before Mia sat across from me and asked if I’d somehow slept with Spencer before seeing him with Theo. Actually, her words were‘‘did you climb that man like a tree to get his wood?”
Yeah. No preamble with her. She says exactly what she thinks and it’s one of my favorite things about her. When I said thewords‘‘he’s Daredevil,” Mia screeched and proceeded to have a mini freakout.
After she calmed down, she asked me point-blank if I thought meeting him was the catalyst to my now being engaged to Chance. She made sure to point out that when we were talking about the party in the dorm common area, Chance was also there, and that the next day was when he asked me on a date. I tried telling her that even if that was the case, it all worked out how it was supposed to.
The look of sympathy on her face was too much to bear, so I thanked her for letting me stay, then told her I needed to make a stop before heading back to the city.
I didn’t mention that the stop was to face Spencer.
Unfortunately, I’m not the kind of drunk who can’t recall all the stupid things they did or said. So, the amount of embarrassment I feel this morning is enough that I want to dig a hole and hide in it for the rest of my days. But if he’s truly going to be living here for good, seeing him when I visit my parents or friends is inevitable, and I don’t want it to be awkward between us.
