I flipped him off and laughed as he turned the screen so I could wave at the others before we ended the call. Once he hung up, I sighed and felt a severe pang of homesickness before I turned my attention to the day.
What I wouldn’t give to be there with them all right now.Parker was demanding as a trainer, but he got his fucking results. I’d take working out with him cracking the whip behind me any day before I went to a wedding shower, but that was what I had to do.
Why I had to attend the shower, I didn’t know. All I knew was that I’d been told to be at the local restaurant where it was being held at three. I stared out the window behind my desk for a moment, remembering all the hours I’d spent sitting right in this very chair, wishing for the day I could get out of this town and dreaming about what it would be like when I finally did.
I used to look at the peaked roofs of the neighboring houses and big old trees in the yards, imagining having a view of skyscrapers and civilization instead. Now that I actually knew what I was missing out on since I had that view back home, it was even more difficult to be stuck here.
It was too quiet. Too peaceful. Too annoyingly suburban.
People here loved the quiet life, and that included my sister. I wasn’t partial to it myself, but here I was. Thankfully, as Parker had pointed out, it was only for a few weeks.
After thinking for a few more minutes, I got up, grabbed my wallet, and headed out. The restaurant where the shower was being held was a cutesy, tea-room type of place not far from our house.
When I got there, I was as early as I’d planned to be. Breezing in without really looking at the collection of old mismatched chairs and tables and the floral pastel color scheme of the place, I sought out the head waitress and pulled my credit card out of my wallet.
We exchanged pleasantries, as was expected around here, but then I could finally get down to business. “Charge everything to me. They don’t get a check at the end of this at all.”
The woman frowned at me. “It’s already been taken care of. That man over there gave me his card and told me to charge everything to him.”
She pointed at someone and I whirled around, narrowing my eyes until I realized who had beaten me to it. A grin broke out across my face when I found myself looking at a tall guy with wide-framed black glasses. It turned out to be Reece, one of my buddies from college and the brother and best man of the groom.
Scott was Reece’s younger brother, and they were three years apart. We’d actually met Scott because of his connection to Reece, who had turned out to be in the room next to mine in the dorms, with Parker on the other side and Josh on Parker’s other side, with Marley next to Reece.
We’d all become friends, but I’d always been closer to Reece than to Scott. I still was. In fact, Reece had been one of my groomsmen at my failed wedding and was part of my circle of friends back home.
I marched over, smacking him on the shoulder as I greeted him. “Thank God, there’s another sane person here. How are you, man? I didn’t know you had gotten to Rockdale yet.”
He tensed at first when I smacked him, but then he relaxed and grinned when he spun around and saw who had done it. Sliding his hand into mine, he gave it a firm shake. “Colt, hey. I got here yesterday. You? I thought you were still in Europe.”
“Nah, I postponed the trip until after the wedding to be able to get here with plenty of time to help with everything.”
He barked out a laugh, but I saw the competitive side of his nature flaring up. We both had competitive streaks about two miles wide, and without any of the others here as a buffer, I already knew this was about to get interesting.
“So did I,” he said. “Well, I mean I didn’t have to postpone a trip to Europe to do it, but I wanted to be here to help. I’ve been busy doing it, too. I’ve already run a bunch of errands and I got here two hours ago to help set up for the shower.”
Fuck. How the hell is he out ahead of me already?“I didn’t realize anyone needed help with the shower, but I have been going over the wedding plans with them since I got here two days ago. We’ve been very busy with it at the house. I’m staying with them so I’m close by if they need anything.”
“I heard you would be,” he replied. “Scott offered me the guest room, but I didn’t want to impose. I know you haven’t been here for a long time, and I realize the place must hold a lot of memories for you, so I figured you’d want your privacy.”
“Thanks,” I said. “You’re more than welcome, though. It’s their house now, Teddy’sandScott’s. If they want you there, that’s where you should be.”
“I’m all paid up at the hotel until after the wedding, but thanks. Besides, Caitlin will be here soon as well, so it might’ve become a bit of a tight squeeze. How are things going with work? I’m surprised you managed to postpone your trip.”
“Hey, when you’re the VP, you can do whatever you want,” I joked, but also not really. “I bought in, too. It’s not like they can tell the part owner that he can’t have the time off.”
Put that in your fucking pipe and smoke it.I hadn’t told a lot of people that I was a part owner of the company now. It was a relatively recent development and there had been too many other things going on, but Reece really brought it out in me.
“How are things going with you?” I asked, but before he could respond, there was some kind of commotion from the door. When I looked over, I realized that it was because Teddy and Scott had arrived.
Reece mumbled something about talking more later, but I didn’t even hear him properly because my attention had been completely stolen by someone else. Right at the doors, just in front of the happy couple, was a familiar face that sent a wave of shock rolling through me.
Emma Lee, the one I left behind. Holy fuck. I should’ve known I’d be seeing her here. Emma and Teddy had been best friends for as long as I could remember, but with everything else going on, it just hadn’t occurred to me that she’d obviously be around.
And she got even hotter.I was amazed that I even noticed it since I hadn’t paid any attention to women after the breakup, but Emma really did look better than ever—which was saying something.
Golden honey-blonde hair framed her beautiful heart-shaped face, and her big blue eyes had always reminded me of the color of the Indian ocean somewhere deep into the tropics. They were an almost turquoise blue and there had been days when I’d felt like I was drowning in them.
With her curvy figure and the natural pink flush on her cheeks, along with the smattering of freckles on her nose, she was—in my case—literally the girl next door and she looked it. The quintessential American beauty.