The water turns off and Colton grabs a towel from a hook on the wall. One hook, one towel. For some reason, that makes my mind shift into a completely different direction. Which isn’t really an anomaly for me.
“Was Brigette going to move in here?”
He dries himself, running the towel over his hair, then wraps it around his waist. “Okay, take a breath.” He cages me to the counter like moments ago, before he smelled like fresh rainfall. “You’re overthinking this. Everyone always assumed we’d be together. They’re going to be happy. And Brigette understands.”
“Because she was marrying you for a green card, but the rest of Lake Starlight doesn’t know that. They’ll probably look at me like I’m a whore.”
He chuckles. “They will not. Lake Starlight loves their matchmaker and they aren’t going to nail you to the cross or make you wear a scarlet letter.” He disappears into his room and returns with his phone. He looks at me as I put the T-shirt he gave me last night over my head. “Want me to read it or you want to read it yourself?”
I snatch the phone from him and sit on the bed, inhaling then exhaling a large breath.
Lake Starlight Buzz Wheel
For those not in attendance at the wedding of Colton Stone last night, you might be surprised to be waking up to the news that the wedding never happened. Guests, including the entire Bailey clan, watched the bride walk down the aisle, but before vows were exchanged, the bride was walking back up the aisle, disappearing into the Cozy Cottage B&B. Colton followed but told the guests to stick around for the meal. A half hour later, Colton entered the tent only to have his first dance with—Juno Bailey. Rumors are they left the wedding together shortly after. Yes, ladies and gentlemen of Lake Starlight, the matchmaker finally succumbed to her love for Colton Stone. It’s nice to see love won out last night in Lake Starlight.
Some of you might be wondering about Brigette… she was seen leaving the Cozy Cottage B&B with Rhys from Smokin’ Guns Tattoo Parlor, who escorted her to his vehicle. This had a lot of guests at the wedding wondering what exactly was the cause of the canceled wedding?
I close out his phone and he knocks his shoulder to mine. “Not so bad, huh?”
I shake my head. There’s no reason I should have worried they were going to crucify me. Maybe it’s my own guilt. “It shouldn’t ease my mind that she left with Rhys, but it does.”
“You need to learn that it’s okay for you to be happy.”
I kiss his cheek. “I just feel like me getting what I want has left someone else to be banished from the country.”
He chuckles. “Oh, Juno, she’s fine. Obviously, she wanted to be with Rhys.”
“I thought maybe her and Jason, but Rhys surprises me.”
He takes off his towel as though it’s the most natural thing in the world and puts on a pair of track shorts and a T-shirt before tossing me a pair of shorts that I’ll have to roll the waistband down to keep up. “Jason isn’t Brigette’s type. She wants someone who wants to travel and see the world. She wants to stay in America, but she wants the freedom to travel too. A doctor would never be able to give her that, but I think a guy like Rhys, someone who picked up and moved here not knowing a soul, might be the one for her. Jason is more like me—likely to buy a house large enough to fit a family before he’s even found a wife.” He takes my hand and leads me out of the room. “Now come on, let’s grab some breakfast and go get you some clothes.”
He leads me down the stairs. When we reach the bottom, I jump on his back so he can carry me into the kitchen, but he freezes in the archway and his arms loosen from my legs, making me slide down his back.
“Dori? Ethel?” he asks.
I peek around his body.
“Good morning, lovebirds.” Dori’s putting donuts on a plate while Ethel is pouring glasses of juice.
“How did you get in my house?” Colton asks.
Dori rounds the counter, licking powdered sugar off her fingers. “I have the keys to all my kids’ houses.”
“But I’m not your kid.” Colton’s face is stark white, and I laugh, passing him for a donut.
“You’ve always been my kid. Although I am a little upset that I was squeezed out of getting the two of you together. Which brings me to the point of my visit this morning.”
I bite into a chocolate-frosted sprinkle donut and smile at Colton, who I think just realized what it means to be in a relationship with a Bailey. Grandma Dori doesn’t know the meaning of the word space.
Twenty-Three
Colton
How the hell did Dori get a key to my house?
The question runs over and over in my head as Juno sits at the table, working on her second donut. I prepare coffee because Dori and Ethel only drink decaf, which they brought for themselves.
“Juno, you cannot be a slob.” Dori picks up Juno’s dress that I took off her body last night and lays it nicely over the back of my couch.
“I didn’t leave it there, Colton did,” she says, which shocks me since upstairs, she was so concerned that the town she grew up in would see her as evil for breaking up my wedding.
Dori swats her granddaughter’s arm. “Stop it, Juno. I don’t want to hear those things.”
“Then why are you here this early in the morning? And please tell me you haven’t been here long?” Juno glances at me because about a half an hour ago, she was screaming my name.
“Yes, we did just get here, which I guess we’re thankful for.”
Ethel’s expression says maybe she would’ve liked to overhear us having sex. I shiver at the thought of that.
“And I’m
