Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83102 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
I do as he says and…miss.
He just laughs. “Well damn, you might need to get your eyes checked.”
I toss my hand up. “This is ridiculous! Just put us both out of our misery and win the game already. How much longer are you going to drag this out? I haven’t sunk a single ball. We’ll be here until midnight.”
The sentiment behind my words is clear: joke’s over. You’ve reeled me in and had your fun, now let me go.
Instead of doing as I say, Sawyer lays his pool cue on the side of the table and holds up his hands in forfeit. There’s a ghost of a smile on his lips.
Staring at his unbearably handsome face, cataloguing everything from his smooth, square jawline to the endearing little scar just above his right eyebrow, I feel so many things at once: excitement, fear, annoyance, intrigue. I want to stomp over to him, grab him by the collar, and shake him until he tells me what he’s really playing at here.
Fortunately, I’m saved from making a fool of myself because right then, Queenie pokes her head into the back room and whistles to get my attention. “Madison McCall, I’ve been looking everywhere for you! If you don’t get your butt out here and dance with your mama, you’re gonna break my heart! My achy breaky heart!”
The Billy Ray Cyrus classic is blasting from the speakers, and I have no choice but to set down my pool cue and head toward my mom. She holds her hands out for me to take, and though I want to look back at Sawyer just one more time before I leave him there, I resist the urge. When in his life has he ever been left high and dry by a woman?
I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good to be the first.
CHAPTER 2
When Matthew ended our engagement on a Monday, I didn’t immediately have a plan for what to do. I mean, I had a Nordstrom package due to arrive the next day, laundry I needed to switch over, a half-pint of Rocky Road in the freezer I’d be damned if I was going to let him have. Returning to Texas was not even remotely on the agenda, but then things got complicated fast. Take my living situation for instance: outside of our shared apartment, I had no place to stay in Montgomery. It didn’t make sense for me to keep the apartment and Matthew to move out because the lease was in his name and the location was more convenient to his work at the state capitol. Not to mention I wouldn’t have been able to cover the entire rent all on my own. Matthew couldn’t have afforded it either except for his trust fund. Cough cough.
It was actually my mom who had the bright idea for me to return to Texas. We were talking on the phone when she broached it.
“This couldn’t be more perfect. You’re homeless—”
“Mom.”
“And I need someone to come down and help me with these weddings this summer. You know Cassie just went on maternity leave. Now what’s she need a fifth baby for?”
“MOM.”
“They’re real cute though. I’ll give her that.”
“I’m not coming back to Oak Hill. Definitely not now. Definitely not during the summer. You’ll have to put an ad out or something if you need help.”
“That’s real nice, Madison. Leave your old mama to fend for herself. I’m beginning to think the ladies at church are right about you.”
“Oh here we go…”
She ignored my sarcasm. “When they bring you up, I argue with them, of course. When they say you’ve gotten a bit uppity, I say, oh no. No ma’am, not my little girl. She knows what’s important. She prioritizes her family above everything else.”
I didn’t let my mom talk me into the move right away, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. My mom is the reason I got into wedding planning in the first place. She started Wildflower Weddings when I was in middle school to help support our family. At the time, my dad’s cancer treatments were taking him back and forth to Houston so much that it wasn’t possible for him to hang on to his job managing the downtown diner. When he quit working, my mom stepped up to the plate, and when I was in high school, after he passed and we were trying to pick up the pieces of our broken family, I started working for her after school and on the weekends, learning the ins and outs of her business.
At Auburn, I double-majored in hospitality management and business administration so I could pursue a career in event planning, and after graduating, I landed the job of my dreams at Evermore Events in Montgomery, in no small part because Tanya, Matthew’s family friend, owns the company.