by M. L. Spann
“What other psycho bitch around here has personalized plates on their car that say ‘Vivi’?” I snapped.
“Wow,” she murmured. “Listen, just go home and I’ll be there in just a few minutes.”
I tossed the phone back onto the seat and wiped my nose on my sleeve. It was not the most lady like of gestures but I didn’t care at that point. I tried to hurry up and get home before Jayce showed up there trying to talk. The last thing I needed was him in my driveway.
I pulled up at home and grabbed the spare key from under the mat before I went inside. Mom was out of the house, so I was relieved I didn’t have to explain my red eyes or why I was slamming the doors. I stomped up the steps to my room and sat on the edge of the bed. The front door opened and closed and Kirsten’s heavy feet brought her up the steps.
“Bri?”
“Yeah,” I muttered.
“Hey, chick,” she said, dropping her bag on the floor.
“Cute top,” I mumbled. She glanced down at the oversized sequined sweater and frowned.
“Um, thanks?” she said. “Have you talked to Jayce?”
“Nope,” I replied. “And I don’t plan to.”
“Bri, you should hear the man out,” she said.
“No, Kirsten … just no.”
She looked at her phone, and then back at me with a pleading look in her eyes.
“No,” I said firmly.
“Fine,” she huffed, plopping down next to me. “Well what do you want to do?”
“I’m already doing it. I want to sit here on my bed.”
“I drove a long way and I haven’t had any sleep just so I could make it here to help you get ready for your date night and you’re going on a damn date with somebody even if it’s with me,” she snapped. “I’m going to take a shower and get ready. I expect you to start doing the same.”
She stalked off mumbling to herself as I sulked on the bed. The water turned on and subsequently shut off twenty minutes later. Kirsten came out wrapped in a towel and gently kicked my shin with her damp foot.
“Your turn,” she said.
“I don’t want to go,” I whined. “Let’s just order food and stay in so I can cry.”
“No,” she snapped.
I rolled off the bed, trudged into the muggy bathroom, and leaned against the counter.
“I don’t hear the shower!” yelled Kirsten.
I know she came a long way to be here, but damn, she’s acting like Gram-Gram.
The water was scorching hot, but I ignored the stinging against my skin. I closed my eyes as the water washed away my pain.
Love isn’t supposed to hurt. Be a little complicated? Maybe. But it definitely isn’t supposed to hurt.
I opened my eyes and allowed my tears to mix with the spray of water splashing against my face.
“Bri, it’s been an hour already. I’m sure you’re clean by now!” yelled Kirsten.
An hour? I only closed my eyes for a second.
I turned the water off and stepped out into the cold air. The oversized terry cloth towel wasn’t enough to stop my teeth from chattering or my body from shivering.
“C’mon, let’s get started,” said Kirsten.
Her hair was in rollers and she had her makeup apron on over her dress.
“I don’t want to go to a bar,” I mumbled.
“We’re not,” she said, grabbing a handful of my hair. “I’m hungry and I’m sure you are too. Where was Jayce supposed to take you?”
“I don’t want to go there,” I said.
Kirsten rolled her eyes and reached for the hairpins. “Fine, we can go to the Crab Shack,” she suggested.
“We’re going to be overdressed don’t you think?”
She shrugged her shoulders and pinned my hair up one side. “There’s no such thing as being overdressed.”
Once my hair was out of the way, she moved on to my face. “Bri,” she mumbled.
“Yeah?”
“I can’t put your makeup on if you’re going to keep crying,” she said.
“Sorry,” I whispered.
I didn’t realize the tears were still flowing and I wasn’t sure I knew how to make them stop.
“It’s going to be okay,” she said, wrapping her arms around me. “You just need to calm down. It will all fall into place once you let him explain.”
“Go on and get finished,” I said, drying my eyes on the towel.
My eyes were still a little red but other than that my face was flawless after Kirsten finished. The hair left out cascaded down the side in beautiful ringlets and framed my face perfectly.
“Once you slip on your dress and heels, we’ll be ready to go,” she said.
The dress she selected hugged every curve. She paired it with a smoking hot pair of heels that were sure to have my feet hurting by the time I made it downstairs.
Luckily, Kirsten volunteered to drive because I was in no mood to get behind the wheel. We rode in silence to the restaurant, but my mind was loudly asking me a million hypothetical questions.
Maybe I should kill Vivianne and Jayce? Maybe even throw in Keon for helping add to this entire mess of a situation. But if I kill them, I’ll have to see Mom’s sad face staring at me through plexiglass and endure handwritten letters from Gram-Gram expressing how disappointed she is in me.
“Come on, Bri,” said Kirsten.
I didn’t even realize we made it to the restaurant. Jayce was all I could think about as I grabbed my clutch. We walked inside and Kirsten made a beeline for the hostess. After a few minutes of whispered conversation, we were finally escorted to a semi-private room.
“Can’t we get a booth?” I asked.
“No,” said Kirsten. “We need some privacy.”
She stepped to the side and shoved me into the room … right into Jayce. I whipped around and practically hissed at her.
“You’re SO not my friend anymore,” I growled.
“Shut up and listen,” she said.
I faced Jayce again, and searched for the right words to tell him how I never wanted to see him again. A hiccupped sob escaped my lips instead of words. I turned on my heels and tried to go out the door, but Keon blocked my exit.
“Bri,” said Jayce. “I want you to listen to me, please.”
“Move,” I muttered.
“Sorry, Bri, I can’t do it, not yet,” said Keon.
“Brianna Marie Davis, hush up and let the man say his peace!”
“Gram-Gram?” I asked in disbelief. I ducked down to look around Keon’s legs.
“Why is my grandmother here?” I asked, turning back to face Jayce.
The sight of him changed my blood from boiling hot to an icy Antarctic temperature. Seeing him down on one knee reaching for my hand made me forget about everybody else in the room. I heard the shuffling of feet behind me, but I couldn’t move my head to turn around.
“W-what’s going on?” I stammered.
He smiled up at me and shoved a satin black box into my face. Someone behind me nudged me closer to him and I accepted his open hand.
“Bri, let me clear the air before I give my little speech. The car you saw in the driveway did belong to Vivianne, but she wasn’t there. I paid for that car and it’s registered to me so I wanted it back. Things got a little hectic when I went to get it from her which is why Keon was a little off his rocker when he came looking for me. Okay, are we good now?”
My breathing was labored and I couldn’t think, let alone form words at this point. I nodded slowly with my eyes fixated on Jayce. My eyes clouded with tears and I tried to blink them away.
“Good,” he said. He licked his lips and offered a sly smile. “Now let’s move on to the good stuff. We’ve had some shaky situations to deal with, one very recent one involving a tennis racket.”
A wave a heat rushed to the surface of my skin as someone behind us laughed.
Not my proudest moment, but hey, my emotions were running high.
“But even through all of that
, my love for you has never wavered. You accept me for who I am and I love that about you. You’re everything I hoped for in finding my other half. You get lost inside your own head sometimes, but that’s one of the quirks I love about you. I want nothing more than to come home to you every day, grow as a couple, and one day have children of our own … but first there’s one question I need an answer to,” he said, flipping open the box. “Will you marry me?”
My heart stopped and everything started going black. I did the only logical thing I knew to do … I dropped down onto both of my knees to avoid passing out completely. My eyes bounced back and forth between Jayce’s eyes and the gigantic ring shining brightly from the box. I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but someone coughed nervously in the background and Jayce’s forehead had a light sheen of sweat forming across it.
“Bri, if you go ahead and give me an answer, we’ll both be able to get off of the floor,” he whispered.
“I … I,” I stammered. “I wish … well I … um … are you sure?”
“More than anything in this world, so what do you say?”
“Yes,” I said so low, I barely heard my own response.
“What? What did she say? Brianna, open up your mouth and talk so we can hear you girl!” shouted Gram-Gram.
I turned toward the growing crowd behind me and smiled. “Yes!” I shouted. The cheering and clapping was loud enough to shatter glass, but I tuned it all out and focused on Jayce. Suddenly, I was off the floor and cradled in his arms. My hand found his face and helped guide our lips together. We broke our lip-lock as he put me down to officially put the ring on my finger.
“I’m glad this is finally out of the way,” said Kirsten, circling her arms around me. “You almost ruined the night by refusing to leave the damn house.”
“Yeah,” said Keon, “We rushed to get over here and get everything in place, but it turned out perfect.”
Mom and Gram-Gram tackled me with tears, hugs, and kisses. Once they were done with me, they moved on to Jayce.
I hope they understand he’s only marrying one of us.
“Well it looks like we’re getting a new daughter,” boomed a loud voice. Jayce’s dad and mom came toward me with their arms outstretched. This was the first time we’d met in person and I suddenly became a babbling idiot again.
“Mr. and Mrs. Kanoi!” I said, excitedly returning their tight embraces.
“No, none of that, we’re family now,” said Mrs. Kanoi.
After all of the hugs and congratulations from the crowd, Jayce moved to be by my side.
“I planned a more formal setting for all of this,” said Jayce. “But my bride-to-be had other plans. Nevertheless here we all are, and she said yes, so that’s all that matters. Grab a seat and a menu, and let’s get the party started!”
I sat in awe watching our friends and family socialize and laugh their way through dinner. My stomach was in too many knots and I could barely swallow a sip of water.
Jayce nudged my leg and leaned over to whisper in my ear. “That ring looks good on you.”
“This ring looks huge on me,” I said, holding my hand out to admire the rock for the hundredth time. “I feel like I’m going to wake up and this would have all been a dream.”
“It’s real,” he said, rubbing his hand against my thigh. “That ring is never supposed to be taken off, okay?”
“Okay,” I whispered. “I feel like I should give something to you though.”
Jayce brought our faces together until our noses touched. “You did give me something. You gave me the answer I was looking for. Of course, you took your time giving it to me, but I would have given you the moon if I needed to just to hear you say it again.”
Our lips lightly touched and the knots in my stomach loosened just a bit. “As long as I have my coffee cup and a kiss from you every day, I think you can leave the moon where it is.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’m so excited to write these acknowledgments! This has been a long but worthwhile endeavor and I’m happy to see the end result. Special thanks to my friends and families for allowing me to shoot ideas by them, and not rolling their eyes when my ideas made absolutely no sense. Double thanks to the beta readers that offered their thoughts on the story, without you I would have never gotten this far. Hugs and chocolate should be given to Taryn Albright (http://www.tarynalbright.com/) the driving force for helping me ultimately grab the attention of everyone over at Swoon Romance. And of course words can’t express what I feel for EVERYONE involved in this finished product from Swoon Romance. My experience has been amazing and I’m thankful to have worked with people that believed in my work.
M.L. Spann
Megan Spann also known as M. L. Spann is an eclectic blend of sex, sarcasm, and a dash of darkness. Her love of books blossomed at an early age and it has developed into a passion for writing as well. She also writes darker fiction under the pen name M. T. Harrte. She’s definitely one of those people that carries around books in their bag. She adds a touch of sass to her novels by using her southern roots to set the tone.
She spent a great deal of her life moving from state to state with her military family, until finally settling down in Mississippi. Despite graduating from Ole Miss with a business degree and going on to gain a Master’s degree, she has decided to truly follow her heart by pursing a writing career.
Website: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meganlspann
Twitter: @authormlspann and @mtharrte
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FINDING HER WAY BACK
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Acknowledgements
About the Author
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