New Beginnings (Marie) by Mel Steele novel Chapter 32

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Chapter 32

Abby: I can’t stop thinking about our conversation yesterday.

I rolled my eyes until the second message came through on the phone.

Abby: I can’t wait for dinner with you tomorrow.

I felt sick to my stomach. Colton was supposed to have dinner with me tomorrow. Maybe she was trying to have dinner with him. Maybe I read the message wrong. His phone was locked so i couldn’t open it and read the message.

That’s it! I just read it wrong. I sat his phone back down and walked into one of the new bedrooms.

They were already painting the rooms. Tomorrow we would have a new bed delivered for Bella and Emily would finally have a bed of her own.

By dinner we were all sitting around laughing and eating. Colton was extremely attentive to me and I couldn’t help but feel like we were together.

I noticed Colton had not mentioned our date tomorrow and, to be honest, I wanted to see how it played out so I chose not to say anything either. I was just hoping it would turn out that I was wrong, but I had this awful feeling.

The following day I had an awful feeling all through work. I kept pushing it away and I tried to tell myself I read the message wrong.

As soon as I got off work, I jumped in the shower and decided to get ready for my date with

Colton.

He said he wanted to take me to the same BBQ place we visited when we delivered a wedding

cake together.

I decided on a pair of tight jeans that looked like they were made for just me and a long sleeve shirt that was a little low cut and high lighted all the right areas.

Taking my time, I straightened my hair and applied my makeup. I could hear Hunter and Issac fo sure in the other room laughing.

I had managed to spend almost 3 hours getting ready and I surprised all of them when I finally emerged from my room.

“Marie! I have my own room and a new bed.” Bella said, jumping up and down.

“Do you want to show me?” She shook her head yes.

Once Bella showed me her big girl bed, I made my way back to the living room and Bella started playing with her toys.

<

“Dang girl, you look good? tasac said, aming at me

Colton closed the distance between us and placed kiss on my lips. “He is right, you look amazing

betweenusaudioced

He was still in his work clothes, which I assumed he would be, since they came right after work to

finish the bedrooms.

“Thank you. Are you getting ready here or are we going back to your house?”

Confusion was written all over his face. “I don’t….”

“It’s Tuesday, Colton. You asked me to dinner.”

“Sh*t Marie I forgot. I can’t tonight.”

“Why?”

“I just…..something came up and I can’t, but how about tomorrow?”

“I can’t.” I could, but I wasn’t going let him know.

“Thursday or Friday?” He said, looking at me hopefully.

“I will have to let you know Colton.” I said, putting space between us.

The room was tense and everybody could feel it. I didn’t care he made plans with me and was breaking them from Abby and couldn’t even tell me the truth. He is a liar, just like Luca and

Jackson.

“Thanks again for everything you all did for putting the bedrooms together.” I said, smiling over at Hunter, who looked pissed.

Evan came and gave me a hug. “We want to stay but we have a big test tomorrow.”

“No go, it’s fine. School is important.”

I turned and hugged Issac. He whispered in my ear. “He is an idiot.”

“Let me grab my jacket and I will walk you two out.”

Following them out of the house, I decided I needed to take a walk and clear my head. After saying goodbye, I walked in the opposite direction Colton would drive.

An hour and a half later, when I came back, Colton’s truck was gone.

I opened the door to find Hunter and Emily sitting on the couch.

“What are you still doing here?”

“Waiting for you?”

Chapter 32

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Emily quickly stood. “I am going to call Clay and work on putting together my room. Bella hasn’t come out all night.”

I sat down next to Hunter and noticed he was not in his work clothes.

“Did you go home and come back?”

“No, I wouldn’t have had time. Colton only left 15 minutes ago. I brought clothes because I planned

to hang out here till he came back from the date. I wasn’t ready to be alone.”

“At least you remembered the date.”

We both sat in silence until Hunter stood and put his hand out. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“I’m taking you to dinner.”

“You don’t ha..”

He cut me off before I could finish my sentence. “I want to Marie.”

I smiled and yelled at Emily as we walked out the door.

“Can I drive?” He asked, putting his hand out for my keys which I handed to him.

“What happened to your truck?”

He sighed. “It was parked outside of the pharmacy in town and I was inside getting something when old man Henry drove right into it.”

“Oh my Gosh.”

“Yeah…Thankfully he is OK and my truck stopped him from driving right into the pharmacy.”

“Doesn’t he have insurance?”

“We both do but there have been some complications because his license was taken away and really just think the insurance company has been dragging their feet. But I should be getting check in the mail because my truck has been totaled.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“It’s ok. I’m just ready to go shopping and get a new truck.”

“So where are we going?”

“Do you like Italian?”

“Yes.”

“Good we are going to Enzo’s. It’s a tiny hole in the wall but they have the best food. It’s really low

key.”

+25 P

We had to park on the road and walked to Enzo’s. It had a tiny parking lot and was busy, but the way the restaurant was set up made you think it was almost empty.

After we ordered, I excused myself to the bathroom. I checked myself out in the mirror and smiled

at myself.

I was a very pretty girl and, honestly, I was prettier than Abby. I wasn’t sure why she had such a

hold on Colton but I didn’t care.

As I looked at myself, I realized the pain in my chest had stopped and the awful feeling in my stomach was gone. Only to be replaced by my stomach growling.

Making my way back to the table, I found myself happy I had given myself a pep talk because 15 feet from the bathroom my eyes locked with Colton’s.

Abby’s back was to me but I knew it was her. His eyes looked panicked but I didn’t stop. I smirked and turned right into the other dining area and back to Hunter.

“Thank you for bringing me here.”

“It’s my favorite place and to be honest Becca hated it.” He smiled. “Her entire family hated this

place.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I took her, Abby and her parents here once and they all complained the entire time.”

“Why?”

“Just the kind of people they have chosen to be.”

“Oh.”

Our food came, stopping our conversation. I ordered a strip steak with salad and pasta on the

side.

“mmmmmm this is amazing.”

“Marie..Hunter.” We both looked up to see Colton standing by our table.

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