Page 1 of You Found Me (The Meadow Springs #1)

Emmaline

My tires screech against the pavement as I pull into the last remaining parking spot outside of Sunset Grille, Charleston’s favorite restaurant. And since it’s so busy, it means more than a dozen people witness me absolutely demolish the curb.

Feeling my face heat, I scan the lot for my fiancé’s car hoping that he isn’t here yet. We recently moved to my home state of South Carolina in March when Chance got traded to the Charleston Cougars.

The owners of the new NFL team are all retired players, making it a huge deal within the league. Chance was clear in his disdain with news of his trade, making the last couple of months difficult.

While he directs all of his attention to meetings and practices, I’ve been adjusting to a new work environment and unpacking box after box.

We haven’t had a moment to spend time together since we relocated.

Thankfully, I noticed a gap in his schedule today and it worked out for us to meet for a lunch date.

I’m a few minutes late, which he hates , but when I check in at the front, the hostess lets me know I’m the first to arrive.

I follow her to the table in the corner by the windows, making a mental note of when I got here.

Twenty-five minutes go by before Chance shows up. Shoving down my irritation, I stand to kiss him and instead of being met by his soft lips, I feel the roughness of his unshaven face.

“I was starting to think you forgot about me,” I say partly joking in an attempt to brush off his clear dismissal and partly hurt that he’s half an hour late.

He scoffs, “Don’t be dramatic Emma. I’m right on time.”

Ignoring the fact that he insists on calling me Emma when he knows I hate it, I plaster on a smile. “We said 12:30, but it’s no biggie. I had time to look over the menu so, I’m ready whenever you are.”

“No, you said 12:30, and I told you that I would try to be here by then. We had a team meeting this morning, and then I went with some of the guys to a brunch spot near the stadium. I got here when I could.”

Is he serious?

Why would he go to brunch knowing we had a lunch date scheduled?

“You could have called or texted to let me know that you were doing that,” I say, trying my best to hide the hurt in my voice. I start to pivot into our plans for the week, before I realize he’s completely engrossed in his phone.

“Chance, can you please put your phone down and talk to me? We’ve barely seen one another lately and I’ve missed you.”

Rolling his eyes, he locks his phone and places it face down on the table, pointedly looking at me.

A waitress chooses that moment to walk up to our table.

This is not the sweet older woman, named Cathy, who got my drink order.

This waitress, Nina, is young, probably early twenties, and seemingly only has eyes for Chance.

To her, I might as well be in the cafe across the street.

While this normally doesn’t faze me, I’ve grown irritated by her presence. She bats her lashes, tucks a stray hair behind her ear, and giggles at every word he says. And I’ll give it to her, Chance is handsome, but this isn’t my Chance she’s putting on a show for .

Gone are his long blond locks he’s had since college, now he sports a buzz cut. I mean, the new look does make his bright green eyes all the more striking, and he’s gained at least ten pounds of muscle—though the heavy bags under his eyes from lack of sleep are new.

But his appearance isn’t the only thing that’s changed. He’s become less attentive and distant with me—more than I’m used to. So much so that I can’t even recall the last time we were intimate, or for that matter, the last time we even kissed.

Nina turns her attention to me, albeit less enthused, takes my order and stalks off. With her gone, I finally ask Chance how brunch was, noting he only ordered a small salad to eat.

“It was good. Woulda been better if Hayes didn’t tag along.”

It takes me a second to think of who he's talking about, and when I do, I can’t hide my surprise. “You don’t like Grayson? I thought your new captain seemed really nice when we went to his place over Memorial Day weekend last month.”

His phone starts vibrating rapidly, causing him to turn it over and check it before putting it back. “You think everyone is nice, so long as they give you attention. You’ll just have to trust me when I say that he’s an ass.”

He clearly is in a mood after brunch, but I won’t pretend that hearing him say that didn’t sting. Blinking rapidly to hold back the tears that threaten to fall, I move on to a different topic. “Have you given any more thought to hiring someone to help us decorate the apartment?”

Chance huffs, “Why can’t you just do it?”

“I think someone who does this kind of thing for a living would be better. And you know, Mia is an interior decorator. Whenever she and Colette visited us in Atlanta back in March, she offered to help out since we’d be so close.”

“The only way I’ll let her decorate our place, is if she does it for free. I’m not about to pay one of your little friends for anything,” Chance spits out, disdain for my friend evident.

This condescending tone of his is something he used to hide better. He’d make judgmental or rude comments but add in a chuckle to downplay his words .

“I thought you’d be okay with this? What am I supposed to tell her now, Chance?”

“I don’t really care,” he says with a wave of his hand. “You shoulda thought about that before telling her anything.”

Instead of getting defensive, I shake it off. “What time do you want to leave tomorrow? My bag is all packed besides a few toiletries, and I can throw yours together tonight or tomorrow morning depending on what time you’re thinking.”

“For what?”

“We’re supposed to head to Meadow Springs tomorrow to make sure everything is good to go for my parents’ anniversary party on Saturday . . .” I trail off, confused.

Not bothering to look up at me, he replies, “Oh, I can’t go.”

“What do you mean you can’t go? We discussed this last week.”

“Coach added scrimmages on Saturday and Sunday. Your parents will understand.”

Although I’m not entirely surprised that he’s bailing on something this important to my family and me, I’m still upset. “It’s a little over half an hour away. At the very least, you could come after the scrimmage?”

“I’m going to be too tired to come. It’s just an anniversary party. We can visit them another weekend.”

Now I’m actually livid. “This might be hard for you to care about since your parents have been divorced for most of your life, but mine have been married for twenty-five years and that’s something that should be celebrated.

They’re going to be your parents, too. Which means you should want to be there. ”

“Emma, I’m not going and that’s final. It’s not like Andrew is your real dad anyway.”

I rear back as if he slapped me. “You know he’s the only father I’ve ever known. So how dare you insinuate that just because he isn’t my biological father, it would make me care less about celebrating their marriage!”

He scoffs before saying, “If Andrew is so important to you, then why did you decide to ask your mom about your birth father a few years back? If you were so happy and content with your dad , you wouldn’t have been curious about the man you do share DNA with.”

At this moment my tears are ready to fall.

“I can’t believe you're throwing that in my face when you were the one to bring the topic back up. I don’t understand why you’re trying to pick a fight with me?

If you didn’t want to go you could have just said so or at least placated me by saying you’d try to make it. ”

Our food hasn’t come out yet, but I’m too upset to stick it out and wait. I grab my wallet out of my bag and toss money on the table before standing and hastily adding, “I’m going to leave today, and I’ll be back Sunday.”

He rolls his eyes again. “You’re being dramatic again. Let’s just have lunch so we can enjoy this date you so desperately wanted.”

Shaking my head, I walk away despite Chance calling out to me. As I step outside, I take a deep breath in, wiping the few tears that have started falling. I’m not about to cause an accident on my way to Meadow Springs because my eyes are blurry with tears.

When I walk by the window, I look in to see if Chance is still there or if he’s coming after me. The answer is clear when I see him at the table laughing on the phone with someone.

Something about that rubs me the wrong way, but I push it to the back of my mind to think about later. Getting my phone out, I send out an SOS to Mia and Colette, the two people I need more than anything right now.

Are y’all busy? I’m coming to town in about an hour and need to have a vent sesh.

Colette

Nope. I called into work not feeling the best. So as long as you don’t mind my snotty nose, I’m there.

Mia

I have nothing important going on.

You guys are the best. Lettie, we can come to your house since you’re not feeling great.

Colette

That works for me. See y’all soon.

***

I might have had a tiny —okay, maybe slightly large—breakdown once I got back to my apartment, and after the tears all but dried up, I removed my makeup and iced my puffy cried-out eyes.

A little more than an hour later, I’m pulling into Colette’s driveway.

This place holds so many childhood memories for me.

Colette and her twin sister Cori grew up in this very house with their dad, stepmom, and stepsister, Piper.

After we all graduated college, he was going to put the house on the market and get something smaller, but Colette didn’t want to let the house go.

She took over the mortgage payment, started working at the youth center in town after school days were done, and has been living there since.

A car pulls in as I’m getting out, and I look over to see one of my best friends waving like a loon. I can’t help but smile as I wait for her.