Page 9 of You Found Me (The Meadow Springs #1)

Emmaline

Come Sunday, I’m no longer feverish or achy and realize it’s time to be a big girl.

I sent a text to Chance to let him know I’m almost home and that we need to talk.

I kept the room at the Inn for one more night in case I need more time alone with my thoughts.

When I pull into the gates of the apartment complex, my stomach is in knots knowing that I’m literally about to end the longest relationship I’ve ever had.

Chance was my first for almost everything and to think he won’t be my last is more than a little devastating. I take a long cleansing breath before going up. When I get inside, I see him sitting on the sofa watching TV. Once he hears the door close, he turns it off.

“Hey. What’d you wanna talk about? I’ve got plans and need to leave soon.”

At this point, I really shouldn’t be surprised that the first thing he says to me isn’t to ask how I’m feeling. I mean, he never bothered to respond to my text. It’s right then that I know he’s not in love with me anymore.

With all the snark I can muster, I tell Chance, “Oh, I’m feeling better by the way. Not that you seem to care. ”

“Jesus, Emma. Cut the dramatics. You’re here which means you’re fine. Tell me why you insisted we talk and do it fast. I don’t have time to deal with whatever bullshit you got going on.”

If my jaw dropped any lower, it’d be on the floor. “Well since you asked so freaking nicely, I wanted to talk about how you had someone in our bed in the middle of the day last week . . . ”

Immediately, he buts in, cutting me off, “What are you even talking about? You were at work and then went to that little town of yours.”

“Do you not see the correlation? You really think I’d want to drive more than the six minutes it takes to get here, to go stay in Meadow Springs, when I had a fever?”

Chance scoffs, “I don’t know what you prefer when you’re sick. I’m not your fucking dad.”

“You wouldn’t know! That’s the problem! And after almost seven years together, that hurts.”

“Whatever,” he responds. “I wasn’t even home Wednesday.”

“Then why did I hear another woman’s voice moaning your name and you responding with: I’ll never get tired of this? ”

The twitch in his left eye and the clenching of his fists are a tell that he knows he’s been caught.

It’s like a flip switches. He walks closer to me, cupping my cheek, speaking to me in a gentle tone, “Emmaline, baby, it was nothing. A little mistake that you’re making into something more than it needs to be.

You know I love you . . . I wouldn’t have proposed if I didn’t. This doesn’t have to be a big thing.”

The crack in my heart splinters open like a piece of firewood and I move his hand off my face. “That’s really all you have to say?”

“What do you want me to say? I was lonely.”

Tears well, falling just as fast as they form. “Watching my parents last weekend, after all these years, still being so completely in love with one another, made it click for me that you’ve never once looked at me the way they look at each other.”

“Why do you always compare us to them?” Chance invades my space. “We. Are. Not. Your. Parents.”

“I know it’s not fair to you that I do that, and I’m sorry.

But you were lonely because you chose to ignore me for the past year.

I’ve been right here with you, trying to get us back to how we were before the engagement.

We’ve been in Charleston for three months, and the only thing we’ve done together as a couple was the lunch date you were late to.

“I knew you’d be busy because of the trade, which is why I haven’t pushed you. But I’m done, Chance. Done trying to make you love me the way I deserve to be loved.”

Before he has the opportunity to reply I run to our room, lock the door, and start packing a bag. I make a mental checklist of the most important things I need to grab and then decide a lot of this stuff I can just repurchase once I’m back in Meadow Springs.

When I feel like I’ve got enough, I take one last look around the room and instead of feeling sad, I feel sick.

He brought some woman into our home, our bed, and expects me to let it go.

Stepping out into the living room, Chance is back to sitting on the couch, watching TV as if nothing happened.

I bypass him, take my ring off, and place it on the table before leaving for good.

***

I call Mia to ask if she’d come back with me to Wildflower Inn so I could grab my things and check out after grabbing some food with her at the diner.

She didn’t ask me how my talk with Chance went. I think she could tell I didn’t want to drudge it up again. Instead, we enjoyed some gloriously greasy food and a milkshake, which Edie insisted we each order as it was “ on the house .”

We’re walking into the lobby, not talking because she knows my mind is too preoccupied.

Which explains how I run straight into someone and knock the keys right out of their hand. Internally groaning, I bend down to retrieve them and when I look up to apologize, I freeze.

It just had to be Spencer.

“You okay?”

“Oh my gosh, yes. I’m fine. I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention. I mean, obviously,” I add in a rush. “It’s not like I’d run into someone on purpose. That would be extremely rude, and my mama raised me better than that.”

A deep chuckle snaps me out of my rambling and my head snaps to the person next to Spencer. Somehow, this guy makes him look small. He’s at least three inches taller and thirty pounds worth of muscle heavier, and has multiple tattoos.

They have the same blue eyes, leading me to the conclusion that they’re related. Brothers, maybe? Instead of one dimple, this guy has two. Their hair is similar, other than his being longer than Spencer’s.

“Emmaline, this is my older brother, Beckett. B, this is Emmaline. She is Theo’s sister’s best friend.”

I reach out my hand and watch as he engulfs mine. “Nice to meet you.”

Before he can respond, Mia joins us and says, “Well, I was about to come see how you got lost. But now I get it. You found two hotties.”

I roll my eyes, Spencer laughs, already expecting her antics, and when I glance over at Beckett, his cheeks are bright red while he looks anywhere but at her. Of course she notices, and like the menace she is, Mia moves into his space.

She looks him up and down, humming a beat before saying, “Let me guess. Clark?”

He tilts his head, then reaches out his hand to shake hers. “It’s Beckett, actually.”

“I think Clark suits you better. Amelia Elizabeth Callahan,” she says, “but you can call me Mia.” Then with a wink she adds, “It’s really nice to meet you.”

He looks to Spencer, then to me with confusion.

When I shrug, he turns back to Spencer. “I’m gonna go upstairs.”

Beckett leaves so fast that if he were a cartoon, smoke would have been trailing behind him. Spencer looks at us and busts out laughing, causing even me to chuckle.

Then a thought occurs to me. “Clark? Like Smallville?”

Her eyes light up with delight. “Don’t you think so? ”

“Oh, 100%. I knew he reminded me of someone, I just thought it was the cowboy over here,” I nod towards Spencer with a smile.

“Sure, sure. They’re obviously related, but he reminds me so much of a young Tom Welling. Dare I say, he’s even hotter.” She places her hand over her heart, with a mock gasp. “Scandalous, I know.”

Spencer starts to laugh even harder, and I realize that he has tears in his eyes. “Not gonna lie, he was obsessed with that show when we were younger,” he tells Mia. “I know without a doubt he will love the comparison once I let him know that’s what you meant.”

“No, no. Don’t ruin my fun, Spencie.” She pauses, noticing his suitcase, “Where ya going?”

Instead of calling her nosy or saying it’s none of her business like Chance would, Spencer simply answers, “Coming actually.”

“Oooh, kinky,” Mia responds, waggling her brows.

He shakes his head with a sigh. “I walked right into that one, I guess. What I meant was we’re actually coming back from a trip. We went to visit our cousin in Nashville for his birthday.”

I watch as he pulls his phone out of his pocket.

He gives a small laugh after looking at it, then tells us, “Sorry to cut this short, but Beckett realized he doesn’t have a way to get into my room and is probably too flustered to come back down here.

It was good running into you. Quite literally,” he says with a wink.

“Maybe I’ll see you next time you’re in town? ”

“Well, I’m going to be around here a lot more now, so I’m sure you will.”

***

Spencer

Why did she look so defeated when she said that ?

When she mentioned being closer at the diner, she seemed happy about it—delighted even. But just now, her eyes looked puffy, like she’d been crying, and she’s already back in town so soon after just being here.

Could something have happened between her and Chance? Now I’m mentally slapping myself because it’s none of my business. I’ve got to get my shit together. Maybe the next time Ms. Clara or the other older women in town set me up on a date, I’ll give it a shot.

I don’t want to say I’ve pined after Emmaline all of these years, but maybe subconsciously that’s what I’ve been doing.

Whenever Mom asks about my love life, I tell her I’m focused on building my career.

Which isn’t technically a lie because my job is important to me. But it wasn’t fully the truth either.

I get to my front door to find Beckett on the phone. He moves aside to let me unlock it and when we walk inside, I hear him say, “I promise to come over tomorrow as soon as I get back in town. I’ll talk to you later, babe.”

“You didn’t have to get off the phone for my benefit. If you want to call her back, it won’t hurt my feelings.”

He sighs as he makes his way over and drops down on the couch. “Nah, it’s cool. I told her I’d let her know when we got back. And that I told you and Bastian about us. She seemed happy, said she hopes to meet you guys at some point.”