Chapter 23
1170 Words
The day of the party, the three of us spent time relaxing around the apartment. Emily curled mine and Bella’s hair.
Once dressed I felt sexy. Which was never a word I had used to describe myself before.
We made our way to the town hall where Susan was hosting the party. As soon as we stepped into the hall, we could see that most of the town had been invited.
We found seats as I scanned the room. I found Abby and Colton in the corner and they appeared to be having an argument, which didn’t surprise me.
We found Susan and Charlie and made small talk before Susan went on stage to thank everybody for coming.
I couldn’t help but laugh as she fumbled with the microphone.
As the night progressed, I spent time with Evan and Issac.
“Come on, you have to dance with me.” Issac said, putting his hand out.
“Fine.” I said standing.
“Both of my brothers are going to be pissed. I am dancing with you as you look sexy as hell in this dress.”
“Your brothers will not be pissed. Hunter can’t stand me and Colton is getting married.”
“Sometimes, for as smart as you are, you can be really dumb. Hunter gets pissed when others flirt with you and we all know how Colton feels.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“I could show you if you make your way to the mistletoe and I can prove it to you.”
“Not going to happen.” I said, giggling.
After the dance, we made our way to the table to find a sleepy Bella. “We should get her home.”
“You can’t leave yet.” Evan said, giving me his best pouty face. “I can take you home if Emily and Bella need to leave.”
“Marie, you should stay.” Emily said, smiling.
I handed my keys to Emily and kissed Bella’s forehead.
Not even an hour after Emily left, I watched Abby and Colton go into the storage room behind the stage where Susan had spoken earlier. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.
The music dimmed as we heard Colton loudly over the speaker.
“I know the baby isn’t mine.”
“What are you talking about? Of course the baby is yours.”
The entire room had stopped moving. I looked over to see a panicked look on Susan’s face.
“Bullshit Abby, I was at the appointment today! You can find out the gender at 16 weeks, Abby. Your baby is 12 weeks old. You and I both know there is no way that baby is mine.”
“The baby is yours, Colt.”
“Stop lying. We haven’t had s*x in over 4 months.”
Without hesitation, I made my way to the storage room as quickly as I could.
I opened the door and Abby turned to me. “What the hell do you want home wrecker?”
I picked up the mic and clicked it off. “I was just turning off the mic. I figured the room full of people heard enough.”
I stepped out and shut the door behind me. I could see Susan almost in tears and a very angry Charlie. I quickly flicked back on the mic.
“Hi everybody. My name is Marie and, as you know, I am one of the head bakers at Susan’s Bakery. This year we decided to auction off some treats for the holiday and all proceeds are being donated.”
Everybody turned and I started clapping. “Now I know we were going to have a Chinese auction, but let’s have some fun and have a real auction.”
Evan and Issac came up on stage with me carrying some cakes. “Ladies, these handsome boys are not included.”
The entire room erupted in laughter. As I continued, I worked to get the crowd laughing and entertained as the auction continued on.
After the auction, people began laughing and dancing again. I made my way to the table to Susan and Charle.
“Marie dear, I don’t know what I would do without you. Thank you so much.” Susan said, giving me a hug.
I looked over and saw Hunter sitting with Colton and the twins.
Colton looked up at me and I gave him a small smile and he smiled back.
Charlie came and gave me a hug. “We raised double the money for the children this year. All because of you. I think a live auction will have to happen next year too.”
“I don’t know, there was a lot of pressure.”
“I think you can handle it.” My head snapped over to Hunter and he smiled at me.
The evening began to come to an end and, thank goodness, because Colton needed to stop drinking but nobody wanted to stop him.
“Marie, are you ready to go?” Issac said, walking up behind me.
“Yeah let’s get going.”
“Wait.” Colton said, trying to stand.
“Hunter and I can take her home.”
I looked over at Hunter and he shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s OK Colton. Issac can take me.”
“Please. Let us take you home.” He said, wobbling a little.
Issac nodded at me and I smiled back at Colton. “ OK, but Hunter is driving.”
“Of course.”
The car ride was silent and Hunter pulled up in front of my apartment and I opened the door to step out and so did Colton.
“Thank you for the ride.”
I turned to walk away.
“Marie.”
I turned back to look at Colton. “Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what, Colton?”
“For not believing you when you said Abby was cheating on me and for the awful things I said to you.”
“It’s OK Colton.”
“I am also sorry for standing you up after I kissed you.”
“You didn’t really stand me up. You just never responded to my text, but that’s OK too, Colton. We are still friends.”
“Yeah.” He mumbled and gave me a weak smile.
I gave him a quick hug and started walking up the stairs.
“Marie.”
I turned and smiled at Colton.
“Could we hang out sometime?” He asked with a smile.
“Uh, yeah, I would like to hang out with you as friends.”
His smile faded for just a moment. “Great, I will send you a text.”
I made my way into my apartment and immediately took off my heels and went right to the freezer and pulled out the bottle of whiskey.
“From the looks of it, I left before the good stuff happened.” Emily said.
- Writer
