AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER5
Colton
The wonderful smell of bacon lured me out of the guest room the next morning. I didn’t get back to Rhonda’s until about three a.m., and after that, I couldn’t stop thinking about Annabella. How was it that I hadn’t really noticed her when we first met? Had it been the uniform? Maybe I had so much on my mind that the sky could’ve been falling and I wouldn’t have noticed. With Logan coming over to meet me today, I was almost as distracted as I was yesterday.
Even before I entered the kitchen, I could hear a bunch of chatter. It seemed everyone got up early in the Lane household and I was the only straggler.
“Good morning, everyone,” I said.
Phil was standing by Rhonda, helping her cook. He looked over his shoulder and said, “Morning. Coffee is in the pot. Take a seat anywhere you want.”
The oldest, Mark, said, “You’d better sit next to Lindsay or she’ll have a fit.”
Lindsay reached over and slapped her big brother.
He chuckled and added, “All she’s been doing is talking about you since we met you last night.”
“I have not,” she denied.
Christopher, the second oldest, chimed in, “Colton this, Colton that. It’s like you’re a celebrity or something.”
Lindsay’s cheeks burned red and I felt bad. “It’s the accent. I get that all the time,” I lied. Then I sat down beside her and said, “I feel the same way about your Boston accent.”
She turned to her brothers, beaming. “See. I told you he likes me better than you guys.”
Rhonda turned around and said, “If you don’t start behaving, I don’t think he’s going to like any one of you. Now, make yourself useful and set the table while your father and I finish with the eggs and toast.”
Not one of the four uttered a complaint as they got up to do what she asked.
“What can I do to help?” I asked.
“You’re our guest. You just sit and tell us how your date went last night,” she grinned.
“I didn’t know I woke you. Sorry,” I replied.
“We have security cameras set up, so when someone pulls in the driveway, it rings our phones. Now, enough with avoiding the question. How was it?”
“It wasn’t a date. The limo driver brought me my bag,” I said.
“Phil, is there something wrong with the cameras? I mean, I could’ve sworn someone left around eleven and only returned around three,” she snickered.
“Seemed to be working fine the last time I looked,” Phil responded.
“Okay, we went out for coffee and grabbed a bite to eat,” I said.
Lindsay asked, “You have a girlfriend? I thought you didn’t know anyone here.”
“I don’t. And she’s not my girlfriend. We just met yesterday.”Is this what having a sibling and nephews and a niece is like? They ask a lot of personal questions.
“I’m only seventeen, but it sounds like a date to me,” Mark asked.
I shot him a look and said, “I thought you’d have my back on this.”
Mark laughed. “I would but this is much more fun. So, what’s her name?”
“Miss Montgomery,” I said, trying to make it sound less like a date, because it really wasn’t one. Tonight really wasn’t one either, kind of.
“That sounds more like a teacher’s name than a woman you’d take out on a date. What does she look like?” Lindsay asked.
