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Chapter 19
“Colton, this is one of my oldest friends, Eliza Young. She is a dentist and we grew up next door to each other and used to play doctor.” She paused and then burst out laughing. “Wait! That sounded bad.”
Colton chuckled as he shook Eliza’s hand.
“It’s so nice to meet you.” Eliza tried to play it cool as she was introduced to Colton McCord.
It was so odd to be speaking to someone in real life that you’d only seen on television. It had happened to her twice in the past few weeks. Last Thursday, Virginia Valentine had come into the office, her office, for a cleaning. She’d heard that the country music superstar had recently moved to Harper’s Crossing and was engaged to Dax Archer who worked with Nate, but hearing about something and walking in to see someone you’ve been a fan of for years, were two very different things.
Chase Malone was a famous rock star now, but he’d grown up in Harper’s Crossing, and had dated Becca’s sister Krista, who was now his wife, so it was different. She’d known him before he was a celebrity.
“Nice to meet you as well.” Colton’s voice sounded exactly the same as it did on TV and Eliza was sure that his deep voice and sexy southern drawl had definitely helped his insta-fame status. Of course the fact that he was a blonde and built cowboy probably had something to do with it too.
Becca was still a little flustered and shaking her head as she turned to Colton’s plus one. “And this is Mia James. She was an assistant director on Fairytale Love.”
Eliza shook Mia’s hand as Becca enthused, “I didn’t know you two were together. That’s great!”
“We’re not,” they said in unison then looked at each other and smiled. It was more of a brother-sister smile than a sexual-tension smile.
“We’re actually working together again.” Colton explained in a diplomatic tone.
Mia grinned at him with a knowing look of appreciation, but then sighed and launched into an explanation. “Yes. We are. But only because Colton saved my job, my sanity and my life. I’m going to name my first child after him.”
Aunt Wendy “woohooed” and was waving Becca over to the cake table, but Becca held up her hand gesturing to give her one minute. The reception had been running smoothly, but it was two hours in and this was the first time Eliza had seen Becca. She hadn’t stopped since the DJ had announced Mr. and Mrs. Brian Scott.
“Okay,” Becca reached out and grabbed Mia’s arm. “I have to know what’s going on and I have about one minute before Aunt Wendy comes and drags me away. Talk fast.”
Mia was up to the challenge. She took a breath and said. “I pitched a show to the network and it got greenlit before I’d actually approached Colton about doing it. Which was a problem since the show is called Claiming Colton. When I called and told him about the project, he told me he was done doing reality shows, especially dating ones. That he wanted to move on with his life and I started crying. Sobbing, actually.
“I didn’t mean to, but I’ve been working for this opportunity for eight years and I had a lot of other personal stuff going on too.” A pained look flashed in her eyes but it was gone as fast as it had appeared. “Colton heard me crying and said he’d do it. I told him no and thought I’d talked him out of it before getting off the phone. I went to bed that night not knowing what I was going to do. But the next morning I got a call from the producer with a tentative budget. Colton had spoken to his agent and signed the contract which included a stipulation that I direct.” Mia’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m directing.”
From the way she said the word it was obvious to Eliza that it meant a great deal to her.
“So, I told her she owed me one and she agreed to be my plus one.” Colton teased.
“Wow, well I can’t wait to watch the show and I’m so glad you both could come! It was great seeing you again.” Becca hugged them both and they all said their goodbyes as Colton explained he and Mia weren’t staying in Whisper Lake. They were headed to the airport and back to Texas where the show was going to be filmed in his hometown of Wishing Well.
Before they left, Mia tried to recruit Eliza as one of the women that would be attempting to “claim” Colton but she politely declined. There was only one man that she wanted to claim, and he wasn’t a cowboy from Texas. He was a bodyguard from Harper’s Crossing.
As soon as they were gone, Becca hugged her and rushed off to see what Wendy needed and Eliza found herself alone. Again. She’d thought that after Nate’s romantic gesture today, which she believed should go down as one of the most romantic gestures of all time in the Guinness Book of World Records, not to mention his impromptu backrub during the ceremony, she and Nate would have at least talked at the reception.
But she’d been wrong.
It had started off promising. After the processional, he’d told her that they needed to talk later and he asked her to come to his room after the reception. She’d agreed. That was two hours ago and he hadn’t spoken to her since.
At first, she’d thought that it was just a logistical issue. The table that the wedding party was seated at was long and she was at one end with the bridesmaids and he was at the other with the groomsmen. But after dinner, he’d still kept his distance.
He hadn’t even asked her to dance. Not once. And she’d seen his moves at the fundraiser. It wasn’t that he couldn’t dance. He just didn’t want to dance with her.
So, she’d danced with Grandpa J who was technically Sophie Hunter-Sloan’s grandfather but had adopted the whole town as “his kids.” Everyone loved and adored him. He was the Colonel to the guys who all looked up to and respected him and Grandpa J to the girls, who all adored and respected him. He’d been trying to avoid the M&M sisters, who were the guestbook attendants that Becca had not oversold when she’d described their colorful character. They were very bold in their pursuit of “their man” Grandpa J. She’d also danced with Josh, and Brian’s brother Brendan. Of course, she’d gone out and shaken her tail feather with Becca’s sisters and cousins-in-law. She’d had fun, but all she really wanted was to be with Nate.
It was killing her that he was so close, yet so far. She’d caught him staring at her several times, and she’d wanted to go talk to him, but Neil was behaving himself tonight and she hadn’t wanted to rock the boat. She liked smooth sailing.
“Can I have this dance?”
Speak of the devil.
She turned and saw Neil holding out his hand. He didn’t look or smell drunk, in fact his eyes were clearer than she’d seen him since she’d moved back home. And he didn’t look like he was putting on a show. He just looked normal.
