Her face paled at that thought and she groaned before answering, “I don’t know, they really seemed to hit it off.”
I laughed at that, and then tried to stop laughing but that only made me laugh harder. “My brother is so weird.”
Britte laughed too this time, “Agreed. So what about you and Mr. Hunter? A sleepover? That’s not very strictly business.”
“Oh gosh,” I sighed. “It was, not, um, exactly planned. On my part at least. Fin might have been planning it from the beginning. He’s sneaky like that.”
“Sounds like he’s smitten,” She smiled dreamily at me.
I blushed. “I don’t know what is going on. I’m so confused. I talked to Ty about it last night and he basically told me I was crazy to be making such a big deal out of this whole seven thousand dollar thing. And then Lennox and Gray stopped by to see me so they could also tell me I have their approval.”
“What?” Britte shrieked out. “Start from the beginning. How does Ty know Fin? And how do Lennox and Grayson know anything about this?”
I sighed and then started from the beginning like she asked. I confessed everything about Fin’s family and how Ty and him knew each other. And then I went into the crazy story about how Grayson and Fin knew each other and how Fin stopped by and actually stood up to not only Grayson but Lennox too.
When I finished she just looked at me, mouth hanging open. This moment was very similar to when I told her the story about Tara and stealing all of my furniture and sending me into monumental debt.
“Say something, B,” I pleaded, hoping she would have sage advice for me.
“I don’t know what to say,” she finally admitted. “I have all kinds of new respect for Fin and even Ty and Gray. But I get your side of the story too. You feel like you would be literally selling out. And now it’s more about helping Declan than even paying Fin back. Maybe you should talk to Fin about it?”
“That’s my plan. I’m going to stop by before I head home.”
“Good luck,” she said sincerely. She walked around the kitchen counter and gave me a sweet hug.
“Thanks. Have fun in Minnesota!” I drawled out the “o” like only those from Wisconsin and Minnesota could and then I squeezed her tight. “I’ll see you when you get back.”
“Love ya,” she said when we finally let go.
“Love you too!”
I walked down to my car more confused than ever. Britte’s concerns with Beckett started to resonate a little too close to home. Were Fin and I just too different? He was a great guy and I was absolutely crazy to pass this up, but would I still feel good about everything between us if I gave in?
“Ellie? Can we talk?”
“Ah!” I screamed. Colton was leaning against the trunk of my car, elbows bent behind him and hands spread out on the faded blue paint. His electric blue eyes were bright with emotion and I recognized his expression as “deeply concerned.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he apologized and then straightened up to standing.
“No, it’s Ok, I was just lost in my own head.” I shrugged.What was he doing here?
“I saw you load up your bag and then run back inside,” he explained. “I thought you’d be right back down.”
“Oh, sorry,” I flushed, feeling irrationally bad for leaving him out here for so long. “I got sidetracked inside. You should have texted or something.”
“You haven’t been answering my texts,” he accused in probably the most pathetic voice I’d ever heard.
I cleared my throat because that was true but I didn’t know what to say. “What do you need, Colton?”
“I miss you,” he admitted softly.
What?“Colton, are you serious?”
“Of course, I’m serious. Ellie, you were a big part of my life and then suddenly you aren’t ever around anymore. I try to talk to you and you start making out with other guys, I try to text you and you ignore me. I miss you and it’s driving me crazy! I just want things to go back to how they were.”
“Colton, you cheated on me!” I could not believe this. He could not be serious.
“That was a moment,” I glared at him until he amended his argument, “those were moments of pure stupidity. I love you, Ellie. We grew up in lovetogether. And we can pretend that there’s someone else out there for us, but we both know, in the end, we’ll come back to each other. I need you Ellie-belly. And I know you need me too.”
