Page 15 of Small Town Love

“Good, my arm is still banged up but I think the surgeries are done for now. Where in the states are you headed?” I ask him.

If I remember right, Brooks lost his mom when he was twenty so he doesn’t have any family left.

“Not sure yet.”

“Come to Rosewood. You can help me tear down my dad’s house,” I say with a laugh.

“Sounds like fun. You got a place there?”

“No, not yet, but I’ve got a hotel room. I can ask for a different room with two beds?”

“Yeah, sounds good. I’m not sure what I’ll do next or how long I’ll be there, but it will be cool to catch up together.”

“Yeah, let me know your flight info and I’ll pick you up,” I offer.

He tells me he will and we end the call a minute later.

It sucks that he got hurt, but it will be nice to have a friendly face around here.

My mind flashes back to Evangeline and I smile as I lie down.

Correction. It will be nice to have another friendly face around here.

ChapterSix

Evangeline

I try to balance the bottle of margarita mix, bag of tortilla chips, and brownies as I head up the stairs to Rowan’s apartment. She lives in town with her little girl, and Sydney and I are headed over for girl’s night.

I’ve known Rowan and Sydney since high school. I was older than them but I was paired with Sydney as part of the senior and freshman mentor program and we hit it off. She was like the little sister that I never had. Rowan and her were already friends so when we hung out, she would join us.

They both left for college a few years ago but Rowan has been back for over a year. She moved back when she found out that she was pregnant and that asshole Reed stopped talking to her. I don’t know how you could do that to your pregnant girlfriend and I’m happy that I’ve never met the guy.

Sydney just moved back and so this is the first girl’s night that we’ll have where all three of us are here in a few years and I’m excited to pick up the old tradition.

“Hey, I brought the goodies!” I say as Rowan opens the door and lets me in.

Harper makes a mad dash for the open door and I smile as Rowan leans down and scoops her up.

“Little escape artist,” I tease her, poking her nose and Harper giggles.

“She did the same thing when I got here,” Sydney says as she reaches out to help me with the groceries.

I set the rest of the food down on the counter and turn to give my friends a hug.

“Sorry for the mess,” Rowan apologizes, trying to pick up some of the baby toys and diapers littering the floor.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad to be here with you guys,” I say, giving her a hug.

“You look great!” Sydney tells her as Rowan pushes some of her red hair out of her eyes.

“I’m a mess,” she says with a sigh.

Harper crawls over to me, and I reach down, picking her up in my arms and cradling her against my chest. She reaches up, her tiny little fingers wrapping around a strand of my dark hair. She pulls on the strands, giggling.

“Troublemaker,” I whisper against her cheek and she squeals, clapping her hands together.

“Mama, Mama,” she calls and I pass her off to Rowan.

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