All The Befores Read online

  Jake didn’t seem to have a response to that.

  “I know I probably should have thought all of this through – maybe should have felt her out a little to see how she felt about marriage. I just never thought her first marriage would still be an issue.”

  “Yeah, I get that,” Jake agreed. “But sometimes it’s not an issue until…you know…something like this comes up. Maybe she just got spooked. Maybe you guys should take a couple of days and then sit down and talk again.”

  It was something Colton had thought about while lying in bed last night, but he shot it down because he didn’t feel strong enough to face rejection from her a second time.

  With a shrug he said, “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  “It’s something to think about.” Jake studied his hands for a moment. “But seriously, Colt, is there anything I can do for you? Anything you need?”

  “Right now, I don’t know. I think my head’s still spinning a bit. It’s like I don’t even know what to do with myself. For almost a year, Susannah and I have seen each other every day. As a matter of fact, we were supposed to go to the big warehouse store down in Wilmington today to do the final shopping for the inn’s pantry.” He shook his head and looked up at Jake. “The thought of not seeing her or talking to her again is just…it’s killing me.”

  “Well, it’s not like you’ll never see Susannah again. Magnolia’s a small community and…”

  “It’s not the same and you know it. Running into her in the grocery store or seeing her across the street while walking around in town isn’t what I’m looking for.” Standing, he began to pace. “I don’t know if I can stay here, Jake. I don’t know if I can handle what happens from here.”

  Rising, Jake walked over and put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. “Don’t make any rash decisions just yet. Like I said, take a few days to let everything settle in. You’ve lived here your entire life and you didn’t move after your divorce, so you know you can do this.”

  “Again, it’s not the same. When my marriage ended, there weren’t any hard feelings. Dana and I had simply grown apart. And besides, she moved away.”

  “Oh.”

  Stepping away, Colton moved to stare out the front window – practically willing Susannah to show up and say she’d made a mistake. Hands in his pockets, he knew it wasn’t going to happen. “I just want you to know that I’d give you plenty of notice,” he said solemnly. “Like I wouldn’t just pack up and leave without telling you.” Looking over his shoulder, he offered Jake a weak smile. “You’ve always been a good friend and a fair boss. I won’t leave you hanging.”

  “Colt, that is the last thing on my mind. I’m worried about you – as a friend. The work stuff doesn’t mean squat right now, okay?”

  He nodded.

  They stood there, side by side staring out the window when someone pulled into the driveway. Beside him, he heard Jake chuckle but Colton had no idea why. Without a word, he stepped around him and went to open the front door while he waited.

  A minute later, Sam came strolling up the front path – his hair in disarray and looking all kinds of intimidating.

  Until he was standing a few feet away.

  Then he smiled.

  And then that smile grew when he spotted Jake in the doorway too.

  Stepping up to the door, he handed Colton a box from the local bakery and wished them both a good morning before clapping his hands together and saying, “Gentlemen, let’s do some damage control!”

  3

  For two days Susannah did her best to keep busy. There was so much to do to get ready for the inn’s first official guests that she almost didn’t have time to let her thoughts go to how much she missed Colton.

  The nights were a completely different story.

  And unfortunately, right now she was dealing with a bull in a china shop who wanted to do nothing but talk about all that had gone wrong.

  “Honestly, Susannah, this is for the best,” Georgia Bishop, Susannah’s cousin, said as she moved around and fussed with the silk flower arrangement in the inn’s library. “Don’t you have enough on your plate without having to deal with a needy man?”

  “I never said Colton was needy…”

  “I mean, look at all the work you’ve put into this house! Almost an entire year has been spent renovating and rebuilding and if you don’t keep your focus, well…the whole thing could fail. And then where will you be?”

  “It’s not going to fail, Georgia.”

  Her cousin’s expression pinched slightly. “Most new businesses fail, Susannah. You have to be shrewd and you need to maintain your focus. As it is, you’ll be distracted by Mallory’s wedding plans and then if Sam decides to get married, you’ll be involved in that too, I’m sure.” She paused. “Of course, Mason and Scarlett want something different when they get married so you won’t have to be involved in that.”

  Georgia’s son and his fiancé were expecting their first baby together and everyone had been wondering when they were going to get married. “Any news on that front? Have they set a date?” Susannah asked, hoping to get the focus off of herself and on to Georgia’s children.

  Sighing dramatically, she straightened a silk lily before turning to sit on the sofa. “Beau and I offered to pay for a wedding for them – you know, since Scarlett comes from such a poor family – but they just won’t commit to anything. It’s very frustrating. I’ve got the country club on speed dial just in case. We would love to host a reception there. It would be so elegant.”

  Forcing a smile, she nodded.

  “But I suppose with the holidays being right around the corner, it’s the last thing on their minds. I’m sure if I wait until after the new year, they’ll have decided.” Then she frowned. “Of course, then Scarlett will be well-advanced in her pregnancy and she’s already mentioned not wanting to deal with dress shopping or trying to find one that will fit.” Another pause while she shook her head. “Although, who can blame her? It seems rather tacky to be wearing a virginal white gown when she’s clearly expecting a child. She might feel ridiculous.”

  “You never know,” Susannah said pleasantly.

  “So you see, Susannah, you’ve really dodged a bullet by turning Colton down. You don’t want to have to worry about all those silly wedding details. Especially at your age.”

  “Um…excuse me?”

  “Hmm?”

  “What was that supposed to mean – especially at my age?” she demanded, trying to hold on to her anger.

  “I’m just saying…just like Scarlett not wanting to wear a white gown while six or seven months pregnant, you might not want to wear one when you’re…you know…almost fifty,” Georgia said in her perfect little southern drawl and her stiff smile.

  “First of all, I’m only forty-six. And secondly, getting married doesn’t mean I have to wear a traditional wedding gown,” she argued. “But if I did, it would be my decision and mine alone!”

  To her credit, her cousin merely arched a blonde brow at her. “So if it’s not the fear of looking ridiculous for being a bride at your age, why aren’t you marrying that man?”

  With a weary sigh, Susannah sat down at the other end of the sofa. “I never said it had anything to do with how I’d look as a bride, Georgia. That would be the most absurd reason not to get married.”

  “Then what is the reason? I would think after the way you’ve been courting attention here in town the last few years that getting married would be right up your alley.”

  Every time she thought she and her cousin could get along, Georgia opened her mouth and said something like this. Susannah thought she’d be used to it by now, but right now it was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. She’d done her best to hold it together ever since she drove away from Colton’s house – partly for her own sake, but partly because she didn’t want anyone worrying about her. But something in her cousin’s condescending tone pushed her last button.

  Slowly, she turned her head. “Courting atten
tion? Courting attention?” she repeated for emphasis. “How exactly have I done that, Georgia?”

  But before Georgia could even answer, Susannah was on her feet and towering over her cousin.

  “I had always planned on moving back to Magnolia! I grew up in this town! I have friends and family here! It’s not my fault that you can’t stand sharing the attention!”

  “Don’t be ridiculous…”

  Susannah wasn’t even listening. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it? It’s what it’s always about! You! You seriously can’t be happy or even feel compassion toward anyone because all you can do is think about yourself and how these situations affect you!”

  “Honestly, Susannah, you’re not even making sense,” Georgia said with mild annoyance.

  “You loved having all the attention on you as some sort of matriarch in the family when I wasn’t here. It was all fine and well when I was only here for a few weeks in the summer but once I was back for good, your bitch-factor went off the charts!”

  “My…my…what?”

  Leaning down, Susannah said, “Bitch. Factor.” Straightening, she paced a few feet away. “You were upset that I got the house, you’ve been snippy and condescending about Mallory’s wedding and trying to convince her to have something small so you’ll be able to outdo it when your girls get married!”

  “Now you’re just talking gibberish, Susannah.”

  “Am I?” she demanded. “You can’t stand that Mallory’s wedding is going to be a big deal in this town. And you’ve made more than enough faces over the fact that Sam and Shelby will more than likely follow suit quickly. So you must be positively giddy that I turned Colton down because now you can hold that failure over my head! Well…shame on you!”

  “Don’t you have enough?” Georgia snapped, her own patience ending. Coming to her feet, she did her best to look intimidating. “Yes, you got the house, and yes, your children have their lives together and are getting married. And for months you’ve paraded around town in total bliss with Colton! Not everyone has it like that, Susannah! And not everyone can handle having all that love and…and…all that happiness thrown in their face!”

  For a moment, all Susannah could do was blink.

  “Um…what are you talking about?”

  Georgia’s eyes went wide for a moment before she turned away, searching for her purse. She picked it up and went to scurry from the room. “It’s nothing. Just…nothing.”

  Susannah didn’t let her get far. At the grand foyer, she stopped her cousin. “Georgia, talk to me! What is going on?”

  And for the first time ever, she saw tears in her cousin’s eyes.

  “You don’t realize how much you have, Susannah,” Georgia said quietly, primly. “Before you moved here, I thought I had everything. Then I saw the way you interact with Sam and Mallory and…and everyone you meet. People smile when they see you – they seek you out. People see me coming and walk away.”

  “That’s not entirely true. I saw the article in the paper about the work you’re doing with the animal rescue. It looked like all those puppies were very happy to be running around you.”

  Georgia rolled her eyes. “They’re just dogs, Susannah.”

  “Animals are known for being excellent judges of character,” she said, hoping to make light of the conversation.

  “My girls don’t reach out to me the way Mallory does to you,” she went on. “And Mason went for weeks without talking to me.” Swiping tears away, she went on. “I can’t remember the last time Beau looked at me the way Colton looked at you.”

  Her heart squeezed hard as the image came to her mind.

  “I…I wished for something like this to happen.”

  Susannah stared at her in confusion. “What does that mean?”

  “It means…I wished for something to happen to cause you some of the pain and misery I was feeling,” she replied, her voice small. “And now that it’s happened, I feel terrible.”

  Some of the fight went out of Susannah but not all of it. “Well you should. That’s a terrible thing to wish on someone. For all your bitchy ways, I just wished for you to get nicer and maybe unclench a bit.”

  Georgia looked away and Susannah could see the flush of embarrassment on her face, but that didn’t stop her from continuing. She’d waited too long to get this off her chest. “I’ve never been rude to you and I always tried to be friendly with you, but you’ve always kept me at arm’s length. After a while, I just stopped trying. But right now, I need people around me who care that I’m hurting, not cheering because of it.” When she turned to walk away, Georgia called her back. “What?” she snapped.

  “I’m sorry, Susannah. Truly. I…I know what it’s like to be in a relationship that isn’t working. I’m sorry you had to go through that with Colton.”

  Her shoulders sagged sadly. “That’s just it, Georgia. The relationship was working.”

  “Then I don’t understand. Why did you break up?”

  And then Susannah saw something else she’d never seen before from her cousin.

  Concern.

  Tears stung her eyes and she realized how utterly ridiculous the two of them must look, but she didn’t care. “I got scared,” she admitted, her voice cracking. “I’ve already had a failed marriage and know I’m a terrible wife. Why would I go there again?”

  If anything, Georgia’s expression went from concerned to shock. “Why would you think you’re a terrible wife?” She made a tsking sound before stepping in closer. “You did everything you could possibly do for that man, Susannah, and we all know it. You are not the reason your marriage failed.”

  And in a very un-Georgia-like move, she hugged Susannah.

  Hard.

  “It must have killed you to just admit that to me,” she teased and was relieved when Georgia laughed and simply hugged her tighter.

  It was a good moment.

  Maybe even a great one.

  Turning, they walked arm in arm back to the living room and talked about what they were both going to do next.

  There was a definite chill in the air and as Colton held his travel mug of hot coffee, he did his best to focus on the task in front of him.

  He had taken Jake’s advice and took a couple of days off from work to get his head together. Today was his first day back and he took a moment to stare at the construction site in front of him. It wasn’t a huge job – Coleman Construction was handling the renovations on a new boat storage facility at the Magnolia Yacht Club – and he had a small crew to watch over, but he supposed it was the right place for him to be right now.

  Taking a step away from his truck, he was about to go double check the lumber that was delivered while he wasn’t here yesterday when his phone rang.

  “What’s up, Jake?” he said when he answered.

  “Hey, Colt. I was just going over some paperwork and saw we were shorted some materials on your job. I need you to do a quick inventory for me so I can make some calls and get what we’re missing out to you ASAP.”

  “Can do. Give me about an hour. I’ll get everyone to help.”

  “You’ve got four guys with you today, right?”

  “Yup.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Why? You want to send me more?”

  “Actually, I was thinking of pulling two for the next couple of days. We’ve got an issue with the inn and I need a crew over there.”

  “What’s going on?” he asked, concern for Susannah instantly filling him.

  He heard Jake mutter a curse. “It’s nothing major. Just a few things the new city inspector noticed and he’s threatening to stop Susannah from opening next week. Nothing a few guys can’t handle.”

  “Dammit, Jake! That’s just not possible! Everything was perfect at the inn! I saw to it myself!”

  “Look, Colt, no one’s blaming you for anything. This guy’s new and just being a bit nit-picky, if you know what I mean. Still, I don’t want to risk the inn missing its opening over some minor stuff. So maybe you can just s
end…”

  “No,” he said adamantly. “I was there from day one of those renovations and I know every inch of the place practically like the back of my hand. If there’s work to be done there, I’ll do it.”

  Jake was silent for a moment. “You sure you want to do that? I mean, it could be awkward. You’re going to have to work with Susannah a bit. I don’t know if the two of you have spoken since…well…you know.”

  “We haven’t but I don’t think now’s the time to worry about that. The inn is Susannah’s dream and I’m not going to let anyone ruin that for her!”

  “Okay, okay…if you’re sure you’re all right with it, then…”

  “I am.”

  “Just get me that inventory and…”

  “My guys are on it. I’ll have Jim Connelly lead it up and let him know you need those numbers within the hour. Once I get them set up, I’ll head over to Susannah’s.”

  “If you’re sure…”

  “I said I was!” he snapped as he hung up. As soon as his phone was back in his pocket, he cursed himself. Mouthing off to his boss was probably not the smartest thing to do. Still, there was no way he would trust anyone else to go over to the inn to do any kind of work. That place was his baby and not just because it was Susannah’s. He’d been one of the first ones on site after Hurricane Amelia damaged the house and the property and he had been on site for every day of the work from beginning to end. His mind reeled as he tried to imagine just what could be wrong.

  “Probably should have gotten that information before I opened my damn mouth,” he muttered as he walked over to talk to his crew.

  After giving them their instructions and placing Jim in charge, Colton was in his truck and fighting a panic attack at the thought of seeing Susannah.

  It was too soon and not something he was mentally prepared for. If anything, he had figured it would be well after the holidays before they would potentially cross paths.