Feels Like Home (Southern Bride 5)

Mindy chuckled. “Trust me, my folks would love that.”

Annie smiled warmly at Mindy, then looked back at me. “I didn’t think you would mind.”

“What did you think of the tea?” I asked.

“It was divine. Some of the best lavender tea I’ve ever had.”

My body instantly relaxed. No matter what happened this evening with Anson, it sounded like Annie loved my tea. I felt like I was on cloud nine. Being featured by her would really put me on the map for tea rooms in central Texas.

“I think I’m going to go on back to my hotel. I need to prepare for dinner tonight.”

And my happy feeling suddenly vanished. “Right. Um, about me going.”

Annie reached for her purse and then turned back to me. “Don’t even think of backing out. We need to talk shop, and honestly, I’m too exhausted to talk now. My goodness, those women all talked so fast and it was hard to keep up. I so enjoyed it, though. Plus, I need to redo my makeup if I’m going to meet Anson Meyer tonight!”

My eyes searched her perfectly done-up face. “You look beautiful, Annie.”

She waved me off. “Stop it! I need to put on my night face. Besides, you never know, if I’m lucky Mr. Meyer might end up in my hotel room tonight.”

I must have done a good job hiding my feelings at that comment. You know, the feelings of wanting to pull her by the hair and tell her to back the fuck off from someone who no longer was mine. She winked at me, giggled, and whisked her beautiful self right on out the door.

Slowly, I turned around to see Mindy and Terry standing there.

“What. A. Whore!” Mindy nearly shouted. “Oh my gosh. Seriously? Did she seriously just hint at sleeping with Anson? If he even thinks of having sex with her in my family’s hotel, I’m going to kill him!”

“I’m so sorry she said that, but I honestly don’t think Anson will be the least bit attracted to her,” Terry insisted.

I cleared my throat and nodded, not really able to articulate what I was feeling at the moment. Jealousy? Anger? Sadness? Hell, it all mixed together. Anson hadn’t even been back in town a week, and my entire world felt like it had been turned upside down.

As I made my way over to one of the tables, I grabbed the remaining plates then headed toward the kitchen. Mindy and Terry were hot on my heels.

“Okay, we need to get you home, get you a bath to soak in. Terry, you’re in charge of hair, I’ll do your makeup.”

My mother looked up from where she was cleaning dishes.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “I’m not going to try and compete with that woman.”

“Why not?” Terry and Mindy asked at once, then both said “Jinx” and laughed before focusing back on me.

“Listen, I appreciate y’all trying to help out, I really do. My main goal with this dinner is to get her to agree to have my tea featured in at least one of her boxes. That’s it. She doesn’t care what my hair looks like or what type of eyeshadow I wear tonight.”

“But—” Mindy started, and I held up a hand.

“No. Once she agrees to feature my tea, I’m going to come up with an excuse and leave.”

The three women all stared at me. Two of them with looks of utter disappointment. My mother gave me a soft smile and a nod, as if she had a window into my heart. Then she said, “Let’s get this place cleaned up. Terry, honey, please make sure the closed sign is on the door.”

As the four of us busied ourselves with getting the tea room cleaned up and ready for tomorrow, I couldn’t stop thinking about dinner in a few hours.

The sick feeling in my stomach grew as the clock ticked loudly on the wall. And even though I tried to come up with every excuse under the sun, it looked like I was heading to dinner tonight to seal a deal…and seal my fate.

Anson

ONE QUICK LOOK at myself in the mirror and I let out a breath. I had been dreading this stupid dinner all afternoon, but I knew this Annie was someone Bristol was trying to do business with. Grams had already spoken to me about how Annie mentioned wanting to meet me. Grams thought it might win Bristol some points if I went to the dinner, so how in the hell could I say no? If it helped Bristol, it was the least I could do.

I grabbed my light tan cowboy hat and headed out of the guest house and over to where Grams and Granddad sat on the back porch.

“It’s a beautiful day to be outside,” I stated.

“Yes! It is, indeed!” Grams said with a smile.