Chapter 3

Everyone was already at my mom’s house. Everyone except Keegan. I could hear Quinn and Alison talking about the wedding. I heard my dad telling silly jokes. The twins were laughing and talking with Baylen. I missed this chatter. This was going to be fine. It was dinner and my entire family was here. Keegan should be the least of my worries.

I made my way downstairs. I had my hair pinned to the side and a green, one-shoulder dress that clung tightly to my body. I had gotten so much more muscular since I started playing ball at The University Of Tennessee. I was finally comfortable in my skin.

“Hey Squirt,” Baylen said, running over and hugging me tightly.

“Okay Bay, I have grown rather fond of breathing, so could you loosen your death grip?” I teased, hugging him back.

“I missed you girl,” he said, holding my hands out and giving me a once over.

“ I know Bay. It’s too tight right?” I asked.

“No, it’s beautiful. You’re such a woman now and I’m just so proud of you. I literally brag about you at work all of the time,” Bay admitted.

“Aww, that means a lot Bay. Thank you,” I said, kissing his cheek.

His smile got huge, but he was looking over my head. What was he smiling at? I turned to see what had amused him and standing there right behind me was Keegan with a bottle of wine. He didn’t really even look at me. He came in for a hug with Baylen and then handed my mom the wine.

“Missy, I grabbed this for you,” he said, showing her the bottle.

“Oh, that’s my boy,” she said, cupping his face and snatching the bottle.

The wine was a spiced red that she had found when we went to an orchard in Indiana years ago. It’s been her favorite ever since. I loved seeing her happy.

Keegan did his rounds of hellos and I was nervously awaiting him to get to me. But he didn’t. He walked right past me and greeted Alison. It was like I was invisible. I was not sure how to feel about it. Was he avoiding me? It would make sense, but I was so used to him chasing me and trying to win me back that I had forgotten that wasn’t his only purpose in life. Keegan had moved on and that was what I wanted. Is that what I wanted? It felt like a dull knife had hit my heart. It didn’t hurt, but it definitely annoyed me.

During dinner we all had small talk amongst the table. Eventually my dad asked the question, “When is Tate coming?”

All eyes turned towards me. I nervously played with my fork. I looked around the room and addressed my dad.

“He will be here Thursday. He has to finish things up at his internship and then he is going to fly out that morning. I really can’t wait for you all to meet him. He is my guy. The one,” I gushed.

I glanced towards Keegan, but he seemed genuinely unphased. Not even a weird facial expression, nothing. That was a bit of a relief actually. I wasn’t sure if he still had feelings for me and I didn’t want it to be awkward.

“So why did you two break up?” My grandma, or Honey as we call her, suddenly chirped.