The Moment We Began (A Fairhope New Adult Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

for a
cluster of servers at the bar. I rush up and practically tackle Leigh
Anne, who is sitting in the center of the cluster.
    “Oh my God, I’m so glad you’re
home.”
    She hugs me back and a few of the people who were
standing around walk back toward the kitchen.
    I finally pull away and take a seat at the
barstool next to hers. “When did you get in? Just now?”
    “Yes,” she says. “Jenna
threatened death if I didn’t stop by here first.”
    “I heard that,” Jenna shouts from the
door of the kitchen.
    “Well, you did,” Leigh Anne shouts
back.
    I look over and see Jenna carrying a tray of food
out toward the main dining room. She’s got the sleeves of her
white shirt rolled up and most of her arms are covered in tattoos.
Her white-blonde hair is parted in the middle and braided on both
sides.
    I’ve only hung out with her a few times, but
she seems really fun. I invited her to a couple parties on the yacht
and at Preston’s apartment while Leigh Anne was out of town,
but she never showed.
    “What’s her story?” I ask Leigh
Anne. “She never comes to any of my parties.”
    Leigh Anne shrugs and turns back to her drink.
“I’m honestly not sure,” she says. “She
hasn’t told me much about her past except that she transferred
here from some school in Macon.”
    I turn to the guy at the bar. Colton. He’s a
cutie with his shaggy brown hair and piercing blue eyes. “You
hang out with her a lot, right?”
    He looks up from the set of glasses he’s
cleaning. His mouth drops open, like I’ve just caught him doing
something naughty. “Sure,” he says. “We’re
friends.”
    He stumbles over the word friends, then looks
longingly toward the dining room. My stomach feels heavy when I see
that look. I know that look, because it’s exactly the way I
look at Mason. Colton must have it bad for Jenna, but from the
sadness in his eyes, I’m not sure she feels the same way.
    I want to tell him I feel his pain, but I barely
know this guy. And I certainly don’t want to confess to a
stranger that I’m in love with a guy who doesn’t love me
back. Not exactly a good conversation starter.
    “Has she mentioned to you that I invited her
to a few parties lately?” I ask.
    He shakes his head. “Not that I remember,
why?”
    I sit back and pout. “People don’t
usually turn down invites to my parties. I wonder why she didn’t
come?”
    Leigh Anne takes another sip of her sweet tea.
“Maybe she was working those days.”
    “Maybe,” I say, watching as Jenna
comes back toward us. She winks as she disappears into the kitchen.
“Maybe she doesn’t like me.”
    “Not possible,” Leigh Anne says.
    I smile and shake my head. “Thanks, but
you’re crazy,” I say. “I bet there are a lot of
people in this town who don’t like me. They still usually come
to my parties, though.”
    “Speaking of parties, Knox told me a bunch
of us are getting together Friday,” Leigh Anne says. “Are
you coming?”
    “Of course,” I say, turning back to
her. “And I’m bringing a date.”
    She raises an eyebrow. “Oh? Anyone I know?”
    “Nope.” I lean over and grab a menu
from behind the bar. “Just another one of my mom’s
fix-ups.”
    Leigh Anne laughs. “Hopefully this guy will
be better than the last one,” she says. “That guy was
weird.”
    I twist my nose up. “Don’t remind me,”
I say. “I might have gotten over the fact that he was only
five-foot-five if he hadn’t spent the entire evening bragging
about his extensive coin collection. He even asked me if I was going
to inherit any coins along with my trust fund. Seriously? I felt like
he was only on a date with me to scope out the potential for good
loot.”
    Leigh Anne is laughing uncontrollably. “I
honestly don’t know how you managed to finish dinner,”
she says. “How could your mom have thought you would actually
like that guy?”
    “Because his parents are the right kind of
people,” I say. “That was literally the only