Here are the first two chapters of My Favorite Color is Your Something Blue! Enjoy!
-Eva
Chapter 1
“Please, I beg you. I need an ICEE, and there aren’t any gas stations out here. You can get blue raspberry and consider it my ‘something blue.’”
With the hot sun beating down on my car, I zip around an old pickup truck. Its rusty bumper barely holds on as it putters down the outside lane of I-40.
I grip the steering wheel and shake my head. “Your wedding isn’t for two days. Does that mean you also need something old and something new?”
Ava’s giggle tinkles through the hands-free system. “Don’t worry. My grandma’s here, and this rental house is brand new. Old and new, check. So, will you stop? Pretty please?”
The Oklahoma landscape stretches on. I’ve been on the road for an hour and a half and would love to keep going. Plus, I stopped thirty minutes ago. But this weekend is not about me.
“Of course. Anything for the bride. As long as you don’t mind if I’m late.”
“Totally fine. Thank you, thank you, thank you. See you at The Meeting House!”
“You got it.” The call ends, and my carefully curated road-trip playlist resumes.
I’ve got this. No problem. The ICEE will be easy. The rest of the weekend? I don’t know. The last wedding I went to was a disaster. For me, anyway. I’m only eighteen. How can I already have wedding drama in my life?
I sigh. It won’t be so bad.
But Ava’s wedding has my mind veering out of its lane and into a minefield of past hurts. For the last hundred miles, I’ve fought the urge to analyze every detail, and I now have a headache. Ava’s one of my oldest friends, never mind that she’s a fair bit older than me. She was my first babysitter, neighbor, and close family friend. I want to be here, be present, and be a fabulous bridesmaid. I shove the thoughts away—again—as I exit the highway and head toward Eufaula, Oklahoma, apparently the last of civilization before my destination, a tiny lakeside community called Carlton Landing. I better grab some ibuprofen while I’m at it.
I park outside a small but clean convenience store and head straight to the ICEE machine. Two other girls are already using it, so I snag a cup and wait. There aren’t any lids. Super.
These young teens take their sweet time, sharing a whispered conversation. One of them giggles. “Wow, he’s sooo cute.”
The other giggles too.
The guy they’re ogling at the coffee station a few paces away is too old for these thirteen-year-olds, but they’re not wrong.
Around my age and wearing well-fitted khaki shorts and a casual Hawaiian shirt, he’s beach-ready. No, lake-ready, as we’re in one of the most centrally located—ahem, landlocked—states in the US.
Dark curls fall over his brow as he tugs a coffee cup free. Huh, his ears are pinked. He must’ve heard the girls’ observations. He glances up, gauges their ages, and turns away.
The girls dare each other to go talk to him as he pours coffee. The braver of the two saunters in his direction.
This I’ve got to see. They’ve vacated the ICEE machine, so I take my time filling Ava’s cup with the frothy blue concoction. That cannot be a natural color.
He slides his phone from his pocket, standing tall—at least six feet. “Hey, babe.” He practically purrs as he dumps powdered creamer into his paper cup. Gross.
The girls falter before continuing, giggling all the way. They don’t seem too disappointed as they exit the store.
The boy’s gaze finds mine, and I bite my lip to hide my smile. Full dark lashes surrounded those deep-brown eyes, and the brows above them narrow like he can’t decide whether to frown at me or laugh.
He jumps when his phone rings against his ear.
I laugh outright, and his ears redden further. Smart. Fake phone call. I walk by, ICEE in hand. “Better get that.”
“Right.” He decides on the frown. “Hey, Mema,” he says in a much less sultry voice. Though, it’s still a nice voice. “Okay, I’m coming. I was falling asleep, so I stopped for caffeine. I’m close.”
I pay for the ICEE, almost wishing he would’ve chosen the smile and ignored the call. But it’s for the best.
As I get to my car, I pause. I forgot the ibuprofen. I swing around, rummaging in my purse to locate the debit card I dropped inside, and crash into someone—a tall someone with khaki shorts and a Hawaiian button-up.
“Watch it,” he snaps as we jump back from each other, but not before the ICEE crushes between us and he drops his coffee. My feet are fire and ice.
I shriek.
His coffee has burst open and splashed all over one of my feet, and the blue slush is dripping down onto the other. I kick off my pink flats and shake it from my pale-yellow skirt.
He stands there, arms out to his side, scowling at the stains down his front and the pile of blue ICEE on his sneaker.
The ICEE that splattered on the side of my white car keeps sliding down, leaving faint blue streaks.
He opens his mouth. Closes it. Opens it again.
I wiggle my coffee foot. “You could have scalded me! Watch where you’re going.”
His mouth flattens into a scowl. “Me? You’re the one who ran into me.”
“What? I was standing by my car, digging in my purse. You ran into me.” I lift the bag, still hooked over my arm, then groan. “It’s in my purse.”
Still glaring, he starts running his fingers through his hair but remembers they’re blue. “I can’t believe this day. Six-a.m. flight, eternal layover, lost luggage, and now you.” He waves in my direction as if I’m pond scum.
Jerk. I open my mouth, but he shakes the ICEE from his shoe and spins away to go back inside.
I follow him. “How dare you. I didn’t do this.”
He yanks napkins from a dispenser and dabs at his shirt. “Then why am I wearing the contents of your cup? Who drinks that crap anyway?”
“Who drinks hours-old gas-station coffee? Disgusting.” Though, those hours are likely the only thing saving me from second-degree burns.
“Look around.” He spreads his arms. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. There’s not exactly a Starbucks on every corner.”
I grab a napkin and brush it down my front. “My skirt is ruined.”
“Did you hear me? Lost luggage. I literally have nothing else to wear. And I’m late.”
I cross my arms over my chest and nod to the section of gifts and other random items in the corner, particularly the rack under a sign offering T-shirts for less than eight dollars. “Well, I guess you better go shopping.”
While he frowns at them, I check my watch, snag another handful of napkins, and walk away.
After purchasing a new ICEE and draining my shoes, I hit the road and let out a pent-up growl as my phone rings. Dad’s checking in again. I haven’t made many solo road trips. I stab at a button on the dash to answer it.
“Hello,” I practically yell.
There’s a pause. “Everything okay, honey?”
“Yeah. Someone spilled blue ICEE all over my new skirt and then had the audacity to yell at me about it. Ugh.”
“What? How did that happen?”
“What happened?” Mom’s anxious voice pipes up. “Is Morgan okay?”
The phone echoes as Dad switches to speakerphone, so I launch into a gripe-fest.
When I finish, Mom giggles.
“Mom, it’s not funny. This is why I’ve sworn off dating until I get to college. Boys are idiots, and they’re rude. And pushy. Even the cute ones.”
“Too true,” Dad agrees. He’s probably smiling, which further annoys me. “In fact, you shouldn’t date until you’re thirty.”
Mom sings out, “That is the agreement you made when you were five.”
“I think it was binding,” Dad adds.
They’re hopeless. “Yeah, sure, Dad.” I wiggle. My damp skirt’s sticking to my leg. “I need to change.”
“I’m sure you can when you get there,” Mom says. “We called because Ava’s mom said you were running late.”
Lord, give me patience. Ava mustn’t have informed her erratic mother that she asked me to stop.
“Well, it’s Ava’s fault. She wanted the ICEE. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Okay, honey. Text us when you get there, and we’ll see you for the wedding on Saturday.”
“Dad, I just said I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Why do I need to text you in fifteen minutes?”
“That’s plenty of time to get in an accident or become stranded or hit a deer or any number of other things.”
“Thanks for the happy, reassuring thoughts.”
“No problem. Don’t forget to text.”
“Fine.”
“Love you.”
“You too.”
They hang up, and I force myself to loosen my grip on the steering wheel. I let out a breath. I’ve got this.
It’s smooth sailing from here. The worst is behind me. I just need to get to Carlton Landing and survive a long, hot wedding weekend in the middle of Nowhere, Oklahoma.
No problem.
Chapter 2
Fifteen minutes later, I veer off Highway 9 and through the main entrance to Carlton Landing. Not bad. A low whistle sneaks out. Pretty grand stuff for a lakeside community in the boondocks. Two stately shiplap and honey-wood framed pillars flank the road.
Huh.
My blue-streaked car creeps through a dry forest where red dirt rock and spindly trees fight for real estate alongside a winding, uphill drive. I don’t pass a single car and begin to think perhaps this was some sort of joke—just kidding, there aren’t any houses back here. Then I crest a hill and roll along near the edge of a cliff overlooking what must be Lake Eufaula far below.
“Oh, wow.” I power down my window.
A manicured grassy landing nestles between the cliff’s edge and the road, and four white Adirondack chairs form a happy row facing the lake and miles of forest.
I press deeper into my seat, suppressing a strong desire to jump out of my car, run across the grass, and peer over the ledge. Maybe sit a while. Leave my phone in the car. Forget about weddings, past and present.
But I’m already thirty minutes late.
I round the next corner. The road takes a dip toward the lake and runs parallel to the water, though the trees hide it from view. Then a few rooftops poke through the trees, and my jaw drops when my tires bump over a narrow stone bridge and Carlton Landing spreads before me, offering adorable houses, their picturesque porches inviting with rocking chairs or dangling swings. I pass a pickleball court tucked away in the trees and a community pool perfect to laze away a warm evening.
My lousy mood vanishes.
In town, I turn past a tiny school to a restaurant called The Meeting House. And there’s Ava outside on the stone patio, all radiant beside her fiancé, Hudson. Crisscrossing lines of strung lights sparkle over tables and catch the highlights in her blonde hair as she waves, jumping up and down on her toes.
Laughing, I wave back. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
She directs me to pull off the main road and park out back. Then she cuts through the patio, trots over, and wraps me in a hug when I slide from my seat. “You made it! I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Of course I made it. And”—I bend into my car—“I brought your something blue.”
I hold the ICEE out with both hands, and she snags it, giving me another one-armed squeeze. “You’re the best.”
She takes a blissful sip of the half-melted drink, then pauses and slides the straw from her lips. “Where are your shoes?” Her eyes widen. The straw comes out like a baton and points between her ICEE and my knee area. “And what happened to your skirt?”
“Oh, nothing. Let’s just say the first ICEE came to an unfortunate end. The rudest boy in the world dumped it on me.” I pop my trunk. “Where can I change?”
“I’m so sorry.” Her shoulders slump, and a dollop of ICEE drips from her straw before she slides it back into her drink. “It’s all my fault.”
I rummage for a pair of jeans and some sandals. “I assure you, it’s not.”
She slurps another sip. “There’s a bathroom inside. And don’t worry. We’re still waiting on one of the groomsmen. But Hudson says he’s close.”
While she saunters back to the patio, I run inside to swap out my clothes, wash my feet in the sink—yeah, gross—and check my makeup. Too bad I don’t have time to shower after the ICEE ordeal, but this will have to do.
Back at my car, I toss my skirt in the trunk, then walk up the stone pathway to the patio where our party mingles. The welcome smell of something delicious wafts over me, and my empty stomach growls.
I greet Ava’s parents, and of course, her mom comments on my tardiness while her husband is perfectly sweet. Hudson hugs me. He and Ava introduce me to everyone else: his parents and sisters, several sets of grandparents, other family members, and the wedding planner, Evelyn, one of Ava’s mom’s good friends, all the way from Houston.
Ava slips her arm through mine. “We’re going to have a fabulous weekend. You’ll love Carlton Landing, and the wedding will be amazing.”
Maybe she’s right.
As we claim our seats at the beautifully set table, Hudson grins, puts his fingers to his lips, and lets out an earsplitting whistle. He waves over our heads. “Will’s here. Finally.”
A gray car pulls into the alley, and he rushes to greet his groomsman, feet crunching across the gravel. When the newcomer emerges, I suck in a quick breath. The breeze blows a few tendrils of hair across my face, and I slap it away and blink.
No way.
Ava sidles next to me. “That’s Hudson’s cousin Will. Isn’t he cute? And he’s single too.” She cocks her head. “But what is he wearing?”
Is it too late to crawl back to my car and drive home?
Of course, the late groomsman would be a gorgeous dark-haired guy wearing blue-spotted shorts and a neon-yellow, eight-dollar T-shirt that reads Fish Eufaula. The rudest boy in the world.
Ready to find out what happens between these two characters?!
Signed, Series Bundle by Eva Austin