Free Friends & Lovers Trilogy by Bethany Lopez

When you get accepted to that
school and move to Austin, I won’t get to see you as
much.”
    “ I’ll come home whenever I
can.”
    “ I’m sure you will. Now,
tell me… what’s this I hear about Colin being back in
town?”
    Briana blushed though she should have known
that her mother’s friends from town would be keeping her up-to-date
on all of the latest gossip.
    “ He’s back,” Briana
admitted. “He got injured and won’t be able to play football
anymore, so he came home. He’s helping his daddy at the store now.
But you know him, Mama. Running the store isn’t what he wants to do
for the rest of his life. He’s thinking about trying to
coach.”
    Briana’s mother looked at Ray with a smile
and then back at her daughter. “Sounds like you sure know a lot
about it,” she said with a wink.
    Briana shoveled a piece of French toast into
her mouth, trying to buy herself some time to compose herself. She
couldn’t prevent her embarrassed flush.
    “ That’s okay. I can wait,”
her mother said with a smirk.
    Ray just chuckled and helped himself to some
more bacon.
    Briana swallowed and took a swig of her
coffee, trying to dampen her suddenly dry mouth. “Um, yeah, I’ve
seen him,” she stuttered.
    “ Really?” her mother asked
gleefully. She’d always loved Colin and had expressed the hope that
Briana would get back together with him someday. “That’s wonderful,
Bree. Are you two getting along?”
    “ Yes, Mama. We’ve talked a
bit and I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt.”
    “ I’m so happy, dear. The
two of you were always such a good match.”
    Satisfied that her mother was going to leave
the conversation after having said her piece, Briana enjoyed
breakfast and then joined her mother for a walk around the farm.
They spent a nice day together, catching up and talking about
Briana’s plans for her culinary school application. As they sat at
her mother’s favorite bench overlooking the pond, she brought up
Colin again.
    “ So, when you said you’ve
talked a bit, what does that mean?” her mother asked. She nudged
Briana’s arm and smiled.
    “ We went on a
date.”
    “ Really?” She drew the word
out. “That’s interesting. How’d that go?”
    “ It was really nice, Mama.
I’m comfortable with him. When we talk, it feels just like it
always did, like we haven’t been apart all of these
years.”
    “ You said he’s had to deal
with a lot of changes,” her mother prompted.
    Briana held onto her mother’s hand and
looked out over the water. “Yeah. He’s had to let go of his dream
and find a new one. He’s really changed, Mama. He was always sweet,
but even I can admit that he was pretty self-involved in high
school. He knew what he wanted and was willing to do whatever he
needed to do to make it happen. Now he seems to be putting his
parents’ needs ahead of his own. He’s grown and realized the
consequences of his actions. I’m really enjoying getting to know
the man he’s become.”
    Briana’s mom just made a hmmming sound and
they sat there in silence for a while, enjoying each other’s
company. When she walked Briana to the car, her mother engulfed her
in one last hug before pulling back to look at her, brushing the
hair off of Briana’s forehead.
    “ Give Colin a second
chance, Baby Girl,” her mother said softly. “Your father and I
always liked him. You complimented each other so well.”
    Briana just smiled and kissed her mother on
the cheek, before getting in her car to drive back home.
    She spent the next thirty minutes thinking
about what her mother had said, and trying to decide how she felt
about it.
     

Chapter Thirteen
     
    When Briana got home on Saturday night, Kara
told her that Rich had put together an impromptu barbecue at his
parents’ house for the next afternoon. They were out of town for a
few weeks, so he thought it would be the perfect time to get
everyone together.
    Briana got up and went to the grocery store
to pick up a few