Teaser Tuesday -- A short sample of Along the Way

THIS SAMPLE IS FROM PAGES 44- 46 (PAPERBACK) OF ALONG THE WAY.

(Angelina) grinned then stopped at the door. “Well, you boys have fun tonight. Don’t cause too much ruckus out there, or burn the town down.”

“Ryan’s back in town, so no promises,” Greg responded from in front of them as he opened the door. “Nothing is sacred or off limits with him.” Greg gave Ryan a wide, teasing grin.

“Yeah. Right,” Ryan felt his cheeks turn red over the insinuation. He took a quick glance at Angelina. “Well you girls have fun eating.” He lingered for a slight moment as if he were going to say something else. Their eyes met, he caught his breath and gave her a shy smile as he walked out the door. “See you later.” 

“Definitely,” Angelina waved after them and locked the door, pausing to see Penelope’s car parked next to Greg’s black GMC Yukon. Instead of her normal eye rolling at Chris’s lack of tact when it came to Penelope, she found a smile crossing her face as she saw Ryan take a quick look back over his shoulder at her. She held up her hand in a wave before he turned back around. She smiled to herself, thinking that Ryan did look particularly nice this evening, and she was looking forward to their lesson already.

She came away from the door, still in thought as she turned off the lights and slowly walked back down the hallway, thinking of how Ryan’s entrance into the staff room tonight startled her on several levels. It surprised her to realize that her whole world came to a complete stop even though her heart had taken off racing when he stepped into the room. Part of her was denying that he was actually there, while another part of her wanted to melt into the floor because he was there.

Ryan’s face had held excitement and humor. His eyes found Angelina the moment he stepped into the room, which sent her into contradictions. He smiled and turned his attention to the others, greeting Chris with a handshake as the two of them traded insults. Ryan then offered Mackenzie a hug and compliments about her new hair cut before Mackenzie proudly showed off her solitaire engagement ring. Ryan had let out a whistle, “Wow! Now that’s a ring. Congratulations, Kenzie. You’ll make a wonderful wife.” He then intentionally added with a mischievous grin, “I can’t say the same for Chris though…”

Chris called Ryan a few names but Mackenzie had blushed and given Ryan another hug. She then informed Ryan of her requirements for their bridal party since Ryan was groomsman #1, or as Chris put it, the spare Best Man. Mackenzie’s biggest requirement was that the entire bridal party had to know how to dance which meant Ryan had to choose a teacher. Chris introduced Ashlie and Angelina to Ryan then mentioned there were also Paige and Penelope. Ryan had looked at Angelina who had her leg up on a chair and said, “I’ll take the clumsy looking broken one with the bandaged leg.” Angelina knew Ryan’s humor, and made an equally observant comment back at him. Ryan gave a grin while Chris had only shrugged and told Ryan it was his funeral. Angelina now smiled to herself as she came into view of the main dance floor.

“What the hell was all that about?” Paige demanded the moment Angelina appeared, interrupting her thoughts.

Angelina looked puzzled, “What do you mean?”

“Was Greg asking about our plans tonight?”

“Yes,” her nod was accompanied by a shrug.

“See, it shows him that I’m not going to sit at home and wait for him to take me back,” Paige’s hands were on her hips. Jake was meticulously walking through his part of the routine. “I’m so over him.”

“No you’re not,” Ashlie set her purse down on the table next to Angelina’s purse. She looked in the mirror at her image. Ashlie was rarely subtle in her honesty.

“Oh you don’t know how over him I am,” Paige insisted.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,” Ashlie waved her hand around. “And I got some ocean front property to sell ya.” She pulled out her lipstick container, “It’s a five step program, and step one starts tonight. Come on, Lina, let’s go get a table.”

“Let me grab my purse,” Angelina said as she started limping towards the staff room.

“You mean this one?” Ashlie nodded to the purse beside hers.

“Oh, how’d that get there?”

“Yeah, a bit preoccupied there, aren’t we?” Ashlie grinned...

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