No Place Like Homecoming by Dallen, Maggie (best books to read for women .TXT) 📕

boyfriend I’d left behind, and the exact opposite of this guy standing before me. Correction. Logan was my type. But this guy was the perfect distraction from my misery.

Not to mention, he was everything I was supposed to be leaving behind.

My smile spread as his gaze turned dark. Intimate. Curious.

He was trying to figure me out, figure out what I was doing here.

I smothered a laugh. Good luck. I couldn't even figure out what I was doing here. Aside from paying my penance until my dad came to his senses.

A familiar anger made my smile feel brittle.

My parents wanted to ruin my life. They wanted to take me away from my friends and my boyfriend—well, Logan would have been my boyfriend by now if they hadn’t sent me away.

The reminder sent a crash of anger through me, and that rebellious streak my parents so abhorred reared up front and center. They wanted me to fit in here? Fine. But I certainly wasn’t going to fit in with the lame townies. This crowd? They all had second homes here—second mansions.

This was my crowd.

I shifted closer to the sexy tux-wearing guest. “Where can a girl get a drink around here?” My gaze shifted to the bar, which was empty. I made a sound of disgust. “Figures.”

He arched a brow in question, that smirk still in place.

“Good help,” I said with the sort of world weary tone I’d learned from my mom. “So hard to find.”

His smile grew. “Right?”

“So, are you in college or...?” I let my voice trail off. Truth be told, his age was hard to gauge. He wasn’t middle-aged or anything, but he had these sharp features, a cut jawline, and a jaded look in his eyes that made me think he was a few years older than me.

His heavy-lidded gaze never wavered, but he was giving off a different vibe now. One I couldn’t really decipher. “I’m in school.”

“Oh yeah? Me too.”

I waited for him to ask what college I attended. I even had a lie all picked out. But he let out a long exhale like I was boring him and gave me an impatient look. “You want that drink?”

I gave him my most charming smile. “Champagne, please.”

He stared at me for a long second before turning away and heading to the bar.

“There she is,” a girl’s voice said from behind me.

I turned to see Snow White headed my way. Seriously. Snow White. With a wig that looked like a brown helmet and an ugly smock dress, the short girl with pixie features looked cute and ridiculous all at the same time.

Also, she had a handful of little ones following in her wake. From toddlers to grade schoolers, a handful of tykes followed, and the only thing they had in common was their beards.

Yeah, that’s right. Beards.

Girls and boys alike wore these matching gray beards that fell all the way to the floor.

“You must be Isla,” Snow White said as she drew close. Her beaming smile was welcoming and...adorable.

But then again, she was currently dressed as Snow White. Everything about her was adorable. She was cuteness personified.

“Hi. I, uh…” I trailed off as I backed away from the littlest child who didn’t seem to understand the meaning of personal space. I glanced around at the crowd of well-dressed partygoers around us.

I wasn’t invisible anymore. Shocker. Everyone was turning to face us, and they all wore matching indulgent smiles as they took in the scene currently playing out in front of me.

I winced. Please don’t let Hottie College Guy return with my champagne right now. I would never live down the embarrassment.

“I’m Callie,” Snow White said. “Mrs. Messner asked me to find you when we spotted your aunt’s car pulling up. This place is a freakin’ labyrinth, am I right?”

“Um, thanks.” I started edging away. Toward a hallway. Toward a bathroom. Toward a rooftop I could fling myself off of. Really, I was ready to flee anywhere to avoid being a part of this spectacle.

“Is she Dorothy?” the littlest girl asked Callie.

I stared at the girl. Dorothy?

“Yup,” Callie said. I blinked in confusion, and then my jaw dropped in horror because…

Singing.

The kids were singing. And it was horrible.

“We represent the lollipop guild, the lollipop guild…”

The children were singing loudly. And in weird nasally voices. Callie winced, trying to herd them back the way they’d come. “Not here, you guys.”

But they probably couldn’t hear her over all the laughing going on around us.

What on earth was happening here?

Callie caught sight of my horror and rushed to explain. “Mrs. Messner was telling them how she was going to cast you as Dorothy at next week’s Wizard of Oz themed party, and then she promised these guys they could be munchkins and—”

“It kept them entertained for, like, three seconds,” a rueful Rapunzel finished as she reached my side.

Or at least I assumed she was Rapunzel based on the crazy long blonde hair and the princess dress she was sporting. “I’m Willow,” the blonde said as she reached for the child closest to me and started to drag her away. “Come on, kids. We need to head back to the rec room.”

Callie grinned at me. “Mrs. Messner can’t wait to meet you.”

“Do you think you could start today?” Willow asked, a desperate gleam in her soft brown eyes.

“Willow,” Callie said with a roll of her eyes. “Give the girl a chance to meet everyone before you throw her to the wolves.”

“Sorry.” Willow gave a little grimace. “It’s just that we’re short-staffed.”

“I can’t believe Savannah had to go to her grandmother’s in Utah this weekend. Her parents have to know the end of summer is our biggest season.”

Callie and Willow kept talking while they herded the bearded little munchkins out of the wedding reception area. I followed close behind them, eager to escape, especially before that guy returned to find me in the midst of this.

How freakin’ embarrassing would that be?

“Oh, Flynn!” Callie called out to someone over my shoulder. “There you are.”

The hottie