Love Inspired August 2013 - Bundle 1 of 2: The Bachelor Baker\The Soldier's Sweetheart\Bride Wanted by Carolyne Aarsen

Author:Carolyne Aarsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2013-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“How’s our handsome soldier boy?” Alexis asked Samantha as they stood in line waiting to buy sparklers and cones that sprayed fountains of sparks. The church youth group sponsored the booth on the community green, where the traditional Fourth of July picnic and fireworks display would be held later that evening.

“You haven’t asked us to be bridesmaids yet. What are we to think?” Mary gave Samantha a friendly nudge with her elbow. “You couldn’t possibly have imagined that we were going to forget about him, now did you?”

“I could only hope,” Samantha murmured sarcastically, handing the vendor a twenty-dollar bill for the sack of sparklers and fountains she was purchasing. She glanced across the green, where Will was busy setting up lawn chairs for her parents and grandfather and spreading a red-plaid blanket for the rest of their group. He swung Genevieve around in a circle and plunked her down in the middle of the wool blanket, chuckling as she squealed with laughter.

“You could only hope what? That you’d have a ring on your finger, or that we’d leave you alone?” Mary teased.

“Really?” Samantha rolled her eyes.

“Can we help it if we want to see our best friend settled down and living happily ever after?” Alexis gently prodded Samantha’s ribs with her elbow.

“I don’t know why you two are picking on me all of a sudden,” Samantha grumbled. “I don’t see either one of you showing off your diamond solitaires.”

“That would be because our knights in army-green camouflage haven’t yet ridden into our lives,” Mary said with a sigh. “You are so blessed and you don’t recognize what you have when it’s right before your eyes. God just dropped him right into your lap.”

Samantha snorted and shook her head. “I don’t even know what that means. And trust me when I say that I don’t even want to know.”

“You can fool the rest of the world, but don’t try to play ignorant with us. We understand you all too well. And even if we weren’t besties, anyone with eyes can see the way he looks at you when he thinks nobody is watching him.” Alexis’s sly smile grew to epic proportions and her blue eyes sparkled with mischief. “Like right now, for instance.”

“What?” Despite all her good intentions, Samantha turned to look at Will. He was seated on the blanket next to Genevieve, propped on one elbow with his legs stretched out before him, laughing at something her mother was saying to him. “He’s not—”

“Ha! Made ya look,” Alexis crowed. “Anyway, he was looking at you a second ago.”

“That was so not nice,” Samantha admonished, her face warming, but she chuckled just the same. She should have known better than to fall for that old trick.

Her best friends could always tell when she was down, and surely they’d noticed something was bothering her lately. She wasn’t spending as much time with Alexis and Mary as she usually did. At first they might attribute her absence to her

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