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Those three words made her stomach swoop, but she tamped the swoony feelings down. The way she’d been doing with all of her feelings about Beau for the past three months.
She’d been able tokiss himduring the community production ofBarefoot in the Parkand hadn’t blurted out her feelings. She could resist the urge to throw herself into his arms because he could read her so easily. That was friendship, not romance. He knew her well. So what?
She crossed to the chair. She inspected it carefully but didn’t see any cobwebs or signs of any Remy relatives. She pulled the chair across the floor until it was in the middle of the attic space, away from the walls and other furniture and boxes where creepy-crawlies might be hiding. From here, she’d be able to see attacks coming from any direction.
She sat down, crossed her legs, propped her elbow on her knee, her chin on her hand, and regarded her best friend. “You realize your mother is a part of the group of people who’ve been matchmaking us for the past three months, don’t you?”
“At least up until now, they’ve been subtle.”
So he did know. “Yeah, well, subtle for Autre anyway,” she agreed. “I mean, our moms have been throwing us together ever since we broke up.”
Every time she’d come home from college to visit, something in her mother’s house had magically broken or needed to be replaced. Beau had been over to fix the garbage disposal three times that she could think of. He’d replaced a ceiling fan in the middle of February. Sure, it never actually gotcoldhere, but people didn’t need ceiling fans in February, even in southern Louisiana. He’d not only had to re-shingle their garage over her spring break—not that she’d minded because that had required a lot of shirtless time and muscle bunching—but her mom had even called him over to fix their blender.
Their blender.
A twenty-dollar appliance that Maureen could have easily just replaced.
Becca was also aware that her father was in on all of this. Sure, he was a high school principal, not the guy to be found under the hood of a car or with a tool belt around his waist very often, but he could have put that ceiling fan in. And he would’ve happily gone to the store for a new blender.
“I’ll be honest, I didn’t catch on for sure until they cast us in the play,” Beau told her. He sat down on the top step and leaned against the wall behind him.
He was far braver than her. One thing she knew about spiders, was they hid well and were sneaky bastards. There were probably two plotting Beau’s demise from behind and above at that very moment.
“Yeah, that was definitely less than subtle,” she agreed about the casting decision.
Of course, their mothers had been co-directors of the show and in charge of all casting. Their plan was so obvious in retrospect, Becca was actually embarrassed she and Beau hadn’t realized it right away.
The town had decided to put on a community play for the first time in at least five years. They’d chosenBarefoot in the Park, a romantic comedy with a small cast that told the story of a newlywed couple in New York City. The husband, played in the 1967 movie by Robert Redford, was an uptight grump, while the new bride, portrayed by Jane Fonda, was a perky sunshine.
There were a few other characters, but the majority of the show involved just those two together.
And lots of kissing.
But the biggest clue that the town was actually using the play to throw Beau and Becca together was that neither Beau nor Becca were actually any good at acting. Oh, and neither of them had auditioned.
Their mothers had begged and pleaded with their children to take the parts when, strangely, no one else auditioned for the roles either.
Becca had beencertainthere was no way in hell Beau would say yes, so she’d agreed if they could get Beau to take the part of Paul.
Apparently, Beau had told his mother something similar.
Maureen and Heather, knowing their children very well, had also decided that all proceeds from the play would go to charity. A children’s literacy charity. Something near and dear to both Beau and Becca’s hearts.
Basically, they’d been completely manipulated by the two people who knew them best, and who had a common goal in mind.
But neither of them had backed out.
Rehearsals had often been just Beau and Becca. Even their mothers didn’t show up much of the time.
Becca had seen the movie as soon as her mom mentioned directing the play. She’d read the script after Maureen had asked her to audition. And when she’d found out Beau had agreed as well she’d been…intrigued. Okay, excited. Okay, actuallyreallyinto it.
So, yeah, they’d played the parts—not terribly, but not to any acclaim—and the entire town had turned out.
The town had also donated four thousand dollars to the charity, and Becca had gotten to kiss Beau a lot.
In general, it had turned out pretty well, in her opinion.
“I guess since the play didn’t result in us falling madly in love and getting back together, they’ve decided to get more direct,” Becca told him, inclining her head toward the locked door.
