AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“We thought you might need a little softening up. Blake’s job was to keep you out of the house while we harvested the sticky notes and to make sure you were still—” I break off and look down, doubt raising its ugly head.
“Still what?” He puts his fingers under my chin and raises it until our eyes meet. “Still in love with you?”
My heart catches, then stumbles on, so fast it feels like a train rolling through. I try to suck a breath into paralyzed lungs. “Are you?”
“I never stopped.” He leans forward, and his lips brush mine, sending sweet fire through my veins. “But this was about you, not me. How do you feel?”
My throat tightens, but I fight through. “I—I think I’m—” I clutch the dark wool of his jacket and press my lips to his, desperate to show him everything I can’t say. His arms close around me, his hands splayed on my back, warm through the thick wool of my costume.
“Get a room!” someone yells.
But I don’t care. I lean back, and my eyes meet Matt’s. His are clear and blue, like a cool oasis in the desert. He’s my refuge. Indecision, anxiety, fear of the future all burn away, consumed by the strength of my feelings. He’s the one. This is right. Now and forever. “I love you, too, Matt Hertzsprung.”
Matt’s arms tighten, and he kisses me again.
After a long, blissful interlude, Matt relaxes his grip, letting a fraction of space form between us, but still holding me close. Chatter from the audience registers, and a giggle bubbles up in my chest. “We kind of messed up the show.”
He smirks. “Somehow, I think that was part of the plan.” He tips his head toward the front row, where our families—Mom, Maddie, Eva, Blake, and Rachel—have dropped their banners and are high-fiving each other.
I lean in to give him one more swift kiss, then pull away. “A grand gesture needs to be dramatic. But now the show must go on.” My eyes find Dame Edith. I really should have included her in the plot. But while she is a great actress, and every bit as dramatic as me, she is also very serious about the show. She would never have allowed us to disrupt it.
At least that’s what her husband told us. But now, she seems to be reveling in the moment. She sweeps across the stage, hands outstretched. Putting one arm around each of us, she turns us toward the audience. “Our stars, everyone! Matt and Nica. A love story for the ages.” She pushes us to bow, then whispers fiercely, “Do that again, and I’ll bring on both your understudies.” She smiles at the audience and raises her voice again. “Thank you for your kind indulgence, friends, but now the show must go on.” She bows again, then backs away and strides off stage right.
I squeeze Matt’s hand, then scurry back to my position at the couch. He moves into the wings and restarts his entrance.
And the show goes on.
Chapter 31
MATT
A week and a half later, Sunday morning dawns bright and clear; a typical early summer day in the high desert. Birds sing, and as I drive to the Ranch, I catch sight of a pair of obviously pregnant does munching with a pack of yearling deer.
Which starts an earworm I will be stuck with all day. Do, a deer… But I don’t mind because I hear it in Nica’s voice.
I wave Nica’s visitor card at the automated kiosk, and the gate rises. It’s only nine and the swimming pools are already packed. Bikes whiz by on the trails that meander beside the road, and in the distance, a quartet of golfers tees off. I round the corner and pull into Nica’s driveway, parking next to a shiny black Nissan.
The front door is open, so I call out a hello as I walk in.
“We’re back here!” Nica waves through the window from the patio behind the house. She meets me at the sliding door. After a slow, sweet, soul-warming kiss, we turn toward the broad wood deck. The pines behind the house throw cool shade across the chairs and table and the group of women sitting there.
“Good morning.” I lift a pink Rotheberg Bäckerei box. “I brought brunch. Berliners and marionberry streuselkuchen. Plus a couple of other favorites.”
“Do you want iced or hot coffee?” Nica pauses in the doorway.
“Hot, please. With cream.”
“I know.” She smiles, then disappears into the house.
“I didn’t realize you were having a party.” I set the box in the center of the table. “Nice to see you, Loretta. Maddie.”
Maddie looks up from her phone. “Is Eva here?”
“No.” My brows come down. “How do you know Eva?”
She turns back to her device. “When we worked on the sticky note thing. She’s coming up to swim this afternoon.”
I blink. “She said she was swimming with a friend—I didn’t put it together. She has a lot of high school friends in town, so I assumed…”
