Page 56 of The Hometown Legend

“He’s Gideon Payne,” she said, feeling incredulous and annoyed, because...he was still the most beautiful man she’d ever seen.

She was only human.

But she also knew that he was completely out of her league, and she was never that stupid. She couldn’t be. She looked pretty tonight. Because she didn’t look like her. And it wasn’t about the way her features were arranged or the way her body was shaped. There was just something about her that seemed to be fundamentally average.

It was that spark. That specialness. She was trying to manufacture it out of thin air. It reminded her of Girl Scouts. Trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together, but not having any real tinder for it.

“Rory, I get that you see yourself as someone invisible, but trust me, you aren’t. You’re underestimating yourself.”

“Nothing in my life has ever made me think that I was a hot commodity.”

“You were an easy target because you were easy to hurt. And that isn’t at all your fault. It’s about the people who took advantage of that. I don’t know everything that happened when you went away to college, but I know something did. I get that it was horrible and upsetting. But whatever someone said or did, I need you to know they weren’t speaking for everyone. Not everyone looks at you and sees a soft target, or an ugly duckling, or any of the other things that you seem to think. But you know, men and other people around you, they probably know youdofeel that way about yourself. They know that they don’t have to reach for you. They can just bend over and pick you up off the ground. They don’t have to be good to you, and they don’t have to treat you well.”

“No offense, Fia,” said Rory, feeling instantly defensive of herself, “but it isn’t like you’ve had any relationships in the last decade.”

Fia pitched up the corners of her mouth into a tight smile and nodded. “That’s fine. You can say that if you need to. But just for the record, if you have to open the sentence withno offense, you should assume that offense is going to be taken.”

“I didn’t mean to be unkind,” said Rory.

“No, I know. I’m giving you advice. To go with your makeover, okay?”

“Okay. But I’m fine. I’m doing something. You have to trust me. I know that you’re protective of me because I have had so much trouble with certain things in the past. But I need to stop protecting myself. So I need you to chill out, too.”

“Hey, I provided the high heels. I’m supporting you. I just don’t want you to be walking into anything you’re unprepared for.”

“I’m listening,” said Rory. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m with Gideon. And you can trust him.”

“Oh, Rory. I don’t trust anybody.”

She said it with a slight smile on her face, but Rory felt the weight beneath that.

She was going to his house, and they were driving from there. So she said her goodbyes to Fia, realizing that she wasn’t going to get anywhere with her sister at this point, and drove her car over to Gideon’s.

By the time she pulled up, he was already out of the house.

He was wearing a tight black T-shirt and similarly snug jeans, and everything feminine inside her wound itself up into a swoon.

He was just so...so beautiful.

She was the one who had gotten the makeover. She shouldn’t be held captive by the sight of him. By this man who was a wholly different creature to the one who had left. To the one who had captured her preteen heart.

He was out of her league. She knew it.

As out of her league as he’d been when she was in middle school.

She needed to learn. She needed to remember.

She was Rory Sullivan. She was too weird for somebody like Gideon. Except her heart beat faster as he took a step toward her when she got out of the car.

“We can take my truck. I’m the designated driver.”

“All right. Should we... Should we not go to a bar?”

She realized that she should’ve asked about that. She was so bad at this.

“I’m fine. It doesn’t bother me to be around somebody else drinking.”

“Okay.”

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