Page 35 of Perfect (mis)Match

I scrolled through my endless inbox to the message. “Okay, here it is.”

I opened the document on their farm letterhead, which featured a heliotrope blossom woven into the font. I wassoclose to getting what I wanted. What I needed. I couldn’t let the temptation Piper presented derail me from my work.

“What?” Piper demanded. “You look grumpy all of a sudden. You don’t like what they have planned?”

I snapped out of it. “I haven’t even looked—I was just strategizing.”

“Always working,” she sighed.

I glanced at the incredibly full itinerary. “Hold on, hold on…did you sign off on all of this?”

She hunched up her shoulders and bit her lip. “Full disclosure? Jean and I planned it together. It was part of the wooing process.”

“Piper,” I scolded. “I am not going horseback riding!”

“Why not? Didn’t you grow up playing polo, or going on fox hunts?”

“No.” I frowned as I read through the impossible plans.

“Hold on…” Her voice softened, taking on a concerned note. “Do you have a problem with horses?”

I looked up from my phone. “Why would you ask me that?”

Piper shrugged. “Just a hunch.” She paused a beat. “Am I right?”

I sighed and turned to her. “Let’s just say I had a bad experience as a child.”

Her hand shot out to clasp my wrist. “Oh no! Were you hurt?”

“I don’t remember much of what happened because I was very young, I just know there was a horse that didn’t want me on its back, and then I remember my mom crying.”

I didn’t rememberanythingabout the incident, but it had become lore in my family. I’d grown up hearing my mom tell people “horses don’t like Vincent,” which made me feel like there was something wrong with me that would make the majestic beasts universally dislike me.

I was in no mood to test it, especially during such an important visit.

“Maybe we can just visit with the horses, instead of riding them?” Piper suggested.

“Or maybe we can focus on the blooms?” I picked up my phone and scrolled. “Piper,yoga?”

She squinted at me. “Umm, that was Jean’s idea, since our yoga retreat was ‘canceled.’” She made air quotes with her fingers. “She tracked down the most famous yogi on the island and got her to agree to do a private session with us. It would bereallybad form to opt out.”

I sighed in frustration. “So the farm tour isn’t until the second day?—”

“So we can get over our jet lag,” Piper explained.

“And we have a dinner with them tonight?”

“Yup, we get to start the show right away. No rest for the weary! Are you ready to pretend to love me?”

Piper batted her eyelashes at me again, and despite the horses and yoga and dinner bullshit, I had to laugh. Was I ready?

Yeah, more than I wanted to let on.

“I’ll make it work,” I finally said.

Piper smiled and pushed the recline button on her chair. “I need my beauty rest,” she said as she fished the eye mask from her little toiletry bag.

No, she didn’t. Piper looked flawless. But I didn’t argue. It would be easier for me to focus if she was resting.

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