Page 9 of The Fiance Dilemma

Matthew’s lips fell flat.

“Don’t worry.” I gave him a big smile. “Grandpa and I cart heavy stuff around on the regular. Well, mostly me, because I don’t really let him do that anymore. Although I’m starting to believe those Pilates classes I’ve been taking are not toning my muscles as much as I was promised. Maybe I should have gone with my gut and given Krav Maga a try.” I shrugged a shoulder. “Oh. Want to hear something funny?”

His only answer was a strange look.

“Adalyn also fainted the day she arrived in town last year,” I told him anyway. “Under different circumstances, of course. Although I’m pretty sure you know all about that already. But hey, isn’t that a fun coincidence? The two of you just losing consciousness the moment you step foot in Green Oak?”

Based on the way Matthew continued to look at me, I didn’t think he found it exactly funny. In fact, I noticed he hadn’t said a word in a little bit, and I’d arguably said too many of them.

“I tend to ramble when I’m nervous,” I muttered. “So it would be nice if you said something. Just, anything, really.”

“You’re not what I expected.” He huffed out a laugh. It was short. A little tired. But it was one, so I’d take it. “And at the same time, you are.”

A small smile bent my lips. A genuine one, for a change, tonight. Even if I had no idea what Matthew meant by that.

“He doesn’t deserve that,” Grandpa Moe grunted, suddenly there beside us. He dropped a plate on Matthew’s lap. “He hasn’t earned a smile.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, I believe he has earned more than a smile after tonight. Plus, I’ll give my smiles to whoever I want to, Moe Poe.”

Grandpa Moe ignored that, pointing a finger at Matthew. “Grilled cheese. Eat. You were looking like some stale leek a few minutes ago. Something tells me you’ve skipped a meal today. Soeat.”

“Grandpa means well,” I told the blond man crowding my favorite chair in the house. Mathew chewed diligently. “And I promise he’ll stop calling you silly names. I don’t know what’s gotten into him tonight. He’s being extra grumpy.”

“I won’t stop calling him nothing,” Grandpa countered. “And I don’t mean well. I want him healthy and strong for selfish reasons. I still don’t know if I’ll have to whoop his ass.”

I scoffed at the old man before turning back to Matthew. “He doesn’t mean that.”

“I do,” Grandpa Moe insisted, taking the plate off Matthew’s hands just as he gobbled the last bite down. “That was fast. Still hungry?”

“No, sir,” Matthew answered, passing his mouthful down. “But thank you, sir.”

I snorted at the twosirs.“You can call him Grandpa Moe, just like everyone else in town does. Or at the very least Moe. There’s no need for formalities, I promise—”

“My name is Maurice,” Grandpa Moe interjected. “And how about he keeps calling mesiruntil I decide what to do with him? This is my home and he’s not a guest.”

I turned to look at my suspenders-wearing roommate.“Yourhome? You’re lucky I like you, or else I’d be kicking your butt and shipping you to Fairhill’s nursing home, Mr.Nursing Homes Make Me Feel Ancient.”Grandpa gasped, even though he knew I didn’t mean it. He wasn’t getting rid of me that easily. Not after his stroke, even if he had made a good recovery. I shifted my focus back to Matthew. “I’m so sorry, I—”

“He’s right,” he said, the light brown in his eyes shining with a reassurance I probably didn’t deserve. “He just met me and he’s your grandfather. I did skip lunch today. And dinner, seeing the time. That wasn’t smart, and I’m sure it had something to do with me going down like that. So thanks for the food and the tea and for taking that wet jacket off me and dragging my ass here. Thank you for not stripping me down to my underwear, too. As comfortable as I am naked, you’re right, it’d make everything twice as awkward.”

Twice as awkward.I’d used the word myself, but it bothered me that it was his choice to describe this too.

Grandpa Moe grumbled something unintelligible before turning around and shuffling back to the stove, where I knew he’d be preparing more food for Matthew. He really was more bark than bite.

“Grandpa Moe is not really my grandfather,” I felt the need to say. “I…” Thought this was something Adalyn might have told Matthew. “I don’t think it hurts that I clarify it. Grandpa lives—used to live next door. Right beside Otto Higgings. Not sure if you remember him—”

“I do,” Matthew said.“Nosy, wilted prune.”

I nodded with a light chuckle. “Grandpa would help around the house when I was little. Apparently, one day I decided that he wasmyGrandpa Moe, and not just Moe, and wouldn’t call himanything else. It stuck, and somehow all of Green Oak calls him that now.” I summoned a small smile. “So please, do that too. I promise he won’t mind.”

Matthew’s eyes took me in for a few seconds. Contemplating. Then he leaned slightly forward, lowering his voice. “I think I’d like to be on the safe side and keep my balls intact,” he said with a wink.

A wink.

The curve of my lips turned genuine. Happy, even. This was a lot more like the Matthew I’d heard about. The Matthew I’d expected. From everything Adalyn had said about her best friend, but also from the interactions we’d had. A while ago, Adalyn had added both of us to a group chat with her and Cameron, her boyfriend and my friend, and it was impossible not to form an idea of Matthew based on his texts. Funny, clever, often playful, brutally honest. Matthew typed the most outrageous things, and I’d found myself laughing out loud reading his messages more than once.

Which reminded me of the last conversation we’d had on there. “So…” I trailed off, tugging at the sleeves of my cardigan. “How was the trip?”

He sighed. “Long. Tedious. Necessary.”

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