Page 22 of First Love, Second Draft

“Rachel, we don’t have time for more sugar.”

“There’s always time for more sugar. Here it is.” She tugged a bag of sugar from the cupboard. A giant hole on the bottom corner leaked granules all over the counter.

“Now why is there a—” Her scream erupted the same moment Matt saw it.

Brown fur. Long whiskers. Pink tail. Rachel continued screaming as the mouse dashed from the sugar bag across the counter and onto the floor. Then it ran into the living room and disappeared through a sliver of space in the wall. But apparently that wasn’t far enough awayfor Rachel. She had swung herself up onto Matt’s back, circling her hands around his neck in a death grip.

“Rachel.” Matt tapped her hands. “Can’t really breathe when you grip my throat like that.”

“Sorry.” Her hands loosened and dropped to his shoulders. “I hate mice. Really hate mice. Hate ’em, hate ’em, hate ’em. Did you see that tail? I’m never sleeping again. All I’m going to see is that tail every time I close my eyes. Oh, I hate mice. Why aren’t all mice dead? God never should’ve created such detestable little beings.”

Matt didn’t know where to put his hands while Rachel continued to rant over the inhumanity of mice. On her legs? They were completely wrapped around his waist. Pretty sure that made them fair game. He reached for his coffee. That seemed the safest place to direct his hands at the moment. “Think you’re ready to get down now?”

“You kidding? I’m never setting foot on this floor again.”

Matt nodded. “Reasonable. I mean, you bought a creepy, foreclosed house in the country. One that probably sat abandoned for months before you moved in. Why would you expect for a mouse to show up? That mouse should have known better.”

Her hands moved back to his throat. “Keep up the jokes, pal. Not like I had a lot of options with a bank account of zero. Now get moving.”

“When I said I’d give you a lift to the hospital, this really wasn’t what I had in mind.”

Her grip tightened.

“You do realize if you make me pass out, you’ll be on the floor with the mouse.”

Her hands dropped to his shoulders. “Don’t even joke about such horror.”

Matt downed another gulp of coffee and stopped worrying about what to do with his hands since she clearly had no inhibitions about plastering herself to his back. Grabbing beneath her thighs, he hoisted her further up his back for better leverage. “Got everything you need?”

“Can you put it in reverse a little?”

He took a step back. Rachel leaned down enough to grab a bag and stethoscope off the kitchen table. “Now I’m ready.”

Matt shook his head. “You’re lucky my grandpa likes you.”

“How lucky?”

“Lucky enough I’ll fix your door. Not lucky enough that I’m carrying you all the way to my truck.”

“What about lucky enough to set two thousand mousetraps and get rid of all the dirty carcasses for me?”

“Depends.”

“On what?” She hopped down from his back after they stepped out of the house.

“I get it that you don’t like mice, but...” He touched her lower back and guided her to his truck. “How do you feel about cats and dogs? Because I know for a fact the animal shelter could always use some extra hands.”

And maybe while they were volunteering together, she could tell him what happened in Florida and why her bank account was sitting at zero.

11

Scotty:Hey buddy! Given any more thought to doing the memoir?

Noah:I’m not doing the memoir.

Scotty:Still thinking it over? No problem.

Noah:I’m NEVER doing the memoir.

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