Page 25 of First Love, Second Draft

“So I don’t understand how he does it. How does he scoop her onto his lap so easily if he’s sitting on the top step and she’s two steps below?”

“He was able to lift her onto a horse earlier that afternoon, wasn’t he?”

“Which I thought we already established is rather questionable.”

“He’s Mr. Broad Shoulders, okay? He’s strong. He can lift her onto his lap.”

Noah raised his hands in surrender. “Hey, it’s your story. If you want to insult your readers’ intelligence, go ahead.”

“Insult my readers’—” With a pirate growl—she was getting rather good at those—Gracie swiveled in her chair and motionedfor Noah to help her up. “Fine. Let’s go. Front porch. Right now. I’ll prove it to you.”

“Prove what?”

“That I can drag you up those porch steps, that’s what.”

“Oh, so you’re going to play the role of Mr. Broad Shoulders, are you? Miss I-Can’t-Even-Sit-On-The-Toilet-Without-Sounding-Like-A-Deranged-Bird? That’s right. I hear the noises you make inside that bathroom.”

“Well, you’re about to be the one making deranged noises when I prove it can be done.” She reached for her phone. “I’m calling Matt.”

“Because he’s going to drag me up the porch steps and onto his lap with a passionate embrace?”

“That’s exactly what he’s going to do.”

“Put down the phone. You’re not calling Matt.”

“Oh, but I am. And he’s answering right now. Matt?” Gracie said before her nephew could even offer a hello. “Don’t ask questions. Just get here as fast as you can. It’s an emergency.”

13

“So just to be clear,” Matt said roughly nine minutes after getting Aunt Gracie’s call and breaking the speed limit to get to her house as he imagined every worst-case scenario possible, which made him grateful for Rachel’s company since the majority of his worst-case scenarios involved copious amounts of blood, and she was a nurse, so she probably had a better chance of not passing out, unlike him—especially if his greatest fear had come true and Aunt Gracie had murdered Noah. “When you said there was an emergency...”

“She meant that she needed you and me to pretend to make out on the front porch,” Noah answered. “Now please, ignore your crazy aunt and have some pancakes.”

Rachel giggled as she took a seat at the kitchen table, and Matt allowed his heart rate to return somewhere to normal levels as he took a seat across from her.

So,notan emergency then. He and Rachel could have gone out to breakfast like he’d planned once they finished buying every last mousetrap in a fifty-mile radius like Rachel had planned. But at least Noah and Gracie were feeding them breakfast. And he was spending time with Rachel on her day off. He supposed things were sort of working out as planned.

He shoveled a bite of pancake into his mouth.

“Why do you need Noah and Matt to pretend to make out on thefront porch?” Rachel asked, sounding way too amused. Matt shook his head at her. She really shouldn’t encourage his aunt.

“Something for a story I’m working on,” Gracie said. “But honestly, it wouldn’t work with Noah and Matt. I need a girl, of course.”

“Oh. Well, can Matt and I do it then?”

Matt froze with his fork halfway to his mouth. Maybe Rachelshouldencourage his aunt.

“Can we just enjoy a nice breakfast, please?” Noah asked.

“He’s stalling because he knows I’m going to prove him wrong,” Gracie said from the side of her mouth to Rachel.

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me,” Rachel said out of the side of her mouth to Gracie. “I recognize a good stall from a mile away.”

Well, apparently Matt and Rachel weren’t the only two picking right back up where they’d left off. But then, Gracie did always love Rachel. Unlike his mom, who’d only ever had eyes for Aimee.

“I’m just trying to prevent you from eating crow and cold pancakes all at the same time,” Noah finally retorted when he finished swallowing a giant bite of pancakes. “Coffee? Orange juice?” Noah asked, pointing his finger at Rachel.

“Orange juice, please,” Rachel said.

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