Page 82 of First Love, Second Draft

Hence, the space the past few days and his current restraint not to climb over the banana stand this very second and sayWill you marry me?

She frowned at him. Why was she frowning at him? He hadn’t said that last thought out loud, had he?

She pointed an organic banana at his left shoulder. “Where’s your sling?”

Phew.She was just frowning about his sling. Except why was she frowning about his sling? What sling? It took him a second to transition from marriage to orthopedic equipment. “Oh. My sling. Right. Yeah. I didn’t like it. I took it off.”

She aimed the banana at him like a gun. “You can’t just take off your sling.”

“It wasn’t doing anything.”

“But you were supposed to wear it until you saw the ortho doctor. When’s your follow-up appointment?”

“Never made one.”

“What?” She threw her banana into her basket, then reached for another one. “What do you mean you never made an appointment? You were in a car accident.”

He really hoped she was planning to make banana bread, because the way she kept slamming those bananas into her basket wasn’t going to leave them in great shape for anything else.

“So? Doesn’t mean I need to start wearing slings and scheduling follow-up appointments.”

“It does if that’s what the doctor said you needed to do. What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. Which is why I’m not wearing a sling or scheduling any follow-up appointments.”

“Excuse me,” a short, older woman said, reaching in to grab some bananas. “Do you mind grabbing those five for me from the top row? Yep, the ones right there.”

Matt reached for them and caught a whiff of the woman’s floral perfume. His nose tingled with the beginnings of a sneeze.

“Oh, everything’s fine, is it?” Rachel marched over next to him. “Then how come just reaching for a few bananas is making you cry?”

“Oh my. I didn’t mean to cause you any pain,” the older lady murmured.

“It’s not you, ma’am,” Rachel said, taking the bananas from Matt.“It’s just him being stubborn.” She lowered her voice into what he could only assume was supposed to be an impression of him and not a very bad attempt at Clint Eastwood. “Look at me. I’m Mr. Tough Guy. I don’t need to wear a sling.”

Matt’s eyes watered and his nose continued to burn. Why wouldn’t this sneeze just come out already? “Hold on a second.” He was talking to Rachel, but Banana Lady must’ve thought he was talking to her. She scooted closer with her cart and said, “Yes?”

“I’m not the one who’s stubborn.”

“Okay,” Banana Lady said.

“Are you saying I’m stubborn?” said Rachel.

“I’m not saying anything,” Banana Lady said, looking back and forth between them. “I just want my bananas.”

“Why is it so hard for you to admit you love me?” Matt sneezed.Finally!

“Bless you,” Banana Lady said.

“Ihaveadmitted I love you. Twice!”

“Yeah,” Matt said wiping his nose with the tissue Banana Lady dug out of her purse for him. “Then run off immediately afterward, not wanting to talk about it. Twice!”

“Well, I’m sorry, but the first time I was a little freaked out and needed some time to process. And the second time, well... I guess I was still a little freaked out and needed time to process. But you’d just been in an accident and could barely stand on your own two feet. It wasn’t exactly the time for a heart-to-heart conversation, you know?”

“Well, I’m standing on my own two feet right now, aren’t I?”

“Without your sling, though,” Banana Lady said as if she even knew anything about his sling.

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