Page 35 of First Love, Second Draft

“What?” Except he heard her just fine. “No, I—”

“People have been saying she moved back recently. And I just wondered if that was the reason why—”

“No. No.” And just because it truly wasn’t the reason he broke up with her, since he hadn’t even known Rachel was back at the time, he added another “No” for good measure.

“Okay.” Aimee nodded and started for the exit. “It’s just that I remember how close you two were in high school,” she said, spinning back to face him as she hovered in the doorway. “And when Rachel offered to set us up on that date for prom, she assured me you guys were nothing more than friends. But I’ve always wondered if there was something more. Was there something more? You can tell me. I can handle it. I just really, really need to know if there was something more.”

She stared, obviously waiting for some sort of confession. But all he could tell her was “No. There was never anything more between us.”

Aimee nodded, not looking all that convinced before she disappeared out the door. But it was the truth.

Matt shook his head, remembering how stupid he felt thinking therewasmore between them. Thinking Rachel was going to be his date for prom. Thinking the girl she talked about—the one who’d had a secret crush on him for years, the girl who was too embarrassed to say anything, the girl who’d never gone to a dance before, the girl who thought it’d be fun to be his blind date for prom—washer.

But all along she’d been setting him up with Aimee.

“You don’t know how close I came to telling you so many times,” Rachel gushed later, after prom, when Matt swung by her house to confront her. “But I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.”

Well, Matt had certainly been surprised. “It was Aimee,” he kept saying with a wooden grin. “You set me up with Aimee.”

“I know. Didn’t I tell you that once you saw who it was, you’d realize she was the perfect match for you?”

“You did say that. I remember.” And he’d been one hundred percent certain that Rachel had been talking about herself at the time. “It was Aimee.”

“I know. Isn’t she so sweet and gorgeous?”

Shewasso sweet and gorgeous. That was the problem. His mom loved the match. Aimee loved the match. Rachelclearlyloved the match. Everybody loved the match.

So when Rachel told him a week later that she and her older sister were moving to Florida as soon as the school year ended to get away from her sister’s slimeball of a boyfriend, Matt wondered if Aimee was the best match he was ever going to get. He decided to make a go of it.

Took him five years to realize what his grandpa knew from the start. Their relationship never had any spark—as evidenced by the coupon in his grip. He shoved it into his back pocket. Hopefully that was the last of their awkward interactions.

By the time Matt finished feeding all the dogs, everyone had gone home except Gloria, the office manager. “We had another drop-off,”she told him as soon as he closed the door between the back kennels and the front office.

“Please tell me it’s not another mastiff.”

“It’s not another mastiff.”

Matt’s shoulders sagged with relief.

“It’s a St. Bernard.”

“What?” Matt squeezed the bill of his ball cap as Gloria’s lips spread into a mischievous grin.

“Gotcha.” She slid off her stool and bent over. “It’s only this little guy. How could I say no?” She hoisted a caged guinea pig in the air and plopped it on the counter.

“A guinea pig? Gloria, this isn’t a pet store. We’re here to find homes for stray dogs and cats. We can’t start taking in every Tom, Dick, and Harry that comes wandering through our doors. What next? Birds? Giraffes? This place can barely make ends meet as it is.”

He didn’t mean to harp at Gloria. She was here on a volunteer basis just as much as he was. The woman was a godsend, considering she manned the front desk twenty hours a week.

“I don’t mind answering the phones or doing the clerical work, just so long as I don’t have to do more than pet the occasional cat. My pooper-scooper days are behind me,” she’d informed Thad, the man who ran the animal shelter, straight from the get-go.

“I’m sorry, Gloria. I don’t mean to—”

“Don’t say another word. After being married to Stan the last forty-five years, I’ve developed a pretty thick skin when it comes to taking a man’s griping.” She grabbed her purse and keys from a drawer in the desk. Patted Matt’s arm on the way past. “I know finding good homes for these animals means a lot to you. Which reminds me. Is it true Noah’s back in town?”

“He’s been helping out with my Aunt Gracie, yeah.”

“Interesting. Interesting. Well, maybe Mr. Baseball wouldn’t mind helping the town dig a little deeper into their pockets to support this animal shelter while he’s back.”

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