Page 64 of First Love, Second Draft

She shook off the thought. Better to focus on the stupid and annoying aspects so she could remain the ice queen—even if it did feel like that ice queen was slowly melting beneath bubbles the more time she spent with the man.

She glanced at the time. All right. Thirty minutes and they’d get down to business. This day wouldn’t be another total waste.

She reached for the tea Noah had brought her. By now it’d cooled off enough that she could gulp it all down in one long swallow. So that’s what she did.

Whew.She blew out a breath. The tea was stronger than she expected. Not bad. Just...whew.

She hiccuped and looked at the clock. Twenty-six minutes to go. And he better not be a second late getting back.

After a few more minutes, she hiccuped again. And again. She clapped a hand over her mouth. What was wrong with her? She never got the hiccups.Never.

Only time she ever had them was back in high school, which happened to coincide with the only time she ever gave in to peer pressure. Between her dad finding out she’d been involved in underage drinking and blowing the worst gasket she’d ever seen, followed up with three miserable days of nonstop hiccups, Gracie had sworn off alcohol ever since.

Hiccup.Gracie looked at her empty teacup. Noah wouldn’t have...

Gracie sniffed it.Hiccup-hiccup.Would he?

She slammed down the cup. “Noah, what exactly is your definition of herbal?” she shouted.

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Grace:Noah is poisoning me. I need you to come over here and kill him.

Matt:Can it wait until after supper?

Grace:Sorry. Meant to send that message to your mom.

Matt:So I’m off the hook for murder?

Grace:Unless I can’t get ahold of her.

Matt:Have you considered calling the boys at the firehouse?

Grace:You’re the worst.

Matt:Love you too.

Matt grinned as he slid his phone into his back pocket, reached for the drink carrier with one hand, the food with the other, then elbowed his truck door shut.

Things were clearly going well with Gracie and Noah’s little memoir project. Now to get things moving along with his own personal little Matt-and-Rachel-should-be-more-than-friends project.

Ever since his breakfast with Noah and Abe yesterday morning, confessing his feelings to Rachel was all he could think about.Tell her you love her, ask her to marry you, then promise to do whatever it takes to keep her safe and cherished for the rest of her life.

Obviously he wasn’t going to ask Rachel to marry him. Not yet. That’d be crazy.

Unless she was as head over heels in love with him as he was with her. Then maybe asking her to marry him by the end of the week would be the soundest decision he ever made.

The scent of juicy hamburgers and salted fries made his stomach growl as he juggled the drinks and sack to open the front door to his house.

“Hope you’re hungry,” Matt said, nudging the door shut with his foot.

He hadn’t checked with Rachel before swinging through the diner on his way home from visiting Buck, but he didn’t figure she’d be sad to see a sack full of greasy sustenance. Who would? Plus greasy sustenance felt like a great segue into discussing their relationship.

Sure, Rach, I’ll take your extra pickle. Will you take my entire heart?

Okay, maybe not the best segue.

“Grabbed us a few burgers,” he called out on the way to the kitchen. “Hope you wanted a lemonade. Wasn’t sure if you’d want that or iced tea or—” He halted at the site of Rachel stepping out of the guest bedroom with her overnight bag slung over her shoulder. “Hey, what’s going on? I just brought home dinner. You’re not leaving, are you?”

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