Page 75 of First Love, Second Draft

“I made brownies,” Gracie said.

Apparently that was a good-enough explanation. Mona nodded and stood. Took a few more deep breaths. “Okay, well. I think I’ll peek in on him, then head home. Is it all right that he stays here with you?”

“Of course,” Gracie assured her. “Hey, where were you by the way? I was actually starting to get a little worried that we couldn’t reach you.”

Mona fumbled her purse, then tugged it over her shoulder. “Oh. Ah. Dinner thing. I had my phone on silence.”

“Some sort of work dinner?”

“Yes. Kind of. Dinner with a client. Well, former client. Sort of. Anyway, I should get going. I have a lot of things I need to do tonight.” She headed for the door.

“I thought you were going to check on Matt.” Gracie looked at Mona like she might be the crazy one covered in brownie batter.

“Right.” Mona glanced at the ceiling. “You know what, if he’s resting, I should probably just let him... you know, rest. Thanks for looking out for him. Tell him to give me a call, soon as he’s feeling up to it, okay?”

The moment Mona closed the front door, Noah turned to Gracie. “You know what that was about, right?”

“What?”

“Your sister was on a date.”

Gracie shook her head as if she were about to deny it, then her eyes filled with wonder. “You really think so?”

“Bet you an entire bowl of brownie batter.”

“Oh my goodness. You might actually be right. No wonder she’s been acting so weird lately. Man, there must be something in the air. First Matt and Rachel. Then—uh...” Gracie cleared her throat and wiped the brownie batter off her cheek. “Mona,” she finished saying after another throat clear.

Us.She’d been about to sayus. He hadn’t imagined that near kiss.

He grinned and started filling up the sink with soapy water. “Well, Rachel seems like a great girl. I hope things work out for her and Matt. As for Mona...”

“God help the poor man who wants to make a go of things with her,” Gracie said, plopping the mixing bowl into the sink.

Noah pretended to snap her with a dish towel. “Listen to you.”

Gracie’s lips tipped up in a small smile as she yanked the dish towel out of his hands and motioned to the sink. “You wash, I’ll dry. And for the record, I hope things work out between Matt and Rachel too. He deserves to be happy.”

Noah plunged his hands into the soapy water. “You think marriage will make Matt happy?”

“Sure. If he’s got the right girl.”

“You think that’s what our problem was? We chose the wrong person?” He scrubbed the chocolate off a spatula.

“Our situation was completely different.”

“So you do think we were right for each other initially?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So you think we were wrong for each other.” He rinsed off the spatula and tossed it onto the drying rack, then started on some measuring spoons.

“I didn’t saythat. Stop putting words in my mouth. This isn’t about us anyway. I was talking about Matt. All I’m saying is I know Rachel will make him happier than Aimee.”

Noah rinsed off the measuring spoons, then started on the mixing bowl. “And all I’m saying is it’s not up to Rachel to make him happy.”

“I know that.”

“Do you?”

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