Page 39 of Take Me to the Wedding

But my real problem wasn’t Quinn. It was that the test hadn’t worked.

Either that, or Caleb and Lilly were a dud match.

My head started throbbing so badly that I barely made it into the cabin to rummage through my bag for some ibuprofen.

Had I done everything right? I’d touched Caleb and Lilly at the same time. And I’d focused hard and said inside my head what my Oma always said.Are these two people meant to be together?

And I felt… nothing. A big zero. Nil. Naught. Zip.

I lay down on my bunk and threw my hand over my forehead. The worst thing was, I was an unprofessional matchmaker. Caleb had his arm on the back of the bench, and I aimed for his shoulder, but I sort of got his biceps.

It had been downhill from there. Because he had a big, hard biceps. A mound of muscle—and it had distracted me. Not only that, it… thrilled me. After that, it was all I could do not to think of him. But he was there, right there, and I was touching him and smelling his soap and feeling myself grow hot and tingly all over like a teenager.

He kept furtively glancing at me, probably to wonder what the hell I was doing, and that didn’t help.

I felt a lot of energy coming from him and nothing from her.

And worst of all, it felt directed atme.

Ohno.

And all that energy… might have thrown off the test. It was like static interference.

The one other time I’d done this maneuver, with Mia and Brax, it felt—well, it felt like peace and harmony and great energy. Which was exactly the vibe they still had with each other.

This time I couldn’t even say what the end result meant. Everything was so muddled. But even when I concentrated as deeply as I could, I couldn’t get any positive energy from either one of them going out to the other one.

I rubbed my right arm, which still felt funny from when I’d touched Caleb’s arm. Like pins and needles. Truthfully, my entire body felt like pins and needles.

There must be something I was doing wrong. Why had I thought I could do this? Why had I thought I’d inherited my grandma’s gift? And why was I so upset I hadn’t?

I knew why. Because it was a little piece of her I thought I still had within my reach.

A little piece that… wasn’t.

I should’ve paid more attention when she was still here with us. I should have learned what she’d always been trying to teach me.

Even though Oma was all drama and one heck of a storyteller, I didn’t actually believe the matchmaking. But I felt that her art was being lost, and now it was my fault because I hadn’t learned enough.

But I believed in my grandma. And oh, how I missed her. Somehow, by keeping this ritual of hers alive, I was keeping her alive.

On top of all this, I couldn’t shake off the creeping feeling that Caleb and Lilly were a mismatch, regardless of how fervent Caleb felt about her. This had nothing to do with Oma’s test. It was just an observation I made all by myself.

“Sam, are you okay?” Mia’s voice pierced my bad thoughts.

I was never so relieved to hear her. At the same time, how could I ever tell her? This was about her brother. And mefeelingthings. Life was so much better when I hated him.

She walked into the dimly lit bunk room and perched herself on the end of mine. “Headache?”

I nodded. “I just took something for it.”

Another voice. “Want me to run up to the farmhouse and get you a diet soda?”

I opened one eye and saw Gabe. My two best friends. A wave of instant relief welled up inside me.

“Do they have those here?” I was suddenly parched and craving a delicious, bubbly, caffeinated beverage.

“Good question,” Gabe took a seat on the bottom bunk across from mine. “I did see a sign about all-natural green juice. But I think you might have to go pick some spinach to get one. You want that?”

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