Page 100 of Dashing for Love

“It’s nine fifty-eight! Agatha!Agatha!”I turn in circles, unsure what to do. “I go, right?”

“Ofcourseyou go! Get dressed!”

My body flushes with heat. “You keep saying that! I don’t have time!”

“Yes you do!Hurry!”

Without thought, I haul myself to the dresser and throw on a skirt, then a shirt. “I need to brush my teeth!” I push past Agatha. “Shoes are in my closet!”

“On it!” she replies. “Keys?”

“Bowl by the door!” I shove the toothbrush in, give my teeth maybe five seconds, swish, toss another blob of toothpaste onto my tongue for good measure, then run out. I shove my feet into the shoes Agatha’s set out—not at all what I would have picked, but whatever—and grab the Jeep’s keys from her hand.

“I’ll lock up.Go!”

But I pause for one precious moment, taking her in, trying to wrap my head around what’s happening. “Thank you,” I say, leaning to give her a hug.

She lets me hug her for all of two seconds before shoving me toward the door with a smile. “Get out of here! Go get your guy.”

I take off running.

Chapter 37

Goldie

IT’S ELEVEN MINUTES past ten when I screech into a space at the park and kill the engine.

I’m late.

What if he’s not here?

My stomach roils, and I shove it all down. I can’t think about that. He has to still be here. Hehasto. I jump out of the Jeep and run into the park, side-stepping way more people than it seems would normally be here on a weekday morning. Don’t these people have jobs?

Doesn’t matter.

“Matty!” I call as I get to the clock a moment later, looking around. He’s not here.

And that damn clock shows I’m fifteen minutes late.

“Matty!” I probably sound like an idiot, but never have I cared less. “Where are you?”

There.I catch a glimpse of a black cowboy hat on the far side of the park as the person walks out of sight. That has to be him. I break into a sprint, waving my arms and yelling his name.Please.

He turns.

It’s him.

I keep running, eating up the distance between us as he slowly begins to walk my way.

“Goldie?” The faintest of smiles appears on his handsome face.

“Matty!”

Finally,finallyI get to him, crashing into his arms and wrapping him in a hug as he lets out a soft grunt in surprise. “I’m late,” I say into his neck. “I overslept and I turned my volume off because this town never has breaking news and?—”

“You came.” His arms tighten around me.

I want to stay just like this, wrapped in his strong embrace, my face buried against him, breathing him in. But the disbelief and wonder in his voice makes me straighten and meet his beautiful caramel eyes. They’re soft and full of love, and the magnitude of everything that’s happened in the past fifteen minutes finally crashes into me.

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