Page 55 of Perfect Mess

“He’s by himself a lot. That makes him sad. And then that makes me sad.”

“Yeah. I was actually just thinking I might be able to help with that.”

“Really?”

I said, “I’m certainly going to try.”

We continued walking toward the cabin. After a few more steps, I felt his hand grab hold of mine.

* * *

When we got backto the nature center, Gary, Karen, and Cary were already there, waiting. Karen gave me her biggest smile yet, a victory smile. Honestly, I didn’t even care.

“I guess I can call off the search parties,” Gary said. “We were starting to worry.” I could tell by the look on Karen’s face that the term “we” did not include her.

Regardless, I decided to play nice. “Did you turn in the checklist yet? Did we get our prize?”

That’s when Ranger Sarah walked up, checklist in hand. “Hey there team, looks like you forgot to finish one of the questions. We need all the answers before I can give you your prize.”

“I thought we got them all,” Karen said. “What question is it?”

Ranger Sarah pointed at the checklist. “What do mosquitoes, ticks, and leeches all have in common?”

I looked over at Gary. He looked over at me, the tears already brimming in his eyes. In order to keep from laughing, he was biting down on his lower lip. I surreptitiously caught Kyle’s attention, and then pointed at the letters on my shirt, mouthing each one in turn. “S.U.K.C.”

Kyle turned to Ranger Sarah and raised his hand.

“Yes, Kyle?” asked Ranger Sarah.

“They all suck?”

Karen’s entire body clenched. If I could have wedged a piece of coal up her ass, I would have gotten myself a diamond.

“Way to go!” Ranger Sarah gave Kyle a high five. Then she passed out our prizes. An annual pass so we could repeat the nature walk again and again all year round as many times as we wanted.

* * *

As everyone was gettingready to leave, saying their goodbyes, Gary pulled me aside. “Thank you for coming,” he said. “I appreciated the help. Really.”

“No problem,” I said.

“Kyle seems to really like you.”

“He’s not so bad himself. For a kid, I mean.”

Across the parking lot, the kids and chaperones started loading on to the bus. “That’s my ride. I guess I better go.” Gary lingered a moment longer. “Did you really come out here just to tell me you told Janet I said hi?”

Forced to confront the truth of my intentions, I suddenly realized how utterly ridiculous I had been. Did I actually believe I could pull off a matchmaking plan that would cause anything other than broken hearts and mass destruction? I wasn’t a matchmaker. I was a match breaker. There was no way I had any business meddling in other people’s relationships. I couldn’t even handle a relationship of my own.

“Mary? Is that really all you wanted?” Gary was waiting for an answer. I could see Karen eyeing us from a bus window. She was breathing so hard she was fogging up the glass.

I mean, seriously. So what if Janet had a crush on Gary back in high school? It had been twenty years. Janet had changed a lot in the past twenty years. Clearly, so had Gary.

“Well,” I said.

The idea that they would just magically hit it off, so Janet would forget all about Jack, was insane. Ludicrous.

“Well?” Gary frowned.

---