Page 18 of Matchmaking Under the Mistletoe

“I’m sorry, I must have missed your name,” I say as I try to come up with a response for the outlandish accusation she just threw at me.

“I’m Miss Sally. And just know, y’all will never get away with your little plan,” she says, before throwing another dirty look my way and turning to make her way back inside.

Ahhh, yep. I’m with Brian. If this is her normal behavior, she totally deserves to have her house rolled.

Shaking my head, unable to believe that the previous conversation actually happened, I take off again, needing to burn some of my angry energy. As I get going, I see more people outside, pretending like they aren’t looking at me. I try to tell myself that this is probably their usual morning routine, butwhen I pass a lady that looks like she’s in her eighties trying to take a picture of me, I’ve hit my limit.

This place is actually insane… Where on earth did I break down?

Annoyed that even my runs aren’t free from the chaos of this town, I decide to give it up for today even though the mile and a half I’ve covered isn’t even a quarter of what I normally need to quiet my anxious thoughts.

I’m walking through the front door when I see Brian sitting at the kitchen bar looking over some emails and drinking a cup of coffee, reminding me of the initial reason I needed to move my body this morning. He’s wearing pajama pants and a long sleeve T-shirt, and his hair is still tousled from sleep. On top of that, he’s wearing a pair of glasses that make him look even sexier, which, before now, I wouldn’t have thought was possible.

“Good morning,” I say, my voice coming out angrier with frustration than intended.

“Good morning, Millie. Everything okay?” he asks, and I fight the urge to smile despite my annoyance at the sound of concern in his voice.

“Oh yeah, everything’s wonderful except for the fact that everyone in this neighborhood has lost their mind. I tried to go on a run and it started with a lady who could be my grandmother knowing all about me and it ended with all of your neighbors sitting outside on their porches watching me. One at the end was even trying to take my picture!” I exclaim incredulously before adding, “Oh, and I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Sally too. She’s actually horrible!”

“Wait, what did Miss Sally do?” he questions, his concern already turning to anger.

“That woman has lost it. She accused me of basically breaking down here on purpose so that I could get the inside scoop for my ex-husband. I guess she thinks we’re gonna turnmain street into a shopping mall or some other Hallmark bullshit.”

At that, Brian stands, and I can feel the fury rolling off him. “What the actual hell? Stay here, I’m going to talk to her right now.”

I try to ignore the twist my heart gives at his protectiveness but completely fail. Through the entire time Allen and I were married, he never once defended me, even when his friends called me white trash and other derogatory names. They thought that because I’d attended public school and needed scholarships to attend college, I wasn’t as good as they were. But here Brian is, only a few days after meeting me, ready to run down the street to defend me.

“No, no. You don’t need to do that! Anyway, how did the other neighbor know so much about me?” I ask, trying to distract him from causing a scene he’ll definitely regret once he calms down.

Brian lets out a groan. “Let me guess, Miss Ethel caught you first thing too, huh?”

“Oh my gosh, how’d you know?”

“She’s pretty notorious in this neighborhood for sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. She probably sent out a STS alert as soon as she saw you step out the front door.”

“What in the ever-loving hell is the STS?” I ask, feeling lost.

“Basically, it’s an email thread that the old ladies use to share all the gossip,” Brian explains with a grimace. “And considering the fact that I’ve made it a point to never have a woman over because this town is nosey as hell, they’re probably losing their mind with theories about us.”

“Great. So not only am I the new out-of-towner, I’m also about to be the new-in-town hussy,” I whine. “It’s over, I should just get out now, I guess. There’s no coming back from this.”

Brian looks at me seriously. “Millie, it’s fine. I'll mention something about how you’re staying here because of the water issue at the inn really loudly when I go to the post office this afternoon, if it would make you feel better. That’s one of their favorite places to stand around and gossip. After that, there’ll probably be at least ten little old ladies offering to take you in.”

“Nope, I’m good on that front, thanks. I’m pretty certain Miss Ethel worked for the CIA or something in a past life, and she freaks me the heck out,” I say with a laugh.

“I guess this didn’t happen in D.C.?” he asks with a smirk.

“Uhh, that’s the understatement of the decade. I lived in our penthouse in D.C. for ten years and I still couldn’t tell you a single thing about anyone who lived in the building, but I’ve been here less than forty-eight hours, and everyone knows my entire life story. I’m sure they’re all lovely people…except for Miss Sally, obviously, but anyway, I just wasn’t expecting the Springside paparazzi on my morning run.”

Brian laughs at my outburst and shakes his head. “Damn, yeah I guess when you look at it that way, this is a bit of an experience.”

“Yeah, you could say so. Anyway, give me a few minutes to shower, and I’ll be ready for work. I’ll meet you back out here before eight.”

“Sounds good. There’s coffee in the pot. I’ll be here when you’re ready. See you then,” he replies before turning back to his emails.

“So,I feel like I should warn you,” Brian says with a wince as we pull into the parking lot of Deer Valley an hour later. “Miss Ethel, Miss Sally, and my nosey neighbors probably aren’t the only ones in town who’ll be wanting to know all about you. I’m hoping they’ll all be on their best behavior, but as you saw this morning, the people in this town tend to have trouble minding their own business.”

“You don’t say,” I mutter under my breath.

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