Page 101 of The Matchmaker Club
I grabbed a knife, fork, and spoon and rolled it into a napkin. “That’s like a couple months away.”
“I know. We’re probably gonna do it at Ben’s place. Homemade deal, nothing fancy. I just want close friends and family there.”
“You know I’ll help decorate, and Lainey will too,” I said. “She’d be all over that.”
“I would’ve loved to have the wedding on your estate. So pretty in the fall.”
I ignored the ache biting through my chest and reached for the silverware.
“Have you found a new place yet?” she asked.
“No.”
She stacked her freshly wrapped napkin onto our finished pile. “There’s some land for sale off Loon Lake, about a mile from Ben. Maybe you could build?”
“Maybe.”
“Or maybe Lucas could get his father not to sell the place…”
My hand hovered over the butter knives before I scooped one up. “That’s not my decision to make.”
“Are you still crushing on him?”
“Not happening. We come fromverydifferent worlds.” I huffed. “I mean, could you imagine me in Boston? Pfft.”
She shrugged. “I dunno. Lucas seemed to adapt here alright. You never know until you try.”
I swallowed down the rock in my throat. “The man broods like it’s his job. I mean, who wants to go through life brooding like that? And he’s blunt… like, really doesn’t have a filter sometimes.”
She playfully narrowed her eyes at me. “Sounds like someone else I know.”
“We’re complete opposites oneverything. He’s city, I’m country. He’s rich, and I’m definitelynot. And he’s anal. I mean, the man takes ten-minute showers.Exactlyten minutes!”
She mocked an expression of shock with her hand to her chest. “Ten minutes? I’d call Hank and Frank on him.”
Frank. Last night. He helped me with everything and never complained once.
“But he can be really sweet too,” I admitted. “Lucas is the type of person who, when he says he’ll do something, does it. Keeping promises actually means something to him.”
“He sounds like a good guy… for someone who broods and takes ten-minute showers.”
I smiled. “Lucas isn’t all routine. There is another side to him that he rarely shows. I think he just has a lot of weight on his shoulders with all that is expected of him.”
“Oh my gawd.” Thelma slipped her hand over mine. “You’re not crushing, you’re in love with him.”
I didn’t confirm what she already knew. I couldn’t say it out loud. “It would never work.”
Thelma shook her head. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
“What?”
“When Taylor Reed chickened out on something.”
“I’mnotchickening out on anything. Only observing facts.”
“Chicken.”
Heat filled my chest. “His family would never accept me, so it’s never gonna happen.”
