Page 40 of The Matchmaker's Cottage

She supposed that was his job, after all. And it was in line with the Ethan she’d known her whole life—perhaps not caring about fashion and hair so much, but always being a bit too mindful of the perceptions of others. Wanting to keep up withtheir classmates, the trends, even the similarities of their home lives.

“So, we gonna catch a ride from this Norman guy?” Noah spoke up after a few too many moments of loaded silence from her, the person who had suggested not walking in the first place.

“Er, yeah, let me just go find—”

As if on cue, Norman turned the corner, hoe in hand, ambling around the side of the house. She had no idea why he held the gardening tool as he walked away from the gardens rather than putting it in their sturdy and useful shed, but trying to find sense in the things Norman did was generally a useless endeavor.

“Oh, Norm,” Julia said with a smile, playing along despite the potential ruse. “There you are. We were just talking about you.” He gave her an innocent look that she knew meant he’d heard every word. “We were wondering if you could maybe give us a ride into town. I can’t exactly drive with this shackle on my leg, and the rest of our Ubering city folk don’t have a vehicle for us to take.”

“I rented a car.” Ethan spoke up incredulously, gesturing to the side of the house. “You saw me pull up!”

“Nonsense.” Julia waved her hand in Ethan’s face dismissively, reveling in the storminess that clouded his eyes at being so summarily rebuffed. “We would never expect our guest to drive. Norman can take us all in his pickup truck, can’t you, Norm?”

Norman let out a low whistle, pushing the hoe slowly into the ground before leaning on it heavily as he considered.

“I mean, it might be a bit of a tight squeeze, but if anyone can do it, it’s old Sally, that’s for sure.”

“As much as we would love to meet”—Ethan’s words choked in his throat, dying out briefly before rekindling—“Sally, I think it makes more sense to take my car so we can all be comfortable and have our own, you know, seat belts.”

“No, let’s take the pickup!” Katy spoke up excitedly. “I want the full experience.”

Ethan turned to her incredulously. “I mean—you do realize we’re in New York state, right? What experience, exactly, are we going for here? This isn’t the bowels of Arkansas.”

Katy shrugged. “I just think it would be fun to all squeeze in and head to town. It’s only a short drive anyway, right? Five minutes or so?” She turned to Julia. “That’s what you said?”

Julia nodded with a shrug. “Yeah, it’s pretty close by car. We’d be there before you know it.”

“Will Maggie be coming with us?” The question was asked with an air of innocence so pronounced that Julia had to wonder if there was more to it than the picture of guilelessness Katy projected.

“Er, no,” she responded after a split second too long. “It’s just us. Maggie needs to go shopping for another meal for tomorrow.”

As well as tonight and the rest of the week, for that matter,Julia thought. No one had told either of them that there was going to be a vegetarian in their midst for the duration of this trip, so they hadn’t had a chance to plan accordingly. When she had asked about dietary restrictions on their arrival, it was mostly borne from politeness, as she had assumed Ethan would have relayed that sort of information to her beforehand. Clearly, she’d assumed wrong.

“Oh, okay.” Katy shrugged and started to make her way down.

Once again, the response was innocuous enough, but it still attached itself to Julia’s brain like a postdated reminder.

“Let me just bring her around the front.” Norman started to walk in the direction of the parking lot where employee vehicles were parked before he doubled back, mumbling to himself about putting his tools away. Julia had, of course, held her tongue about taking herowncar, which, while not a luxury vehicle by any means, could have certainly gotten them all into town, but it was fun to get Ethan all riled up.

Julia looked over at Ethan, who was barely suppressing a groan, and bit back her own smile.

Maybe this day wouldn’t be terrible after all.

15

2010

“Gem?”

Ethan stalked the same sorority hallway for what felt like the tenth time, possibly the hundredth, his heart rate jacked up so high, he could feel it in his throat.

She’d had too much to drink. He’d been clocking her since her first set of shots, because he knew she was a freaking lightweight and this college thing had all come on too suddenly for her. One week, she was the girl studying in the library until two a.m., and the next, she was the one partying until that time. It hadn’t caught up to her yet, but at this rate, it was going to. And he’d be damned if she thought he was going to sit by and watch her self-destruct.

But at least he had the ability to keep tabs on her. They had an unspoken arrangement where they would both do their own thing—neither had to be attached at the hip to the other—but would keep each other posted and nearby, just in case. Neitherof them had ever voiced the parameters of this arrangement; it was implicit knowledge. Just like almost everything between them. That was what happened when you had known someone all your life.

Ethan sometimes joked that they had a weird twin bond, as though they had been separated at birth. One time he even made aParent Trapjoke, but it had fallen flat, as the topic of her mother leaving was still a sore spot. Tactful he was not.

If watching her all night made him bitter or resentful because he was never fully able to let loose and enjoy himself if he knew she was there, he’d never let on or even really let himself think it. Sure, it would have been nice to hang out with his newfound college friends and drink and shoot the shit without constantly looking around to ensure he had Julia in his sight lines. But at the end of the day, not a single one of these frat boy losers or sorority girls held a candle to Gem. So if his disinterest, lack of drinking, or lack of attention cost him a couple of phony-ass friends, what did he care anyway?