Page 36 of My Big Fat Shifter Wedding

“I didn’t mean anything negative by it. It’s just… your behavior was very different between the two days, and I was wondering if something had happened.”

Had I somehow stuck my foot in my mouth again? Wouldn’t be the first time, but I couldn’t quite figure out where I had made my error.

She continued to stare at me for a painfully long time before bursting into laughter. Full-on cackling, head tipped back, mouth wide open, chest-heaving laughter.

“What?” I asked, completely bewildered. “I mean, I know you put your hair up and wore tighter clothes, but I thought that was a bit of a matter of course since I told you that your looser outfit was dangerous...”

Even though I had appreciated her outfit, that didn’t really explain the sudden change in behavior. Or did it? I knew fashion was a thing for some people, but I never really got it. Was this like that? Was I being a certified man?

“Keith!” She was nearly breathless now, although I was somewhere between anxiety and amusement myself, I still very much liked how my name sounded when she said it like that. “I ask again, are you serious?”

“I am. What is it? What’s the joke I’m missing?”

“The joke is that everything changed! I learned how to do my hair to make sure it would look its best. I changed my style. I wore makeup! I even started going on extra runs that week because I thought it might help tone me up!”

Oh.

Was I a moron? Because suddenly, I felt like I was eating crow right along with my food. “Why would you do all that?”

Some of her amusement ebbed a little, and her expression took on a bit of the impression like I’d grown another head. “To impress you, of course.”

There was no way on God’s green earth I’d heard that right. Impress me? The nearly middle-aged contractor who didn’t have much going for him outside of woodworking? What was possibly worth impressing there?

“At least, it started that way. But as the day got going, I began really enjoying it, and I made a new friend. Amanda, she sits at the workstation next to me in your class. She’s a bit... different, but utterly wonderful in her own way.” Her expression warmed before it hardened again. “Are you saying you really didn’t notice all the work I put in?”

“I, uh…” God, I had not been trained for such a test. This was where growing up with a sister certainly would have been useful.

Well, I wasn’t really slick enough to spin some yarn, nor did I really want to sound like a pick-up artist, so I had to go with the truth.

“I noticed that something changed, yeah, and that you’d listened to my advice on safety, but please believe me that the thing I noticed the most was how much happier you seemed. You were glowing. And it made me want to talk to you. Then, when I did talk to you, you were radiating a confidence that both inspired and intrigued me. I wanted to know what it took to feel like that, to shine from the inside out. I never thought that you put in effort just to impress me.”

“What the fuck.”

“Sorry,” I murmured, wondering how I’d ruined what seemed to be such a good thing.

“No, no! You have nothing to apologize for. You have to realize that’s just about the sweetest thing you could ever say, right?”

It was?

“And on a side note, Mister, you’re plenty worth impressing. You’re hot, have a good career, you’re funny, and you’re kind. If you throw in being able to cook, you’re practically the perfect catch.”

This woman was insane.

That was the only thing that made sense. Me, Keith Insrym, the perfect catch? Please.

“I get by,” I murmured, my cheeks heating. I really wasn’t used to that. God, was I blushing!? “I’m not some professional, but I’m also not living off ramen and my mother’s cooking.”

In fact, when my mother had been working two jobs to get us ahead, I’d often made dinner so she could have a hot meal when she dragged herself home, feet swollen and aching.

“See? I rest my case.” She sat back, nodding like that was that.

I was still stuck on the way she’d described me. Surely, she couldn’t really believe that, could she? She was just being nice.

Then again, one of the things I liked so much about Olivia was her seemingly genuine nature. If that was the case, then why was I doubting her?

“You know, now that I think about it, it probably would have been shallow if you only asked me out because I got my little makeover. I guess, in the end, it really was for me.” She let out a dry chuckle that was quite different from her explosive cackling earlier. “Jeez Louise, I sound like an after-school special.” Her voice went higher, as if she were mocking herself. “And remember kids, never judge a book by its cover! It’s what’s on the inside that counts!”

There she was, confusing me again. Was she trying to insinuate that she wasn’t beautiful before? No, that couldn’t possibly be the case. “You do know that you’re wicked hot, right?”