Page 107 of Stupid Matchmaking Love
“It was broken.”
“That was fixable, and I glued the head back on. You don’t appreciate that we’re here to support one another. So why don’t you try a little less to dislike everything about this place and be grateful you have a job and cool coworkers?”
Derek stares at me. Blinks. Shakes his head and then, after a long moment—so long I think he’s either forgotten how to speak or no one’s ever confronted him before—says, “Fine.”
“Fine, what?”
He sighs dramatically, as is his way. “Fine, I’ll start app—appreciating you more.”
“And?”
His eyes bulge.
“Go on.”
“And,” he says through gritted teeth, “thank you for the Bitty Being. It holds a special place in my heart.”
Full disclosure—no doubt he went a little overboard with the whole special place in my heart thing, but I’m gonna take it.
“Was that so hard?”
“No.” His voice strains. “It wasn’t hard.”
“Thank you.” I clap my hands. “Now . . . everybody back to work. We’ve got clients arriving in ten minutes.”
As I leave to get the massage room ready, a little smile flits across my face. This new feeling is good.
In fact, maybe it’s great.
Hours later, as I’m closing for the day, Rhett stops by.
“Thought you might want to walk around downtown,” he says like it’s no big deal.
But it is. It’s everything.
We walk hand in hand, breezing past the unicorn statue, Sparkle Bar, all the touristy shops.
He tells me about a difficult guest, I tell him about a client who cried during her massage.
It’s easy between us—natural.
At one point he tugs me closer, like he doesn’t want to risk losing me to a breeze. The moment is small, soft, and absolutely undoing.
This, I think. This is what love feels like.
Maybe that quilt was right after all.
And I’m not afraid to admit that to myself.
Obviously.
But admitting it to Rhett . . . now, that’s a different story altogether.
Chapter 33
Rhett
“Don’t even try lying to me,” Jessie says, her face filling every inch of my phone’s screen. “I know you’re in love with her.”
