Still, what they were doing barely qualified as dating. They hadn’t even kissed yet. Aubrey had just fallen asleep on his sofa and woken the next morning with a quilt tucked around her and a home-cooked breakfast on the table. Then, when Gallant had dropped her off, he’d slipped another letter into her hand.
This time, she’d wasted no time ripping into the thick, creamy envelope. And the words inside...
Warmth rushed into her cheeks. She sipped, giving herself time to think. “We’re just... getting to know each other. Seeing what happens.”
Megan’s lips thinned. “I have to say, that surprises me.”
“I know. And trust me, Gallant Nobel is the last guy I ever expected to date. But I think maybe we misjudged him. That there’s more to him than any of us realized.”
Megan nodded along, clearly not sold.
“Why?” Aubrey ventured. She hadn’t forgotten the frosty exchange at the restaurant. “Do you... see things in him, too?”
“Nothing I’d share in polite company.”
She blinked. “That sounds ominous.”
Megan buried her face in a long swallow of milky latte. “Sorry. I try not to gossip. He’s just... Well, he sold us ourhouse last year, and we found out afterward there was a bat infestation in the attic. Which ended up being an incredibly expensive, incredibly stressful mess. But it’s entirely possible Gallant didn’t actually know about it. That it was an honest mistake.”
Aubrey nodded, relieved. Was that all? “I’m sure he had no idea.”
“Probably not.” Megan stood briskly and straightened her sweater. “Anyway, we should get going. The volunteers are meeting at eleven, and I don’t want to be late.”
Aubrey toted her empty mug to the bin and followed Megan out. She had no idea where they were headed, only that a local farmer had volunteered his barn for the festival preparations.
In the car, Megan navigated out of town, onto a county road that apparently stretched forever.
“Wow,” Aubrey said. “There’s no way I can walk this next week.”
“No need. There’re plenty of volunteers who can give you a ride.”
“How about Gallant? Is he coming?”
“No.” Megan’s lips flattened. “He never volunteers.”
Aubrey studied her, but Megan was either very engrossed in driving in a perfectly straight line or didn’t want to pursue the subject further.
She shrugged and turned to the window. Really, she didn’t care what anyone thought. Evenshehad missed Gallant’s complexity, and probably would have continued to, if not for that letter.
Twenty minutes later, they crunched to a stop in front of an ancient, majestic barn. Pastureland billowed away on either side, an idyllic frame of russet and gold.
Aubrey hopped out. A few dozen people milled around, and she approached with Megan, though her ankle boots made fordifficult going. The heels stabbed into the soft ground, so she made a mental note to buy sneakers in town.
Suddenly, a thought occurred. “What will I be doing, by the way? I mean, not that you’d do that match-makey thing withme, but—”
“Oh, no.” Megan’s eyes widened. “Absolutely not. I’ll put you exactly where I need you, regardless of who it’s with. I know that’s what you’d want.”
“Right. Yes. Good.” Aubrey ducked her head. How ridiculous that she’d even brought it up.
“But since you ask. . .” Megan rubbed a hand across her chin and contemplated the sky. “You’ll probably be most useful building float skeletons with Paige. That’s pretty mathematical, and she’s into that sort of thing, and. . .”
Aubrey dutifully absorbed the rest, relieved to hear an unfamiliar name. Not that she’d doubted Megan’s intentions, but still. She had no desire to be paired up with someone she had history with.
But not to worry. Whoever this Paige woman was, if she liked math, she and Aubrey would get along just fine.
15.
As it turned out, Paige wasn’t a woman, but a teenage girl.
