Page 130 of Matchmaking On The Menu

I turn. Peyton, Beverly’s daughter, stands there, looking nervous. Beside her is a girl I’ve never seen before, fingers laced with hers, offering me a small, encouraging smile.

My back immediately goes up, and I suck in what I hope is an inconspicuous breath.

“I just—” she starts, then stops, clearly regrouping. “I wanted to say I’m sorry.”

That was not on my bingo card.

“For what?” I ask, genuinely thrown because Peyton is not known for apologizing. I force myself not to narrow my eyes. What the hell has she done now?

“For being awful,” she says bluntly. “I was immature and kind of… a lot.” She huffs out a small, awkward laugh. “I know I treated you like shit, and I’m sorry.”

I legit don’t know what to say, so I just keep blinking.

“I had a huge crush on you,” she continues, “and I didn’t know what to do with that, so I just… made it your problem instead.”

I stare at her.

LOCAL WOMAN DISCOVERS FORMER BULLY WAS GAY PANICKING. DOES NOT HAVE APPROPRIATE RESPONSE PREPARED.

“Oh,” I say, because that’s all I’ve got.

She winces. “Yeah.”

Her girlfriend squeezes her hand slightly. “She’s been working on it.”

“I have,” Peyton insists quickly. “And I just, I wanted to say you didn’t deserve any of that. You were always… really cool. And confident. And it intimidated the hell out of me.”

I look at our past differently. I look past the bullying and see the fear underneath it.

Growing up with Beverly McNaire as your mother probably meant growing up in a house where there was a very specific idea of who you were supposed to be. And judging by the way Beverly tried to shove Peyton toward Teddy, despite Peyton being gay, I suddenly have a feeling Peyton spent a long time trying to survive herself. That doesn’t excuse what she did, but I understand it a little better now.

I squeeze her shoulder. “You know for a long time—until recently, actually—I hated you for looking through me the way you did. But if you hadn’t treated me the way you did, I don’t think any of this would’ve been possible.”

I look around at the people gathered to celebrate something I never thought I would achieve.

Luke leans toward Diane from their booth near the window. Considering they’d met because of my friends’ disastrous schemes, I should probably stop pretending accidents don’t happen for a reason.

“Told you,” he says to Diane far too loudly. “Unresolved feelings.”

Diane pats his cheek gently. “Sweetheart, every person in this diner has unresolved feelings.”

“That’s beautiful,” Luke says, looking genuinely moved.

I’m not entirely convinced Luke understands what’s happening around him at any given moment, but somehow he thrives. I have a feeling Diane is going to show him the way.

I turn back to Peyton. “Thank you,” I say, pulling her in for a hug to let her know I mean it. “I hope you’re doing well?”

“I am.” She shoots a glance to her partner, and I can see she really is doing well. “You really were very cool,” Peyton adds quickly. “Like aggressively cool.”

I chuckle. “No one has ever described me as aggressively cool.”

Shelly snorts loudly. “That’s because you don’t know how intimidating your resting face is.”

“I have a resting customer-service face.”

“You look like you’d politely destroy someone emotionally.”

Teddy coughs into his coffee, clearly trying not to laugh.