Page 54 of Matchmaking On The Menu

A humorless laugh escapes me.

Of course I did. Because apparently the universe looked at my already complicated life and decided it wasn’t nearly complicated enough.

I study her eyes, the expression I somehow managed to catch before the moment disappeared. My stomach sinks. I can’t separate her from the photograph or the feeling that hit me when I saw it. There’s just something about her.

This town was supposed to be temporary. A reset. A place to figure out how to fix what was broken before I went back to Los Angeles and the life waiting for me there. Dannica, on the other hand, has roots here. Family, friends, and responsibilities. She’s built an entire life in Boudica Springs.

She’s staying.

I’m leaving.

The certainty of that should make this easier. Instead, it leaves me with the uncomfortable feeling that I’m standing at the beginning of something I have absolutely no business starting.

I look away from the photograph, but it doesn’t help. It’s already burned into my mind. Just like she is.

My phone starts ringing, and I almost jump out of my skin. Rick’s name flashes across the screen. I consider ignoring it but I’ve already ignored enough of his calls to qualify as a missing person.

“Hey.”

“Teddy.”

The single word manages to convey irritation, concern, and the certainty that he’s been putting up with my shit for entirely too long.

“You alive out there?”

“I am.”

“Good. Because the gallery’s asking questions again.”

I lean back in my chair and close my eyes. Of course they are.

The conversation goes exactly the way I expect it to. The sponsors want updates. The gallery wants updates. Clients are asking questions. Nobody understands why one of their most reliable photographers suddenly vanished and stopped producing work. Rick argues about how he’s done his best to shield me from most of it, but even he sounds tired.

“Have you got anything?” he asks eventually.

My gaze drops back to the photograph of Dannica. The answer is yes. For the first time in months, the answer is absolutely yes.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how to explain that the photograph currently restoring my faith in my career is of a woman from a town I was never supposed to get attached to.

“I’m working on it,” I say.

Rick sighs. “You said that last week.”

“I know.”

“You need to figure something out, Teddy. People are only patient for so long.”

“I know.”

I let him rant about how I don’t know a good thing when I have it. How I’m not only destroying my career but his too. I don’t have the energy to argue with him, so listening to his tirade is the least I can do.

After we hang up, I just sit there until the room grows darker around me. Rick’s right. I have a life waiting for me in Los Angeles. Deadlines, campaigns, meetings, clients, expectations. That was always the plan. Come to Boudica Springs. Figure out what was wrong. Fix it. Go home.

Simple.

At least it was supposed to be.

My eyes drift back to the photograph and settle on Dannica’s face. I was supposed to come here to uncomplicate things. Instead, I did the exact opposite.