“It’s great for the trails here, isn’t it?”
“That’s partly why I bought it. Speaking of trails, some of the guys at the station were talking about Culver’s Trail?”
“Never heard of it,” Cherie said.
But he was looking at me. “Culver’s Trail isn’t a four-wheel drive trail,” I told him. “It’s for hiking and biking. It’s one of the easier mountain biking trails around.”
“Really? They said it was pretty tough.”
I grinned at him. “They must be wimps. Hey! Are you planning on buying a mountain bike?” Suddenly the idea of having somebody to ride with had me excited.
“Should I?”
“Absolutely!”
We finally found the spot. We dug up the metal box and opened it up. In addition to the log book, it had an assortment of random items inside: a green plastic army man, a playing card, a ten sided die. We hadn’t thought to bring anything with us to add, so we settled for writing our names in the log book and then headed back to the Jeep. “Shotgun!” Cherie called. She looked a little embarrassed about having said it, but I understood.
“That’s only fair, since you had the back seat on the way up.” But it didn’t work. Matt was still talking to me more than to her. Back in town, she gave it one more try. “Are you sure you don’t want to come in for a drink?”
“Thanks, Cherie, but Jared’s sister-in-law is expecting us at her house for dinner.” I was surprised at the lie but tried to nod convincingly. “Have a great night.”
He seemed to be happy that she was gone.
“Great!” he said happily. “Let’s go get that beer I owe you!”
“Matt, you do realize that this is a pretty small town. Anywhere we go, there’s a chance she’ll see us and know you lied.”
“Oh.” All the wind had gone out of his sails now. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
The idea of spending another hour or two together definitely sounded better than going back to my empty house, and I was pleasantly surprised that he seemed to feel the same way. “We actually could go to Lizzy’s. It’s Saturday. She’s probably halfway expecting me to show up.”
Brian wasn’t home, but Lizzy was. And, as I had predicted, she wasn’t surprised to see me. She did, however, raise her eyebrows at Matt. He excused himself to find the bathroom, and she immediately turned on me.
“On a date?” She narrowed her blue eyes at me.
“It’s not a date!”
“It looks like a date.”
“It’s not.”
“He sure seems to be spending a lot of time with you.”
“He’s new in town. He doesn’t know anybody. That’s all.”
“Jarhead,” she said in exasperation, “if you think that man doesn’t have other options, even in this town, then you must be blind. He chose you.”
I knew she was right. Hadn’t I just seen him lie to Cherie so that he could spend the evening with me? And she wasn’t the only single woman in town by any means. She might have been the only one who had gone to the trouble to track him down at his house, but that only meant she was the most aggressive of the lot. But he was adamant about being straight, so where did that leave us? I could feel myself blushing as I thought about it.
“What are you two talking about?” Matt asked as he strode back into the room. “Looks like you’re embarrassing Jared.”
“Hair,” Lizzy said, without missing a beat. “Can you believe that mess he has on his head? I keep telling him to get it cut!”
Matt frowned at me and inspected the dirty mop on my head. I tried not to flinch under his scrutiny. I suddenly had great pity for the monkeys at the zoo.
Then he turned to Cherie, eyebrow up, a ghost of a grin on his face, and said, “I like it.” And that’s when I knew I was a complete fool, because my heart swelled up and threatened to burst through my chest, and I knew I was turning tomato red. Matt had already turned and vanished into the kitchen.
“I don’t know who he thinks he’s fooling,” Lizzy hissed at me across the room, “but this is definitely a date!”
CHAPTER 7
HE DROPPED by the shop several times after that, always right at closing time, and we went out for dinner. I was surprised that he seemed to be seeking me out, but I was thrilled at the same time. He was easy to talk to.
Lizzy invited him to her house for a Memorial Day barbecue. He seemed happy to be included, but two days before it was supposed to take place he came into the shop to cancel.
“Lizzy, you’re going to have to give me a rain check on dinner. My parents decided to drop in for a visit this week.”
“No problem,” she said, without even looking up from her inventory list. “Bring them along!”
He looked a little startled by that but said firmly, “No, I couldn’t do that.”
Now she looked up. “Why not?”
“I couldn’t intrude like that.”
“Don’t be silly. The more the merrier!”
“Ummm.” He suddenly looked terribly uncomfortable. “I appreciate that Lizzy, but it’s really a bad idea. You’ll end up regretting it. Trust me.”
“My goodness, are they that bad?” she said jokingly, raising her eyebrows at him.
But he didn’t seem to be joking at all when he answered her. “Yeah. They really are. You know that nasty uncle in all the movies who ruins every holiday? That’s my dad. No kidding.”
She looked at him for a minute, tapping her finger on her lip, like she was trying to decide how serious he was. And then she got that determined look on her face, and I wanted to tell him he might as well give up now, because Lizzy would get what she wanted. “Matt, you’ve never met my parents. They’re insane. I’m talking certifiable wack-a-doo. Jared?” She turned to me. “Tell Matt. My parents are totally fucking loony.”
“Well—”
She was already talking to Matt again. “Seriously. Your parents can’t possibly be any worse than mine.”
“I don’t know—”
“Great! Then we’ll see you at five thirty!” She looked back down at her inventory list as if the topic was closed.
Matt looked a little baffled, like he wasn’t quite sure what had just happened. “Oh. Okay. Well, thanks, Lizzy.” He cocked his eyebrow at her, although she was still looking down, so only I saw it. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He turned and walked to the door but then turned at the last minute. “Lizzy, my dad drinks a lot.” It sounded like a warning.
“No problem.”
THEY arrived right on time. Matt’s mom, Lucy, was about five-four, big boned but skinny, with hair that was somewhere in the transition from brown to gray. Her green eyes looked sad and nervous, and her fingers never held still. She fidgeted with her necklace, her earrings, and her hair constantly.
His dad, Joseph, was big. He was as tall as Matt with the same dark hair and military cut. He had obviously once had the same athletic physique as well, but now had a tiny bit of a beer belly and the red, bulbous nose of a hardcore drinker.
They brought a bottle of wine with them, all wrapped up in a pretty foil bag with a bow. As soon as Lucy handed it to Lizzy, Joseph said, “I’ll take a glass of that now, if you would.”
