Little Miss Lovesick (19 page)

I sat down and put my hand on the back of my head. I thought I heard him mutter, “And a cold shower to go.”

CHAPTER 20

SUNDAY, I got to church early because I could barely stay asleep. Life just seemed too fine to stay in bed. I sang loudly with the praise band, said a hundred thank you’s in my head when we prayed, and complimented Pastor Mark on the sermon. Afterward, I stayed and chatted with my friends for nearly an hour.

By then, we were starving, so we decided to have lunch together. I hadn’t gone to lunch with them i
n
foreve
r
. We went to Paesano’s, the best pizza place on this side of town. They have the most amazing Chicago-style pizza — outside of Chicago, of course.

I carpooled with Rhonda, Carlo, and Dave. It was immediately obvious that Rhonda and Carlo had been getting to know each other better while I wasn’t noticing. They shared the front seat and acted, you know, like an item.

If you haven’t experienced it for yourself, let me tell you, a large church’s 20s and 30s singles group can be one step away from a meat market. Just like in a bar, everyone is trying to meet someone, either to hang out or to permanently end bachelorhood. It’s a regular Marriage Mart.

I tapped Dave on the arm and gestured to the two in front, arguing about the best route to the restaurant.

“Are they—?” I whispered and raised my eyebrows.

“Over a month, now,” he whispered back. “We’re taking bets on how long until the ‘I dos’ take place.”

I giggled.

Rhonda turned around to look at us. “All right, you two. Hand check.”

Dave immediately pretended to put his hands over my breasts. I laughed and pushed him away.

“Are we there yet?” I whined loudly at Carlo.

“I have to go to the bathroom,” Dave whined.

“He’s on my side of the seat.”

“She’s kissing me.”

I inhaled in surprise and nearly choked. Everyone laughed while Dave thumped my back.

After a loud lunch with more laughter than I’d had in months, we returned each other to our cars. What a really fabulous day.

Rhonda gave me a hug. “It’s good to see you again. You look great!”

“Don’t be a stranger!” Carlo waved and smiled. Then they were off.

“It’s good to see you smiling again,” Dave said. “I’ve been praying for you.”

“You have?” My throat tightened. That touched me like little else could.

“We all have. We’ve been worried about you.”

I gave him a big hug. “Thank you.”

We said goodbye and walked to our cars. Thank you, God. I a
m
s
o
lucky. You love me. They love me.

Who knows who else might come to love yo
u
, suggested Lovesick.

I tried not to think abou
t
tha
t
.

That afternoon, I took a book out to the patio and dozed in the dappled light. So relaxing. I hadn’t felt so good in forever. Except for bits of branches that kept falling from the trees, it was immensely peaceful.

Ow, that felt like a pebble, not a leaf or a branch. I swiped at my leg with my eyes still closed.

Another pebble hit me, then another. I sat up, staring into the tree. A squirrel must be having a party up there.

I heard a sound as another pebble hit my ankle. I looked down. Matt grinned up at me. He dropped his stash of pebbles on the ground and dusted his hands off.

“What are you doing down there?”

“I knocked but you didn’t answer. I saw your car so…”

“So you went trespassing,” I teased.

“You got it. Wanna lock me up?” He held out his wrists to me.

I grinned and shook my head in warning. I could just imagine what that would lead to. And by the look on his face, so could he.

“Get around to the front, you bad boy,” I said with mock severity.

He bowed and grinned and ambled off to the front of the building.

On my way to unlock the door, I tried not to go crazy. Matt had come to visit! Uninvited. When we’d just seen each other the night before.

This wa
s
awesom
e
!

Okay. Calm down. Deep breath. It might not even mean that much to him. Probably not as much as it means to you.

I opened the door. Matt swooped in and kissed me, swinging me around and shutting the door by leaning our bodies against it. Still kissing me. Running his hands all over me.

Still kissing me.

Yeah, right. This doesn’t mean anything to him? How could i
t
no
t
mean anything?

Just when I thought I was going to pass out, he pulled back and said, “Hi.” No, not “Hi,” but “Hhiii” with all that his deep male voice could do with two letters.

I just grinned. I couldn’t even say hi back.

He leaned in and kissed me some more. Man, he wa
s
ver
y
good at this. He put one hand behind my head to pull me closer — and hit the bump. I winced as he pulled away in surprise.

“Hey, are you okay? Let me see that.” Matt tried to look at the back of my head. I moved away from his hand.

“I’m fine, don’t touch it.”

“There’s a big knot on the back of your head. Let me see it.”

I grabbed his hands and tried to keep them away. “
I
kno
w
there’s a big knot. That’s why I don’t want you to touch it!” I half-laughed.

“Hold still, for crying out loud.” He forcibly turned my head and examined the damage, prodding some more and making me grimace.

“Ow! Stop!” He let go and I stepped away, frowning at him. “Lik
e
you’
d
know anything.” I covered the back of my now-throbbing head with my hand.

Matt raised his eyebrows and cocked his head at me. It was a look I was coming to know as his “you don’t know it, but I’m right” look. “Between working at a wilderness camp most of my life and working construction, I’ve seen things that would make you faint. I do know a little about first aid.”

He pointed to my head. “And you should put some ice on that.”

I made a face at him. “Yeah
,
no
w
I should ’cause you made it hurt again.”

He turned toward the kitchen. “Whiner. Hope you never decide to head-butt anyone.”

“Whatever.” I followed him.

He pointed toward the living room. “Go sit down.”

“I don’t need—”

“Sit!” He turned me around and slapped my butt.

It made me laugh so I went. He brought me a soft ice pack from the freezer. Ah, that did feel a little better.

“I still say it was fine before you poked it,” I told him.

Ignoring me, he sat close and held his hand over the ice pack.

“Ow!”

“You have to put the ic
e
o
n
it, not just dab at it.” He shook his head at me again. “Trust me, you’ll thank me tomorrow.”

I grunted. “Doubt it,” I muttered under my breath. He turned his “I’m right” look on me again so I changed the subject. “So what’re you doing here?” I said in my pretend-grumpy voice. “And where’s the puppy?”

“She’s at home.
I
wa
s
going to see if you wanted to get some dinner, but now I think we should stay in.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, right, because the invalid shouldn’t exert herself. I made it twenty-eight years without you, mister. I think I can manage.”

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “It seems like I’ve bailed you out a lot in the last month. The river, your vehicle, now your head. You obviously need someone to look out for you.”

“And you’re volunteering for the job?” I asked skeptically.

He grinned. “Depends. What are the benefits?”

I laughed and stuck my tongue out.

“Really?”

I hit him in the chest with the back of my hand. He laughed and kissed my forehead.

“So what do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I was relaxing on the deck before you came over and made my head hurt.”

“You were sleeping.”

“I wa
s
relaxin
g
with my eyes closed. Besides, who can sleep when you’re being pelted with rocks?”

He picked up my free hand and twined his fingers through mine. “Stay up too late last night?”

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye. “Something like that.”

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“Maybe.” I put the ice pack on top of a magazine. He was so quiet. I knew he was staring at me, waiting for me to look at him. I finally gave in.

His dimple dented his cheek. “Me neither. Wanna take a nap together?”

“Yes,” I said emphatically. “Which is precisely the reason we shouldn’t.” The cold pack had helped keep my wits about me. “You,” I teased, “are a very dangerous man.”

“I thought women like dangerous men.” He wiggled his eyebrows and pulled me closer.

“Listen,” I kept my voice teasing, “it was all I could do to keep from ripping your clothes off last night. So—”

“I like where this is going,” he interrupted.

“Matt!” I laughed. “I’m not having sex with you!”

He swung his arm and snapped his fingers. “Aw, rats!”

I giggled. “Seriously, I told myself I wasn’t going to have sex until I got married. Then I did with the guy who wa
s
goin
g
to marry me — at that point, I thought it was just a matter of timing — but then he didn’t marry me. So…now I guess I really am going to wait.”

He didn’t say anything. Which made me nervous. Had I been too serious? Was the timing wrong? Did he fall asleep?

“So we’re going to have to think of more things to do with our clothes on.” I ended with a little laugh.

I didn’t want to look at him.

“You want something to drink?” He got up off the couch and headed for the kitchen without waiting for an answer.

I sighed and let my head fall back against the cushion. Ow. Why are guys so hard to talk to?

“Matt?”

“Lemonade or Snapple?” he called.

“Snapple, please.”

I heard the refrigerator door slam shut. Matt walked in with two Snapples and an attitude.

“Just for the record,” he said, slamming a bottle on the coffee table in front of me and twisting the top from the other, “we’ve barely even gotten to first base yet. There’s an awful lot of ground to cover
—
fu
n
ground — before we need to have a discussion about sex. And I think you’re seriously ahead of yourself to be talking about marriage! We’ve known each other for what? A month?”

He gulped down a third of his juice.

I glared at him. “Well, excuse me for wanting to give you a heads up about my boundaries. Men always say women act like a tease, act like they want to have sex and say no at the last moment. Here I was trying to be nice and not let it get that—”

“Tell me, have I asked you to have sex with me? Huh?” The way he was waving his juice bottle, I was going to have a mess to clean up later. “Have I been less than a gentleman around you? Tell me!”

Kind of last night, yeah
!
said one of the Voices.

“I’m just saying I’m not the kind of girl to sleep around.”

“I never said you were!”

I huffed and grabbed the ice pack off the table. I stomped into the kitchen to put it in the freezer. Stupid, idiotic, why I bother—

“Put that back on your head!” He followed me into the kitchen.

“I don’t feel like it!” I slammed the freezer door. I faced him, hands on my hips. Glaring, waiting.

He glared back. Then he shook his head. “I gotta go.” He marched to the door, muttering under his breath.

“What’d you say?” What the hell was he saying? Whatever it was, I wanted to know!

“Nothing!” He turned at the door. “I’d kiss you goodbye, but I wouldn’t want you to take it wrong.”

My mouth opened to say something
—
anythin
g
— but he was gone.

“I’ll see ya,” he muttered as the door slammed shut behind him.

I was so angry, the smoke from my ears could’ve set off the fire alarm. I paced into the living room. Back into the kitchen. I heard his truck pull out. No squealing tires like Dirk, but driving faster than one should in a parking lot. Idiot.

I grabbed my cell phone and punched “1”, pacing while I waited.

“Hey you, guess what? I caught two fish today.” Emily sounded like her usual cheerful self. Out with a man who was happy to have her around.