Page 93

“Are you serious? It’s like you got married, inherited in-laws, and had a kid all in one day. That’d be a lot to take, even for me. You, on the other hand,must be terrified.”

Katherine thought about it for a second, but none of it bothered her. Not falling for Matthew. Not her attachment to Libby. Not even meeting, spending time with, and building the beginning of a bond with Matt and Sarah.

“Actually, not at all.” She smiled. “Pretty great, huh?”

Beth Ann snorted a laugh, assuming Katherine was being sarcastic.

But when Katherine didn’t laugh, frown, flinch, or rush to the back and burst into tears like she did the day before, Beth Ann was eager to know more, and she followed Katherine as she picked up a few dirty plates and headed back to the kitchen.

“Hey, not so fast!” Beth Ann said, ordering Zach from the room as they walked through the swinging door. “Katherine Bennett, are you in love with Matthew Brandon?”

A small part of Katherine felt like she should have held back or kept her feelings to herself, but she trusted Beth Ann and wanted to share how happy she was.

“Don’t you dare get quiet right now. You have to tell me,” Beth Ann pressed. “Are you in love with him or not?”

“Yes,” Katherine said without analyzing her answer. She was on cloud nine and didn’t care what anyone else had to say. “Yes, I am.”

“Oh my gosh, are you serious?” Beth Ann’s eyes filled with tears as she threw her arms around Katherine. “This is amazing! I’m so happy for you!”

As they hugged, a troubled-looking Zach walked back in, no doubt wanting an escape from Lucy and Lyla, but instead, he turned and walked back out. There’d been some crazy stuff going down in the last few days, and the expression on his face said that he wanted to stay as far away from it as possible.

“Do you think Zach needs help?” Katherine asked, but Beth Ann dismissed the question with a wave of her hand.

“He’s fine. Now tell me everything. Does Matthew know you love him? Does he love you, too? Wait, more importantly… has he said he loves you?”

When Katherine glanced nervously at the door, Beth Ann dragged her by the arm to the back of the kitchen. “There, now no one can hear us. Tell me everything.”

Katherine smiled nervously. She’d never done this with any of her other friends, not even in high school.

“Well,” she began, unsure of what to say. “I can’t tell youeverything, but I can say that it’s been really good between us.”

“Really good? That’s it?”

“Well, it is still pretty new. But we do care about each other very much. And we’re willing to see where it takes us.”

“I knew it,” Beth Ann said, holding her hands over her heart as if it might beat out of her chest. “I knew he liked you. I knew it the minute he started asking about you.”

“When was that?”

“Oh my gosh, like weeks ago. Zach and I were standing in line at the movie theater when we ran into Matthew and Justin. Eventually, Zach and Justin went across the street to check out some stupid fishing thing in the bait shop window, but Matthew stayed and kept me company, so I asked him about his move and where he came from. Then he told me about the house he bought and asked if I knew anything about his new neighbors.”

“That’s not exactly the same as asking about me.”

“Close enough.”

“Wait, did you just say you and Zach went to the movies together? Like on a date?”

As Beth Ann’s face turned white, Zach returned to the kitchen, looking even more desperate than before.

“Can I come back in now?”

“Only if you can tell me what the employee handbook says about coworkers dating?”

Zach’s eyes widened as his face turned red. Then he looked over to Beth Ann for help. “There’s an employee handbook?”

Katherine didn’t know whether to laugh at his obvious discomfort or feel bad for teasing him. “Sure, Zach, you can come back in now.”

“That wasn’t very nice,” Beth Ann told her.