Page 37 of The Matchmaker Club

7

The Dare

My fingers drummed along the kitchen table as my eyes went to the clock. 9:07 and Lucas still hadn’t come down yet for his coffee. I glanced over the list again and tried to think of anything I had missed. There were probably some things I could add, but I didn’t want to overwhelm him, and we only had so much time to accomplish everything.

If he even agreed to go through with it at all.

Lucas walked in. No laptop tucked under his arm. “Good morning.”

Huh. I wondered if it was because he was trying to get out of his routine or because it was Saturday.

“Morning.”

I waited for Lucas to make his coffee and sit down, but instead he headed out the back door. With paper in hand, I followed him to the patio table. He sat down, and I took the seat next to him.

“So I, um, thought of a dare for you.”

“Did you?” His eyes went toward a hummingbird perched on the feeder that hung from the porch awning.

I slid the paper in his direction.

“What’s this?”

“Your dare.”

He read it through and chuckled before sliding it back to me. “Thanks, but I’m a little too old for this.”

I pushed the paper back to him. “Itripledog dare you to complete everything on that list.”

His jaw shifted, and he squinted his eyes at me. “Triple dog, huh?”

I smiled. “Yup. Unless, of course, you don’t have the guts to go through with it.”

Lucas stared up at me, then back down at the list, his finger tapping against the coffee mug. “I’ll think about it.”

It wasn’t a yes, but it wasn’t a full-out no either. Best not to press him too hard.

“I have to get ready for work, but I expect an answer when I get home… or you lose the dare.”

He folded the paper and tucked it into his pocket. “Fair enough.”

* * *

After the lunch rush, Thelma and I took our break together, since no one else straggled in at the last minute. I offered to take the next customer who walked in.

“Deader than usual for a Saturday,” I said.

She bit into a fry. “Yeah, Austin’s parents are throwing their annual August cookout.”

And, of course, neither of our families were invited. Thelma and her mom had moved here from Massachusetts after her divorce. Thelma was twelve at the time. They were instant outsiders from the start, so it was only natural we had become friends.

I also couldn’t help feeling a little jilted. Austin didn’t even mention the cookout the other day. He wanted a morningnon-date, and his family barbecue started in the afternoon. I was not invited the summer we were together either. He had said they were boring and didn’t want to go himself, but I know it was because his family didn’t like me or any Reed.

The signs were always there, but I guess I didn’t want to see them for what they were. Love can do that, I suppose.

“You still coming to the bonfire tonight?” she asked.

“Yup, and I may bring a guest.”