Page 42 of The Matchmaker Club

L: Lmao. I’m not that out of touch. :p

T: Do you have a plan?

L: Check out your bedroom window.

I looked out but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Another text flew up.

L: Look down.

There was a ladder planted against the house, just below my window.

T: Is that what you were doing instead of reading your Kindle?

A winking emoji popped up along with another text.

L: So, when do we leave?

T: Give me another thirty minutes to get ready. Don’t knock. Just come right in… and close your door as quietly as possible this time.

L: Will do. See you in thirty.

Knowing Lucas, it would be thirty minutes on the dot, so I rushed to my closet and changed as fast as I could.

After I finished with my hair and make-up, there were still a few minutes left to spare. I flipped over my Eureka! tape to side B and pressed play.

Lucas walked in, looking particularly sexy in dark jeans and a charcoal gray T-shirt. He had a gym-style, gray hoodie draped over his arm.

He eyed the cassette player. “Shouldn’t you turn that off and pretend to be asleep?”

“No, my grandmother knows I don’t go to bed this early, but she’ll leave me alone.”

“How do you know?”

“Trust me.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

I grabbed my own hoodie off the bed and tied it around my waist. “You ready?”

He held his hand out, gesturing for me to go first.

“No, I follow your lead, and besides, I’ll need you to catch me if I fall.”

“It would be my pleasure.” Lucas slung his arms through his hoodie and swung his left leg out the window. It was a good thing this house had extra-large windows, or else he probably wouldn’t fit through it with his height and those broad shoulders of his. I watched as he crawled his way down the ladder.

As soon as he hit the ground, I made my way out of the window, my feet searching for the first step. Lucas’s hand went to the small of my back as I maneuvered down and hopped onto the grass. We carried the ladder to the shed, and slid it down to its shortest setting, being careful to be as quiet as possible.

Just when we had put it away, and the coast was clear, Lucas slammed into the old tin bird feeder and knocked it to the cement floor. He glanced at me in the moonlight pouring through the shed window with a hand covering his mouth. The back porch light went on, and I grabbed his other hand and dragged him out of and behind the shed.

“If anyone’s out there, I got a gun and I ain’t afraid to use it!” my grandmother called out.

Lucas must’ve turned three shades of white under the moonlight, his eyes wide as saucers. I held both hands over my mouth to stifle a giggle. The only gun my grandmother had was a BB gun to scare away rodents… and Austin.

“I’m coming out now,” my grandmother warned.

Lucas gripped my arm and pulled me behind him. I almost died laughing right there and then. He was trying to protect me.

The shed light went on, and I grabbed Lucas and yanked him to the ground with me. There were a few clanking sounds, and Lucas pulled me into his arms. I felt myself snuggle closer against his chest. His heart was beating fast.