Page 55 of The Matchmaker Club

I didn’t have time to go out looking for him, so I grabbed my backpack out of the trunk and ran towards the east trail, which had been re-named Matchmaker’s Path. When I got close to our box, I saw Lucas slipping a letter through the slot. I instantly turned around and started back the other way.

“Taylor?” he called out to me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and spun on my heels. “Hey! Um, I saw Beast and… I…”

Don’t lie. He prefers honesty.

I let out a breath. “Since we are keeping your secret, could you keep one of ours?”

He walked closer to me. “Of course.”

“The Matchmaker is this big secret in town, and no one knows who it is, so…”

He nodded as if he understood. “Your family is the Matchmaker.”

“Yeah. Charlie too. He was adopted as an honorary member.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just put a letter in.”

“I know, I can give it back to you.”

His shoulders drooped.

“Unless you want us to…”

“No, I’ll take it.”

“Would you mind looking out for me? Warn me if anyone’s coming?”

“Sure.”

I unlocked the box and saw only five letters inside. We usually got a lot more during the holidays. Some weren’t even from this town but from the surrounding area. Word got out pretty fast, and people got curious.

I stuffed the letters into my backpack and caught up to Lucas. I handed him the bag. “Here, pick out yours.”

He did and tucked it into his pocket. “Thank you.” He didn’t look my way, and I had a feeling he was a bit embarrassed about the whole thing.

I decided to take the focus off him.

“There’s this letter I got from our last meeting. I usually don’t have trouble with them, but this one threw me a bit. She said we were her last hope for love. I just found out today that it’s Lainey.”

“She didn’t worry that one of you would find out?”

“She wasn’t specific, and it was a printout. Some people do that when they want to remainreallyanonymous.”

“How did you find out?”

I kicked at a rock on the path. “Austin planned to take me here for our non-date. When I saw her, I fled. I don’t think she saw me.”

He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Your non-date was canceled?”

“Sort of.” I didn’t offer any more on the subject, and he didn’t ask.

“Any plans for crossing something off that list tonight?”

“Can’t. We have a Matchmaker Club meeting tonight.”

“Oh.”