RESCUE ME:
She was about to decline when Sean put an arm around her shoulders. “You know, Chelsea, I can’t remember the last time Matt brought a girl to any family function, and now he’s brought you twice. You must be pretty special.”
Her cheeks heated. “We’re just friends, Sean. Matt only invited me because I was alone for the Easter holiday.”
“That’s our Matt. Mr. Sensitive,” Erin said with a grin.
Matt’s jaw clenched, and Chelsea recognized the glint of anger in his blue eyes, but it quickly disappeared and his ‘good fellow’ persona emerged.
“Yeah, that’s me. A sweetheart of a guy. Andrews here is a small-town girl in the big, bad city. It’s my civic duty as a Torontonian to show her some hospitality, and especially to keep her out of trouble. Right, Chels?” He gave her a playful slug on the shoulder.
Chelsea retaliated with a slug of her own, making no effort to pull her punch. Keep her out of trouble? Was that the reason he’d invited her to this family gathering? It annoyed her that Matt had appointed himself her keeper.
“Right, Malone. But I don’t want to give your family the impression that I’m some helpless hick from the sticks. I can look after myself, you know.”
Matt rubbed his shoulder where Chelsea had hit him. “Hey, I didn’t hit you that hard. And by the way, Andrews, you can’t even fight off a sixteen-year-old with pimples and a raging case of the hots for you.”
Her blood boiled, and she completely forgot their audience. “That is the stupidest, most asinine thing I’ve ever heard you say, Malone, and I’ve heard you say some pretty stupid things.”
“Stupid?” Matt stood toe to toe with her, their faces only inches apart. “I’ll tell you what’s stupid. A woman riding a bus alone at midnight, now that’s stupid. Do you have any idea what that guy could have done to you? Do you know how scared I was for you?”
All the fight went out of her. She stared into Matt’s eyes for what seemed like an eternity but couldn’t think of single thing to say. She didn’t even remember that their every word was being listened to until she heard Sean chuckle.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure they’re just friends. What do you think, Robert?”
“No more than nodding acquaintances, I’d say.”
TAKE A CHANCE ON ME:
“Nancy Ross phoned me earlier today,” Jenny said. “She told me she sold the Victorian to a nice young man. Said he’s living in the apartment across the hall from yours.”
“Yeah. I met him yesterday.”
“Nancy said he’s very handsome.” Jenny’s eyes twinkled.
An image of Nick popped into her head, as did her crazy first reaction to him. “Did she? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Oh, please. Don’t tell me I’m going to have a boyfriend before you do.”
“I’ve had plenty of boyfriends.”
“Sure, until you dump them.”
“I don’t dump them. We mutually agree to move on.”
Jenny rolled her eyes again. “Because you give them no choice. It’s hard to be in a relationship with someone who moves to the other side of the planet to avoid you.”
“I don’t do that!” Darcy dodged her grandmother’s sharp gaze by leaning over to pet Stanley.
“Really? When things started getting serious with Peter, you went to Japan. Before that, it was Drew and you went to Cambodia for a year.”
She sat up and gave Jenny a haughty glare. “Actually, it was Vietnam. And I was only there six months.”
“Well, then. I stand corrected.” Jenny folded her arms over her chest, a sure sign she wasn’t giving up. “What about your latest, Tom? What happened to him?”
Darcy swallowed, uncomfortable with the conversation. “I told you back in May. We called it quits. We wanted different things.”
“Was that before or after you signed up to teach in Thailand for a year?”
She broke it off with Tom a day after signing the contract, but Gramma didn’t have to know that. “We weren’t suited.”
“Am I the only one who sees a pattern here?” Jenny sighed. “Nancy says this new owner is an architect. You could do worse.”
“Stop trying to pimp me out.”
