Page 58 of Take Me to the Wedding

“Don’t mention it.” There was a softness in her eyes that made me calmer. “How long have you been afraid of heights?”

“I’m not afraid of heights.” She frowned deeply and gave me a knowing look. “Okay, fine. How did you know?”

She shrugged. “You keep clinging to the wall. And avoiding looking down.”

“Ever since I was a kid and we went to Niagara Falls. I stood close to the falls on the Canadian side and watched a toddler try to sneak under the railing. His mom grabbed him, but that stuck with me.” A short distance away, glinting in the sun, was a phone. Tater’s phone. I pointed to it. “You’d better pocket that. I’m having an uncontrollable impulse to kick it right over the edge.”

“Ha.” Sam crawled over to near the edge of our plateau and grabbed it.

As she sat back against the rock again, I asked, “Why didn’t you tell me the truth about the matchmaking test?”

She looked a little startled. “You’re thinking about that stupid matchmaking testnow?”

“Would you rather me think of death?”

“I’d tell you, but I’m still not a hundred percent sure you’re totally all there.” She tapped the side of her head and lifted a knowing brow.

“I’ll prove to you I’m not delirious,” I said. “Here’s a fact: you sing while you’re cooking.”

Her eyes widened. “You can hear me singing across the hall?”

“Either ‘Bad Blood’ or Italian operas, I couldn’t say which.”

That made her snort. Good. But I still wanted to get some things straight with her while we were alone.

“Fine,” she said. “I didn’t tell you because you have to figure out your own truth with Lilly.” She crossed her arms. “Besides, it’s just a dumb test that doesn’t mean anything.”

“It meant something to me.” I stopped and looked straight into her eyes. “Because the test was right. Lilly and I aren’t compatible.”

Sam shook her head vigorously. “The pain and the fear of deatharemaking you delirious.”

“Lilly was my twenty-two-year-old fantasy that I was forced to give up. In my mind, she grew into something that she just… wasn’t.”

“Besides the fact that she needs to calm down in restaurants, what’s wrong with her? And today she certainly seems to be paying you plenty of attention.”

I turned to her urgently. “Do you ever stop joking?”

“Not in life-and-death situations,” she said. “Especially with men who are hopeless romantics. I don’t want to hear any more.”

“You are so… exasperating.” I grabbed her elbow. “I’m trying to tell you something important.”

“You’re in shock and in pain and have a head injury.” She shooed me away with her hand. “Save your breath.”

I put a hand on her arm. “Lilly doesn’t have wonder and awe.”

She spun her head toward me. “What the hell is wonder and awe?”

“Just looking around and being amazed at every single thing. Like trees out the window or a thrift shop dress or a square dance. You’re curious about everything and excited about new experiences. It’s addicting.”

“Maybe I’m just a new experience for you.”

“Yes, you are, because I’ve never met anyone like you. Someone who can infuriate me yet who calls me out on the things no one else sees. Now I see that your absolute refusal to take risks with relationships is related to something I didn’t see before—fear.”

“I’m not afraid of anything,” she said, pulling her arm away. “Stop analyzing me.”

Just then, Brax called from above, “We have the harness. I’m lowering it down.”

“Coming,” Sam called back as she braced herself to get up.

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