Page 73 of Sweetwater and the Witch

“I am strong. I am in control,” Ravenna said to the night.

It wasn’t the night that answered. It was Ethan.

“I know,” he said. “But I repeat, you are overthinking this.”

She turned her head and watched him make his way along the path. Her stilettos dangled from the fingers of his left hand. She remembered the night he had arrived six minutes early for their first date and found her trying to stuff Garrett Willis into a hall closet.

She managed a rueful smile.

Evidently sensing she could turn the situation over to Ethan, Harriet chortled and fluttered away into the night.

Ethan sat down beside Ravenna, not quite touching her.

“I should have known you would come after me,” she said.

“Who else? We’re in this together. Matchmaker and client.”

“On a fake meet-the-family date. I can’t imagine what made me think this would work. One thing is for sure, it’s a complete fiasco now. I lost it back there in the ballroom. Total meltdown.”

“You panicked,” he agreed.

She winced. “You didn’t have to confirm my conclusions.”

“I was just giving you a straight-up failure mode analysis,” Ethan said.

She looked at him in disbelief. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I am not in the mood for a pep talk that involves engineering speak.”

“Okay. What would you rather talk about?”

“Me.” She straightened a little. “I want to talk about me.”

“Got it. Let’s start with a question. Why are you being so hard on yourself?”

“Are you joking? What happened back there in the ballroom was nothing short of a totally humiliating disaster.”

“Depends on your point of view,” he said.

“Really?” she said. She was starting to get mad now. So much for regaining control. “And just how do you view that embarrassing scene?”

“As a riveting example of high drama.”

She stared at him, aghast. “High drama?I didn’t think engineers did high drama.”

“I’m not only an engineer, I’m a Sweetwater.”

“So?”

“I told you, Sweetwaters are good with high drama when it comes to romance and passion. Check with my brother if you don’t believe me. Or ask anyone else in the family.”

She blinked a couple of times, nonplussed. “That’s... interesting.”

“You want interesting? I’ll give you interesting. Based on my failure mode analysis, I’d say your family and the crowd back there in the ballroom are also good with high drama, at least when it involves you.”

“But I embarrassed my grandparents.”

“They didn’t seem to mind. Last time I looked, your grandmother was smiling and your parents didn’t appear to be at all worried.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” she said.

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