Page 82 of The Wisteria Tree Cottage

She watched his online light go out and frowned. Was it weird to offer that to a man she had been flirting with earlier in the week, someone she was potentially going to date? Was he hurt that she had found someone else? She hoped he would be OK about all of this but maybe he just needed a few days to get his head around the idea.

CHAPTERFIFTY-FIVE

Indigo had left to do some baby shopping with River, leaving Meadow and Bear alone. He was on her computer fixing a glitch with the booking system that wasn’t loading properly on her screen and she was working on his.

Suddenly an email popped through from Imogen on her phone.

Dear Meadow,

I am so happy that you and Bear have finally got together, I have never known two people who were meant to be together as much as you. However, I feel I should explain a little about what happened last night.

Bear contacted me about the kissing event and asked if it could be arranged to kiss you first. As I was desperate to see you two together I was more than happy to oblige. I told him that if you two connected during that kiss to feel free to continue kissing each other and that the other women would be diverted to simply bypass him so you two would be left in peace. As that event was about connecting with someone on that intimate level I have no concerns that you matched with each other fairly. You two did connect on that level.

However, as you did sign up to be matched genetically as well as in the other ways, I feel it is my duty to tell you, you did not genetically match to Bear last night. While I was distracted taking couples to their tables, it seems Bear paid Jacob fifty pounds for him to seat Bear at your table. I’m sure this won’t make any difference to your relationship with him, however if your decision to be with him was based on your belief that you were genetically matched then I’m afraid that isn’t the case and I felt like you should know that.

Kind regards,

Imogen

Meadow read the email a few times as she thought about what this meant. Bear had arranged that kiss but there was something really sexy about that, he wanted to kiss her and only her and there’d been nothing fake about his reaction to her. The genetic match thing was a bit weird but, in reality, it didn’t change anything. Even before he’d come to join her inside the restaurant, she had decided she didn’t care who her genetic match was, that she just wanted to be with him. They’d planned on leaving after the kissing event so she would have never found out who her genetic match was but it felt a little dishonest because she had believed that Bear was her genetic match last night and he must have known that.

She shook her head. It didn’t matter. She would have probably done the same thing if the situations were reversed just so she could be with Bear again after that incredible kiss. But she would have told him what she’d done.

Just then the computer pinged with a notification from Connected Hearts and she absently clicked into it. A message fromRebeccaSexKitten.

Hello sexy, want to get together for a good time. Love Becca

She frowned in confusion. Dick pics from men were one thing, now she was getting messages from women offering her a good time. She smiled as she realised that of course this wasn’t her profile, this was Bear’s as she was on his computer. Her eyes scanned the profile name at the top of the webpage to confirm it and her heart fell into her stomach.AstralSurfer.

No, no, no, this couldn’t be right. Bear couldn’t be AstralSurfer. She stared in horror at his profile name and felt sick, tears pricking her eyes.

‘You OK over there?’ Bear said.

She looked at him and his face fell in concern. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘You’re AstralSurfer?’

He paled. ‘Shit!’

‘Oh my god, you are.’ Meadow got up from the computer, her hands on her face in horror.

‘I wanted to tell you, I did, I hated lying to you but—’

‘Oh god, you knew you were talking to me, all this time.’

‘Not right away.’ Bear stood up and moved towards her but she stepped back away from him and he halted. ‘You told me your name was Iris Starfish, I had no idea when I started talking to you.’

‘But you soon figured it out,’ Meadow snapped. ‘Christ, I was so stupid, how did I not see it? Oh wait, because you lied to me and said you were away with work, you were in a breakfast meeting, you were stressed out with work, and I bought it hook, line and sinker.’

‘No, you don’t understand, when I told you I was away with work, I didn’t know then who you were. I was excited about what was happening between us after that wonderful first date and I didn’t want to encourage Twilight if something was going to develop between me and you.’

‘So you just kept Twilight on the back-burner just in case we didn’t work out.’

‘You were still messaging AstralSurfer after our wonderful date, so you were obviously keeping your options open too.’

‘I didn’t know how you felt,’ Meadow said.

‘I didn’t know how you felt either. That’s why I didn’t want to meet Twilight, I didn’t want to start something with her and then have to end it because no one mattered more to me than you. I was trying to do the right thing for both of you.’

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