Page 39 of Matched with Her Runaway Groom

It’s almost mind-boggling. We’d been so close and comfortable with each other before, we fit like a perfect pair of gloves. But seeing him in an awkward light almost makes things easier. At least I’m not the only one stumbling.

“I’m not sure yet. We’ll probably hang out for a bit and get dinner. I heard there’s a movie or maybe a musical.” Why am I revealing all this? I don’t need him to follow me. He obviously has a girl, he’s just feeling bad flaunting her in front of me. One I can’t compete with in a myriad of ways.

“Are you driving or not, buddy?” Mr. Beefcake says, and Landon and I turn to look at him. The man is staring at Landon, his hand reaching out to point at the helmet in Landon’s hand.

“Uh, yeah. I’m driving.” I watch as he gives me a quick smile and waves.

I take one step and then another, making progress to leave Landon on the track. Tiffany is already a ways in front of me and I need to catch up. But why do I want to just stand here and wait until he gets done?

He’s got a girlfriend. I need to remember that before my defenses slip too far to make it back to solid ground.

CHAPTER16

Landon

I’m half-way to the car when I finally get up the guts to implement stage one of my “Get Rachelle Back Plan.” It’s not really a plan, because everything I think of isn’t enough to show her how much she means to me, but I need to start somewhere or the trip will pass before I do anything.

“Do you want to do something tonight, Ra—” I stop, my voice strangled as I see the large gym-rat-looking guy right behind me.

“Probably not, dude. I’ve already got plans.” He looks as though I’ve lost my mind and points to the straps on the car. “Sit in and make sure you have everything buckled.”

I search behind him for Rachelle, but she’s already past the building and outside the large gate that surrounds the go-kart track.

Why can’t I make this work?

There are moments when I feel she’s getting closer to me and others when she’s a mile away, trying to keep her distance.

The drive around the track is uneventful. Since Dani ditched me to get a manicure, I figured I’d do something until my next meeting with Roman and the group. But my thoughts are on Rachelle for most of the drive and I’m constantly speeding up and slowing down.

After a short meeting with the group and killing a couple hours walking around the boat, I head back to my room hoping I’ll catch Rachelle coming or going from her room. I’m not embarrassed to say that I wait for longer than I should’ve in the hallway hoping to catch sight of her.

What are the chances we’d be assigned rooms right next door to each other? Let me backup. What are the odds we’d be on the same cruise together, almost a year to the day we were supposed to get married?

What an idiot I’ve been. But I can’t discount that the time apart has been good for the both of us. Sure, my breakup delivery was awful, but I would’ve loved to get back together after some time off.

Hillary is probably still laughing about the whole thing right now.

Anger surges at the thought of Rachelle’s younger sister. She ruined everything with just a few words. Well, I’m the one who destroyed my relationship with Rachelle, but Hillary planted the seeds of self-doubt.

I lay on the bed, falling asleep as I try to plan how to ask Rachelle out again. It’s like we’re back in high school and I’m nervous she’s going to reject me. Rightly so, but it still hurts the ego.

“Hey, are you sick?” I open my eyes to see Dani hovering over me.

“No, why?” I rub my hands over my face and sit up, trying to get my bearings under me.

Dani sits on the opposite bed and chuckles. “I haven’t seen you nap since you were a teenager. You’re usually so keyed up that I feel guilty for sitting around watching shows and stuff.”

“You? Feel guilty? That’s something I never thought I’d hear from you.” I flinch back as a pillow sails my way.

“Obviously not guilty enough to do anything about it.”

“What time is it?” I glance around the room, forgetting there isn’t really a clock. Almost like a casino where I get sucked into the games and lose all track of time. At least this way I haven’t lost my wallet.

“Almost dinner. How was your day?”

I thumb through my thoughts, recovering all the ground I passed on the way to the room. “It was all right. It would’ve been better had you been hanging out with me.”

“So, you saw Rachelle?”

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