Page 54 of Matched with Her Runaway Groom

2. Walked into a pole to avoid him seeing me (which then only made him see me more).

3. Puked all over him after getting off the zip line.

The one bright spot is that I can cross zip line off the bucket list. Yep, the list that we made to get rid of any thought of Landon possible. And yet here every one of my embarrassing moments has happened when he was close.

And then he caught me checking him out when he was buttoning his shirt. At least drool wasn’t coming out the side of my mouth. I reach up to swipe on either side of my jaw to make sure. Nope, it’s the one shred of pride I have left.

“What’s the hurry?” Tiffany asks, stopping to look at cart displaying trinkets and toys.

“Um, I could die of embarrassment right now. Can’t we look at this later?” We need to get as far away from Landon as humanly possible and then I’ll just have to do one of those reconstruction surgeries where they can change what your face looks like. It sounds painful, but it has to be better than the guy who had it done in the second Sherlock Holmes movie. The ones with Robert Downey Jr. I’m a fan of anesthesia.

Tiffany turns to me and smiles. “You’ll be fine. You don’t need to run away from him. The guy is like a dog you can’t get rid of. I think he’s trying to get in your good graces.”

“Well, it turns out my stomach had other ideas. Even if he thought about it, a) I’m still livid about why he broke up with me and b) no one wants to be thrown up on.”

“It’s worth letting him talk to you about.”

I raise my eyebrows and glower at her. “What are you talking about? He told me why he broke up with me. Now I just need to survive this trip and get home.”

Tiffany shakes her head. “I get the idea he’s holding something back. And when you saw him coming out of the water, you can’t tell me you didn’t think about kissing him.”

“Kissing who?” Landon says from behind me and I jump a mile. From the grin on his face, I know he knows who we’re talking about.

“Tiffany’s dog. She, uh, got a new one before we left.” The lie is weak, and I’m sure he’ll pick up on it.

Landon looks confused. “I didn’t know you were a dog lover,” he says to Tiffany and turns to me. “And you’ve taken to kissing dogs?”

I nod, trying to keep my expression somber. “Nope. That’s no longer an issue.”

He tilts his head to the side a bit, trying to read my expression. Hopefully, I’m a rock wall in this situation.

“What are your plans for today?” Landon finishes buttoning the bright orange floral shirt Tiffany grabbed for him. I might not see them now, but there are some more defined abdominals I didn’t get the chance to witness the day we were swimming. I was a little busy hitting him in the face.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Well, I need to be avoiding my ex entirely. Because he’s sent me a Trojan horse that is hard to resist.

“Hey guys! I’m glad I found you. Tiffany!” Dani squeals and Tiffany matches the pitch before they collide into a hug. “It’s good to see you again, girl.”

“I know. It’s nice not to hide our conversations since we hated your brother’s guts for the past year.” Tiffany scrunches her face as she looks over at Landon.

Dani tips her head back to laugh but Landon says, “Hated? As in past tense?” The hope in his eyes is almost too much, and I have to look away.

Sure, he still has too many redeeming qualities, but my trust still isn’t completely back.

“Well, you might’ve just moved up to the dislike button by taking the brunt of Rachelle’s internal juices.”

Dani looks around at the group in confusion and the rest of us laugh. Landon’s other t-shirt is hanging from his back pocket and Dani finally notices the shirt.

“You definitely didn’t wear that when you left the room this morning.” She points to the shirt he’s wearing. The color looks good against his tan skin.

“How do you know? You were practically sawing logs. I think you have some serious talent to be a lumberjack.” Landon flinches as Dani moves forward and hits him with her open hand on the shoulder.

“I’ve been a little congested. I only snore when I’m getting a cold.” She sniffles and Landon smiles in return.

A familiar ache hits me in the chest. I’ve missed these two. Way more than I want to admit. I mean, I’ve managed through the past year, but there is something about the simple sibling bond between them.

Hillary and I bonded over hiding during my parents’ arguments and the Lizzie McGuire movie, but we had different tastes in just about everything else. Which is probably why I still hold on to the hope that she’ll call me at some point, saying she misses me. Or that she needs me to help her with something.

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