Page 67 of Matched with Her Runaway Groom

“Didn’t he have muscles?” Tiffany asks. “Was he Mr. Beefcake?”

I shake my head. “No, Mr. Beefcake is Brad.”

“Excuse me? Did you just call someone Beefcake?” Isabella asks, her expression scrunched with confusion.

The other three of us burst out laughing. “Yes, um, that’s what we call the gym rats with huge arms and toothpick legs,” Dani says.

Isabella’s gaze goes far away for a moment and then she nods, smiling. “Okay, I can picture it now. I think I’ve seen someone like that a few times on the ship.”

“Are you ladies ready for your treatments?” a spa tech asks.

We all nod and follow her into the room to change. We’re given fluffy white robes and I’m already in heaven.

I got on the ship thinking this was the final moment for my Breakup Bucket List, but it’s the middle of a new side of me. Sure, there are a few more tweaks to make, but I’m liking this version of myself.

A woman leads me out to a line of chairs set up for manicures. The other three are already sitting there, and someone is rubbing a greenish cream all over their faces.

I lean back and allow the gal in front of me to do the same, sticking my feet in the warm water and relaxing. This is about the only thing I’ve missed from the regimen my mother always set for us before a party.

“How are things going with Landon?” Isabella asks.

“Good, I think. I mean, it’s still early to know if anything is going to work out long term.” I pause a moment and decide to share the small bit of worry blooming in my chest. “It surprised me he didn’t stop by my room or tell me what his plans were for the day.”

But only jealous girlfriends should worry about that. I’m not that right now.

“That does seem strange. From everything I’ve learned about Landon, he’s a go for it kind of guy,” Isabella says, her eyes closed and leaning back in the chair.

My stomach twists into a small knot, the worry tugging it a bit tighter. “That’s why it’s strange. He’s always been there, well, minus when he broke my heart.”

Isabella nods. “And from everything I’ve pieced together, he’s torn up about that. Causing you any pain, I mean.”

I smile, grateful it’s coming from someone else and not just my own conscience. If things do work out between Landon and me after this trip, I’m sure I’ll get enough lectures from my mother about it. But I need to have a lengthy conversation with her about my life in general.

“He’s a good guy, even if I want to strangle him sometimes.” Like now, when I can’t find him to even talk.

“I second that,” Dani says from the other side of Isabella.

Isabella turns to her. “Being the sister of the man she loves,” she says, pointing back at me, “do you have any insight into what’s going on in that head of his?”

“He’s been set on trying to get you back the entire trip, so I would say he’s probably just busy doing something and he’ll appear soon enough.”

My heart soars at the first part, but the second one rings a little too close to home. His hiding when Savannah was looking for him in the hall (although now I’d help him if given the chance), and then not showing up when he’d asked to meet me at our favorite café, instructing the server to give me the breakup note after he left. That part still hurts.

I just hope he’s not hiding from me forever.

Because there’s no going back. I still love him.

CHAPTER30

Landon

Ihaven’t been able to turn off my brain for over twelve hours. The doubts, the weaknesses, the inadequacies. I’ve dug them all up and laid them bare for me to go over several times.

I’m lucky my family is stuck with me because I’m far from perfect.

I sit, waiting for my fourth movie in the past twelve hours. My shirt is covered in popcorn kernels and a few spills of Dr. Pepper, which was fine to get me through movie number three, but now I have a stomachache.

At least this one is an action film. Glancing at my watch, I can’t believe it’s almost noon.

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