Page 6 of Forbidden Match

I like to think it’s because Levi’s my brother’s best friend and loyal to the bone, but it’s really because he doesn’t want me the way I want him. I’m sure he’s never once stayed up late into the night obsessing over the smallest interaction, wishing it was more.

Wishing it was anything at all.

I pull out the wad of bills and hand them over to Jeanette after she thanks me and finds a vase for the flowers.

“Thirty more tickets,” I say, trying to keep the blush from my face and failing miserably.

“Goodness,” she says, kindly not laughing at me. “How many will that make now?”

It’s fifty, but I don’t say so as she pulls out the roll of raffle tickets and starts counting them off.

“I don’t see how youcan’twin,” she continues, finally tearing them off and handing me the long, flapping strip.

The key to my future. I hope. Even though part of me is screaming against it, I have to ignore my heart and go with my head. It’s well past time to get over my crush on Levi.

It’s not a crush. It’s more than that.

“Well, I could really use that prize money,” I say, pretending that’s all it is.

“Ifyou don’t fall in love with your match,” Jeanette says knowingly. “Supposedly she never fails.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” I say. I’ve been trying to keep up the facade that I’m only in it for the huge cash prize, but I’m not sure if anyone’s buying it. Nobody needs to know how tired I am of the constant heartache of unrequited love.

Madame Amour, the world-renowned matchmaker, is putting on an event close to our small town and I mean to give her expertise the chance to find me someone who might be able to erase the pain I’ve felt for so long. Once she’s worked her magic, maybe I can get on with my life and concentrate on the future. A future where I can find someone like my parents found each other, one where I have someone to support me just like I support them back. I’m so tired of feeling stuck in the past with this crush I can’t get rid of. The world should be my darn oyster and I’m placing all my bets on Madame Amour finding me a pearl.

After we chat for a few more minutes, I tuck my tickets in my pocket and head out to play with the dogs. The afternoon goes by in a flash of fur and drool, but the best news is that three cats and two dogs get their adoptions finalized. When it’s time to do the raffle drawing, I’m already glowing with happiness.

Nerves begin to roil in my stomach. I almost laugh at how anxious I am as Jeanette gets ready to call out the winning numbers. It’s almost worse than when Dad first had to go to the hospital for his chest pain. I have myself calmed down a bit by the time she first calls out the winners of the smaller prizes, most of which I helped organize and would give up if I somehow won them.

There’s only one prize I want, and it’s the main event.

The new bike goes. The dinner for two at the town’s fanciest restaurant is next. Then the guided tour of the town and the movie tickets, followed by the year’s supply of pet food and countless gift cards to local businesses.

Finally, it’s time to find out who won the romantic getaway with the chance to meet the love of your life. I’m actually sweating. There are more than a dozen of us gathered for the announcement, but there’s a chance the winner will have to be told via phone call. So many people bought tickets to this raffle, making it one of our biggest fundraising successes with over five hundred tickets sold.

Even with the number of tickets I bought, I’m still not convinced I’ll win.

I’m just about to sit down because I feel like my knees are going to give out when Jeanette shrieks my name, flying across the room to hug me.

“Oh, honey, I’m so glad you won! I know how much you wanted it!”

“You worked so hard, you deserve this,” another volunteer says with a big smile, clutching the bottle of wine she won earlier.

“Maybe you’ll come back engaged,” George teases. He won the movie tickets and whispered to me that he’d give them to me and set me up with his nephew if I didn’t get the big prize.

I hug everyone back, stunned beyond belief and so full of excitement that I think I’ll burst. The nerves are already buzzing in my veins, but there’s excitement too Am I really going to let go of my love for Levi? Maybe.

For some reason, the thought leaves me feeling a little hollow.

Well, either way, it’ll be a fun weekend, and if I can’t make my heart love someone other than my brother’s best friend, at least I’ll be a hell of a lot richer.

***

When I pull into the driveway of our family home, my battered heart twists when I see Levi’s truck already parked there. It’s not abnormal for him to be around, but he’s been extra busy lately, so his visits have been few or far between. The reprieve has been good, but I’ve been tortured by his absence too. I can’t seem to make up my mind—on the one hand, seeing him is always a thrill, but on the other, I always get weird and nervous around him. And whenever I get a chance to gaze at his handsome face for any length of time, it makes it that much harder to sleep at night.

I find he and Sam in the kitchen, deep in conversation. The snippet I hear is Levi telling him he’s got work for him anytime he needs it.

Much like me staying in town after graduation in case things got worse with Dad’s health, Sam moved back, quitting the job he had in the city after college. He now works at the bank my dad used to manage, but it’s clear he doesn’t love living at home again. Even so, he paused his dream of conquering the publishing world because, like me, he’d do anything for our family.

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