Olive’s green eyes went round with shock. “Holy crap! Seriously?”
I nodded slowly. “Yep. Some things happened and we both got in trouble for it, but I just can’t get over how things ended. It was just so damn abrupt, and now I want another chance, but I can’t even get her to give me the time of day.” It’s probably why I spent so much money at Bread Box, to make her talk to me. “I was there when Eva approached Mara about coming in to fill out a questionnaire, and this is my shot, I think .” Olive didn’t look convinced and I really didn’t want to get into the ugly details of our shared past.
Olive’s grinned spread slowly. “I really want to help you, Xander.” She shook her head, smile growing into one filled with amusement. “This explains so much about you two.”
“Olive…”
“But I have to get Eva or Sophie to agree first.”
“Of course.” Which meant at least one more person in town would learn about our past, a fact that would more likely than not piss off Mara.
“Agree to what?” Sophie stood in the doorway, leaning to one side.
Olive and I shared a look and I nodded, giving her permission to share the information. “Mara is Xander’s first love from way back in the day, and he wants us to match her with him. Only with him.”
Sophie’s big brown eyes were even wider with shock than Olive’s. “First love? Wow.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s not make a big deal about that part since she hates my guts. Will you help me?”
Sophie shook her head and my shoulders fell in defeat. If the girls wouldn’t help, they would surely find Mara a perfect match, and that would only cement her hatred of me. “I need to hear everything to make sure there’s even a possibility that this might end up being a good idea.”
“Is this really necessary?” Sophie and Olive nodded with barely contained smiles. “You know this will only make her hate me more?”
“No way,” Sophie said dismissively. “First loves never go away.”
Sophie seemed sure, and she was an expert, so I nodded and started at the beginning. “Mara and I dated for almost a full year during my last year of high school. It was pretty intense, and I was in love with her. Deeply. She was in love with me too.”
“So far, so good,” Sophie said and encouraged me to continue.
“One day we did something stupid. Really stupid so we could be alone. We borrowed a car for a little bit of alone time. There was beer and other substances in the car when the cops found us and called our parents.” It was so dumb, but I would have done it again just to have that time with her. “After my parents picked me up, they grounded me. When I finally managed to sneak out, I went to find Mara. She was gone and her mom wouldn’t tell me where she went.”
“What else?” Olive rested her chin on her hand, attention rapt.
“I hadn’t seen or talked to her until I came to Pilgrim and took the job as Sheriff.”
Sophie whistled. “Wow. That’s one hell of a story, Xander. Completely unexpected, but kinda beautiful.”
Beautiful? “Yeah, thanks. So will you help me?” I held my breath and waited for their answer, knowing this was the only plan I’d come up with so far, and if they said no, I’d have to figure out another way.
“Yes,” Sophie said easily. “But only if there is an acceptable rate of compatibility between you.” She stood and put her hands on her hip. “Start filling out the questionnaire, Sheriff.”
I nodded and handed over my credit card, spending the afternoon filling out paperwork that would put me that much closer to a real conversation with Mara.
It’s not the way I would have liked to do this, but her stubbornness left me with no other option.
Mara
“All right, I’m all done.” The so-called questionnaire for matchmaking purposes was more like a deep dive into your darkest secrets and most closely held desires. “I feel like I’ve been scraped down to the bone.”
Eva barked out a laugh and took the form from me with a wide grin. “You’re ridiculous, you know that don’t you?”
I shrugged. “It’s just a little invasive, don’t you think?” Why did they need to know what my parent’s relationship was like? I didn’t even remember my parents, never mind their short-lived relationship.
“How else can we find your perfect match if we don’t ask all the pertinent questions?”
“Pertinent? My family has no bearing on my current relationship stance, thank you very much.” I sat back in the wildly uncomfortable chair and crossed my legs, glaring at an unaffected Eva. “Well?”
She scanned the questionnaire and nodded. “So the fact that you can’t remember your parents and were raised in a series of foster homes has nothing to do with your decision to opt out of relationships altogether? You’re not this clueless, are you?”