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Without batting an eye, he looked her up and down. “A distraction. Someone to get your mind off Matt. Someone to soothe your hurting heart. Someone to make you forget him. But the truth is, I just want to be your friend. And that is what you really need. Even if you don’t think you do.” He snapped his fingers. “That doesn’t mean that I would not like to date you eventually. When your heart is not breaking over Matt.” His tone grew soft. “I’d like to date you, but I’m not trying to distract you or work you over. I just … I need a friend.”
The guy was intuitive, and it felt real, even though he’d told her he was a con man. She didn’t want to trust him too easily. “I’ll take a friend. If you’re good with a friend who’s a hot mess.”
He grinned. “You mean a friend who’s dealing with a Bridezilla, a broken heart, and a duct tape shortage?”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah.”
“Well, maybe I can have you read the Bible with me. Or you can come over when I’m doing my online class about the Bible, and it can make you feel better too.” He bent and began to load the food back into his little backpack.
She picked up the blanket and shook it, then folded it. “Maybe I will. I haven’t read the Bible in a long time. It would probably be good for me.”
Raine took the folded blanket from her and shoved it into the backpack. “Maybe as friends, we could have lunch tomorrow?”
“Can’t. It’s Bridezilla and her soon-to-be husband.”
Actually, Raine might be a nice buffer so they could focus on things and Dawn wouldn’t be so crazy. Was it rude to say that Dawn behaved better for company?
“You’re thinking something.”
She laughed. “You want to meet Bridezilla tomorrow? And her fiancé?”
Raine grinned wider. “I’d love to.”
Chapter 9
Lucy, Dawn, Trevor, and Raine sat at the Italian restaurant the next day for lunch. Lucy was a tad nervous, even though meeting Raine hadn’t deterred Dawn in the least from going full-on Bridezilla.
“Okay,” Dawn was saying. “So if we drape the little towers with paisley blue and pale pink and then the tents are white all along the side of the Stone family house, and we have little flowers like daffodils in place, that would be magical. My mom says she’s willing to help pay, too. So whoever your staff is, we’ll help.”
“Of course we’ll help with cost. We got it,” Trevor said, putting his hand over Dawn’s and gazing at her like he’d won a million dollars.
Lucy turned to Raine, who had been eating his food quietly and speaking at appropriate times. “Trevor, would you mind filling Raine in on the crazy last couple of months for you guys? I mean, it sounds like the craziest story, and I don’t think I’d believe it if I hadn’t seen it all play out.”
Trevor hesitantly told Raine about how he’d met Dawn while she was singing on mic nights at karaoke coffee shops. Someone had stolen her guitar and he’d helped return it.
Dawn interjected, “Yeah, he flashed his prison tattoo to get my guitar back, and I went in and saw a gun pointed at his head, thinking that his life was in danger.”
Lucy laughed. Raine laughed too, taking her hand casually.
Of course, Dawn gave her a look that said,What is going on here?But she didn’t respond to it, listening as Trevor continued their story. They had decided to get everyone off their backs by giving each other two fake dates.
Dawn smiled at Trevor, then leaned in and gave him a light kiss. “Two fake dates that led to the rest of our lives.”
Trevor grasped Dawn by the back of the head and pulled her to him, smothering her with another kiss.
Lucy was still getting used to those two and the passionate way Trevor loved Dawn. She laughed and turned to face Raine, who was still staring at them like he was interested in what was going on. Lucy nudged him, and he gave her an incredulous look that made her laugh.
Trevor pulled back from kissing Dawn, and Dawn looked flustered. “Sheesh, Trev, not in front of the children.”
They all laughed.
As they pounded out the details for the rest of the wedding over lunch, Lucy found it interesting that Raine and Trevor seemed to hit it off. Dawn, who was not always a social expert, brought up Matt and Tatum. At first that was hard, but then it turned out to be a good thing, because she could talk more about her relationship with Matt and Tatum in front of Raine.
Lucy really liked Raine, and she knew he really liked her, but she didn’t want to give him ideas when Matt and Tatum would be coming to the wedding. She just didn’t know what would happen. Her heart still loved Matt. How did one reconcile the heart and the mind so easily?
They got done with the lunch and said goodbye to Dawn and Trevor. They had to get back to Wilmington so Dawn could work with some of her students and Trevor could hammer out his business deals.
As Lucy and Raine walked back to the boutique, Raine asked, “So Dawn really wanted to make sure I knew about Matt, huh?”
