This time he put one of his long, tapered fingers against my lips, making my whole body go limp. “Everyone I care about calls me Rafe. Just don’t tell the other girls.” He moved his hand away.
“Okay. Rafe.” I tried it out. I liked it. He took another step toward me so that we were practically touching. He reached out, and I wondered what he thought he was doing. My heart slammed into my ribcage so hard I was pretty sure I’d have bruises. I realized at the last second that he was reaching into his coat pocket.
He’d nearly made me stroke out. “More cookies?” I asked. My voice only quivered slightly.
“No,” he said. He held out a small red pin. “Would you take this piece of my heart?”
I knew what that was. It was the First Sight Heart.
“I would love to.” I took the pin from his hand, trying not to brush my fingers against his palm and failing miserably, which sent more shockwaves through me.
Somehow I managed to attach the pin to the bodice of my dress. This pin meant that he liked me enough to spare me that evening’s elimination. I wouldn’t be going home.
It meant he wanted to keep me around.
Chapter 5
Of course, now I knew that I would have been better off if he had sent me home at the beginning.
“The last item is the annual book drive,” Brooke called out. “Who headed that up last year?”
“Genesis Kelley.” The secretary looked terrified to say my name. Brooke somehow refrained from trying to insult me again.
“So you’ll do it again, won’t you, Genesis?” one of the council members asked. It was a good thing Brooke hadn’t asked, because I might have said no immediately.
“I’ve got a lot going on,” I said hesitantly. I didn’t want to say no and leave them in the lurch, but I was really busy. To be fair, though, I did have the most experience with that project.
Rafe cleared his throat, and I turned to see him narrowing his eyes at me. I knew what he wanted. He wanted me to say no.
He wasn’t the boss of me. “Yes, I’ll do it.” It would help with my keep-busy-so-I-don’t-think-about-Rafe plan.
That got shot to smithereens seconds later. “I would like to volunteer to help with the book drive,” he announced.
Another one of those eerie silences descended over the meeting. So much for putting a stop to us working together.
“And you are?” Brooke asked. She knew darn well who he was. I’d overheard her talking about him and me after I got back from the show. You can guess the tenor of that particular conversation.
But she flirted with every breathing man under the age of thirty, and she probably thought pretending not to know who he was made her more desirable. Or something.
“Rafael.” He paused. “Rafe. Rafe Fiorelli.” It took him a second to add on his extended family’s last name. He didn’t actually have a last name. Just a bunch of first ones and a royal title.
“Fine, put Rafe Fiorelli down on the book drive list.”
Little pockets of anger bubbled up inside me. He had done that just so he could spend time with me. I didn’t need his help. I could do the book drive all by myself.
And go to school. And take care of Aunt Sylvia. And help Dr. Pavich. And work at the diner. And help with the talent show. And run the church bazaar. And do my homework. And take care of the farm. And play my games.
Yep, no problem at all.
The longest town meeting in the history of the entire world finally finished, which meant I could say my goodbyes and hitch a ride home with Amanda. Getting far, far away from Rafe.
Which flooded me with relief right up until I remembered that he would be going to the same place I was going.
Whitney stood up, putting Gracie down. She whined to be picked up, but Whitney explained that she couldn’t carry her because of the doctor’s orders. Gracie put her thumb in her mouth. “Good luck with everything. And now I’m going to have to be nice to him because he was sweet to my kids. It’s a mom law.”
I hugged her goodbye. I felt a hand on my shoulder. Rafe. He turned me around. I blamed my quickened heartbeat on my anger at what he had just done. “Should we talk about the book drive?”
Sneaky jerk. “Not now. I’ve got to get Aunt Sylvia home.”
“I can meet you out front.” He took his keys out of his pocket.
“No, Amanda’s going to give us a ride home.” I technically hadn’t asked her yet, and I really hoped she said yes.
He put his keys back. “May I ask you a question? About the flowers?”
That caused a torrent of emotions that I did not want to deal with. Especially not in front of all the prying eyes and straining ears. A heavy pounding started right behind my eyes. I took a deep breath in and slowly let it out before I answered. “I didn’t want to keep them. So I sent them to people who could enjoy them.”