Cupid Collections

29. Peyton - 8: The Couple Time

“Good for you guys,” I encouraged. “We don’t have a money issue. I just don’t want to rush into thing.”

“But why?” Brooke whined. “Nate is hot.”

I laughed at her. “He is.”

“He can cook and he’s nice. What’s not to love?”

“I love him,” I assured smiling at my own words. It was nice to be able to say them. “But we have our whole lives to be married. Can’t we enjoy pre-married life for a while?”

“It’s not the glamorous,” Brooke assured.

“And married life is?”

“So far, so good!”

“Dinner’s ready!” Sean announced.

Brooke and I stood to move into the tiny space designated in their home for a dining room. It was a simple round table with four chairs. The dish of slightly blackened enchiladas was set in the middle of the table.

After serving ourselves and taking our seats, the eating began.

“I guess I didn’t really pick up any cooking skills from Nate,” Sean said after his first bite.

“It’s really not that bad,” Nate assured comfortingly.

I coughed as one uncooked chunk slid down my throat. After regaining my composure, I tried to give Sean a thumbs up.

“It’s awful!” Sean decided. “I’m a failure at cooking…and after you made us that nice cake too.”

“Aw, babe, you’re too hard on yourself,” Brooke said putting a hand to his shoulder.

“It was my fault,” I lied. “I didn’t chew it very well. It’s good.”

“Look at that, man,” Sean said to Nate. “She even lies to make me feel better. That’s a keeper.”

Nate flashed me a smile. “I know.”

Brooke grinned at the two of us. “See, this is what I mean!”

Nate frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You’re cute,” I explained shortly.

“Hey,” Sean piped up. “What about me?”

“Oh, babe,” Brooke began. “You know how I feel about you.”

“Ew,” Nate mumbled.

“Get a room,” I agreed. Brooke grabbed Sean’s hand and stuck her tongue out at me.

“If we leave now, it might be considered rude,” Sean replied.

“Can we never have a normal dinner together? Someone always has to make a dirty joke!” Brooke complained.

“Okay, okay,” I announced. “Back to forcing this food down.”

“Hey!”

I shrugged while shoveling food into my mouth. It truly wasn’t awful but living with Nate had me spoiled on the food front. I was getting high quality food everyday so almost everything else seemed bland.

“So how’s the matchmaking business going?”

My eyes widened at the question. After finishing the bite in my mouth, I found something to answer her with.

“Busy, I suppose.”

“Really?” Sean asked. “People actually believe in that matchmaking crap? No offense.”

“You’d be surprised,” Nate answered for me. “It’s a little unbelievable, but Peyton’s pretty decent at it.”

“Pretty decent?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.