Matchmaker (Empire High #4) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,141

to me the past few years. Well, her and Tanner. And Tanner knew the truth about my past. Penny didn’t. I owed it to her to tell her. She deserved that much for putting up with me.

I also needed to apologize for flirting with her. I owed that to her and James. And I’d tell her about Kennedy too. After tonight, everything would be out there. I’d be an open book. For once in my life.

I took a deep breath and tried to get rid of my nerves. Penny would understand. She was very understanding, that was one of the reasons why we got along so well. I got this.

Instead of walking up to the hostess stand, I scanned the restaurant looking for Penny for a moment. She was usually easy to spot with her red hair. But I didn’t see her.

“Hi,” I said to the hostess. “I’m meeting someone here. I’m pretty sure the reservation is either under Caldwell or Hunter.”

“Ah, yes. Hunter. Right this way.”

It felt like I was just a few steps away from my fresh start. Especially because Nigel had told me last night that he was pulling together some great dirt on Poppy. He refused to share any of it yet, but he looked really happy. And as Tanner liked to say, Nigel was happiest when he was serving others. I considered his gleefulness a sign of the job being done well.

The hostess stopped at a table where someone was sitting. Someone that was definitely not Penny. Because that someone was a man.

I stared at him. “Justin?”

He looked back up at me. Yup, it was definitely Justin.

He recognized me. I knew he did. But then he shook his head and pretended to be confused.

“Sorry, do I know you?” he asked with way too much extra sass for someone who 100% knew me.

“Justin, cut it out. Why do you always pretend you don’t recognize me?”

He stared at me. “It’s just…you’re not ringing any bells, honey.”

The hostess smiled. “I’m just going to leave you two on your date.” She placed the menus down and hurried off.

Damn it. The one night I wasn’t going on a pretend gay date and the waitress thought I was gay anyway. “Come on Justin, stop messing around.” I sat down across from him, leaving Penny plenty of room to join us.

“What’s your name again?” Justin asked, squinting at me. “To be perfectly honest with you, I need reading glasses. But I don’t like to admit that to anyone. Especially strangers.”

“It’s me. Matt.”

“Matt?” He shook his head. “I’m so sorry, I just have zero clue who you are. Well, I mean, I know you’re friends with Penny and James. Obviously. Or else we wouldn’t be sitting here together.” He laughed. “Wait a second, were you at their wedding?”

“Justin, what the hell? You know who I am.”

He patted his index finger against his lips. “No. I have a stellar memory. And I have no recollection of a grown man that’s so poorly dressed.”

I looked down at my suit. Seriously, what the fuck was wrong with how I dressed? And why did everyone keep bringing it up? I got it when I was in my coach gear. But I’d dressed up for tonight. Nigel had even pressed my suit for me. “I’m well dressed.”

His eyes ran up and down my body. “Oh no.” He leaned forward. “Are you colorblind? I know that makes things excruciatingly difficult. For matching purposes.”

“I’m not colorblind.”

“Oh my. Well that’s shocking. I don’t even know where to start. And it seems harsh to critique a stranger’s poor outfit selection.”

He was one to talk. I was pretty sure he was wearing a parka or something. It didn’t seem fashionable at all. “I’m Matthew Caldwell. Brooklyn’s…”

“Don’t.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Can you please not bring her up?”

I stared at him. “So you do know who I am?”

“Fine. Okay?’ He sighed. “Of course I know who you are. And I always try to avoid you. Because I get very emotional when I hear Brooklyn’s name.”

Oh. “I’m sorry.”

Justin sniffled. “It’s fine. I just…like to pretend I don’t recognize you. Because I don’t like talking about her. Not because I didn’t love her. The opposite, really. She was such a dear friend of mine. And I…I miss her. You know?”

I nodded.

“You may not know this, but she was so kind to me. She believed in me when no one else did.”

“Yeah. She believed in me too.” I could feel myself getting teary eyed