Saltwater Secrets - Amelia Addler Page 0,9
of it in his video. I was thinking he could also do a bit of a merge, like with some aerial footage and upbeat music…”
“Yes, yes, don’t worry – I’ll handle the video. You don’t want Morgan getting involved. Her idea of upbeat music is the synthesized version of a recorder.”
Jade groaned. “I know.”
“And Margie said that we can host a fundraiser at the barn!” Morgan said as she clapped her hands together. “That’ll be great – I’m thinking like a masquerade ball? I’ve always wanted to go to a masquerade ball.”
“Uh…” Jade tried to find a gentle way to weigh in. “I don’t know that people will be as excited as you are to go to a masquerade ball.”
“We could put ‘mask optional’ on the invitation,” said Luke. “You know – black tie optional, mask optional.”
“Sure,” Jade said. “We’ll figure it out.”
She could already tell that this project was getting out of her control. It wasn’t that she was against sharing control, exactly. She was just…scared about taking it on in general. Maybe she wasn’t the right person for the job?
They spent the next hour brainstorming ideas and ended up assigning everyone a task. Jade felt odd making Matthew do anything – it seemed like he was too polite to say no – so she gave him something easy. His task was to talk to the rest of the sheriff department staff and get them excited about the idea. It was lame, sure – but Jade didn’t want to inconvenience him.
After the boys left, Morgan and Jade spent some time tidying up. Within five minutes, Morgan started her teasing.
“So…Matthew just decided to drop by?”
“Actually, it was kind of weird – right after I heard the window close, he called me. It was odd timing.”
“Oh,” cooed Morgan. “Do you think it’s really just been Matthew all along? Breaking into your car, then into our house so he could play rescuer?”
Jade couldn’t help but laugh – the thought was so ridiculous. “No, unfortunately I think it actually was someone else doing all of those things. It doesn’t seem like they managed to steal anything, though. And Matthew disconnected the garage door opener, so they shouldn’t be able to get in again before we can get a new opener.”
Morgan raised an eyebrow. “I hope not. But just in case, you’d better keep Matthew close. You know, for protection.”
“Sure,” Jade said casually. “He’s a good friend to have.”
“Oh, uh huh. Right.”
Jade stopped what she was doing and stared at her. “Right what?”
“Nothing!”
“You can say it. Just go ahead and say whatever it is that you want to say.”
“What?” Morgan insisted. “I don’t want to say anything!”
Jade let out a sigh. “Come on, just do it. You’ve been giving me weird vibes all night.”
“Oh, you picked up on that?” Morgan smiled. “I was laying it on pretty thick. Alright, I just kind of, sort of, think you two get along really well.”
“And?”
“And if you like him, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. He seems like a nice guy.”
Jade rolled her eyes. “Lots of guys seem like they’re nice guys.”
“Oh come on,” said Morgan. “You can’t pretend that Matthew is some hidden creep. I was only joking about him breaking into your car because it’s so absurd.”
Jade paused. “I know. But…”
“But what?”
She took a deep breath. “That’s all he is. He’s just nice. I don’t think he has any…romantic feelings towards me.”
“I disagree,” Morgan said simply. “I think him checking up on you and staying to be part of the committee means something.”
“Really?”
“Of course!” Morgan said, turning to face her. “And you’re smart, and pretty, and fun. Why wouldn’t he like you?”
Jade wanted to hide her embarrassment and turned to wash some dishes. “Well, that’s nice of you to say. Either way, he’s good to have around. Especially when someone is messing with us like this.”
“Don’t worry,” Morgan said, picking up a towel to dry the dishes. “I think our troubles are over with that. They won’t be able to break in again so easily. But if you want to call Matthew and tell him you’re scared…”
“Morgan,” Jade groaned. “I’m not going to do that!”
“Okay, okay! I was just, you know, brainstorming!”
“Thanks for that,” Jade said, handing her a baking sheet. “But let’s keep the brainstorming on the project for now?”
“Fine,” Morgan said with a smile.
Jade turned back to the dishes. She didn’t want to get a big head, but what if Morgan was right? What if Matthew really did like her?
Maybe