Mrs. Wilder pursed her lips. “And the time she spent with you, did you keep seeing her as the little girl you fell in love with or as the woman she is today?”
“No. She’s still just as sweet as she was back then, but all grown up. The time we spent together only showed me new facets to the girl I knew. It reinforced what I concluded when I was fourteen. That she’s the one for me.”
It hit him then. He’d f****d up. Big time. Instead of being honest with Mara from the beginning, telling her who he was and how he’d felt back in high school, he’d withheld the information and she’d found out about it.
Mrs. Wilder watched him like a hawk. “You know, I don’t follow society’s rules. I match people based on my gut and a little extra. I’ll tell you this. I know you two are a good pair.” She picked
