Meeting Miss Mystic Read Online Free PDF Page A

tattoo.
    So was this Maggie telling Zoë that Paul wasn’t interested, or was this finally a message from Paul? Wishing it didn’t matter so much, Zoë took a deep breath, turned over her phone and clicked on the notification, watching the screens change slowly as the phone sought out a better signal.
    After a few long seconds, she was finally directed to the website. Her heart fluttered wildly as she touched the screen, leaning over the little table to read.
    ***
    Dear Holly,
    Until last night I was pretty sure that my friend Maggie was on a mission to destroy my life.
    (You should have seen the dates she was setting me up on. I’m still shaking.)
    When she told me she’d signed me up for meettheone.com, I wasn’t very happy, I’ll admit. Then I saw your picture.
    I can’t tell you, Holly, how moved I was by your sunny smile at your aunt’s wedding. You looked so open and pretty, I couldn’t stop staring.
    I read the e-mails that you and Maggie exchanged and just about fell over when I read that The Princess Bride is your favorite movie too. Somehow that felt like a sign.
    When Maggie explained you lived in Connecticut, I really considered whether or not it made sense for us to correspond, but I couldn’t get your picture out of my head. I have no idea if you want to get to know a guy in Montana. (Truth be told, I think the guys in Mystic should be knocking down your door!) Anyway, I guess I’ll leave it up to you.
    Meeting like this is really awkward. I don’t even know what else to say, other than this… I’d really like to get to know you.
    I’m off to Yellowstone today with my friend Lars. The weather’s clear and warm and the sun’s high. Hope it’s shining on you, wherever you are, pretty Holly.
    —Paul
    ***
    Zoë didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until it came out in a rush. Her heart pounded in her chest as she turned over the phone. How could something as impersonal as an e-mail be so affecting?
    Her lips turned up in a slight smile as she savored the warmth and sincerity of his words. She was not surprised—Maggie had been so effusive, there was no way Paul was going to be another jerk—but she was unprepared for the impact of reading his e-mail. She had assumed the physical distance between them would make him feel far away. Instead, it was like she’d just spent ten intimate minutes inside his head.
    She sat back in the chair and let her damaged face bathe in the warmth of the sun for a moment as he had suggested, even though she knew it wasn’t a good idea. Until her final surgery in early October, it wasn’t smart to discolor the puckered, violet skin any further.
    She thought about the girl in the photo that Paul must have finally seen last night. It had been taken three years ago at Sandy and Rob’s wedding even though Zoë knew it would have been far more honest to upload a recent picture of herself. In fact, she’d found a photo taken in the past few months—she wasn’t smiling, but at least it was in profile and didn’t show her bad side—but when she’d held the newer photo up to her computer screen, staring at the two incredibly different girls that were both Zoë, she couldn’t bear to do it. Swap out the photo of the trim, blonde, sunny girl who used to be Zoë? For the heavier, black-haired, dark-eyed, tattooed, scarred disaster she’d become? Right. She’d never hear from him again, and for whatever reason, it really mattered to Zoë that she hear from him again.
    She sighed. She knew she should delete Paul’s message, disable her account and leave him alone. He was a nice guy looking for love and she had no right to lead him on even the littlest bit. Yet when she visualized deleting his sweet e-mail and disabling her Meet the One account, a terrible heaviness threatened to edge in on the little bit of light she’d been enjoying.
    Was exchanging a few e-mails really leading him on? It was more like being pen pals, especially if she was up front about