Don't Tell the Wedding Planner. Aimee Carson

focus dropped back to her dress and he resumed his task. Maybe he sensed that telling the story would be easier without his eyes studying her so closely. Despite his focus being elsewhere, she could tell by the tension in his shoulders and the set of his mouth that Matt’s attention was solely on her.

      She cleared her throat to loosen the muscles. “I grew up poor, in a little town north of here. My parents sacrificed a lot to move us to the city so I could go to a better high school. They wanted me to attend a university and be the first LaBeau to get a college degree.”

      “Did you have trouble in high school?”

      “Nope. I did well,” she said. “Straight-A student. I wound up with several acceptances to excellent schools. My parents wanted me to accept the scholarship at a smaller college closer to home, but I...”

      Callie stared at her reflection in the mirror. She’d been so dumb, thinking her ability to adjust to a new high school translated into an easy adjustment to a new town and a large university.

      “I wanted to get out and see the world,” she said. “I mean, high school seemed fairly easy. How hard could an out-of-state larger university be? So I accepted the Wimbly Southern deal.”

      His gaze ticked back to hers in the mirror. “Scholarship?”

      “A full ride,” she said with a nod. “Tuition. Room and board. Books. The works. Even some spending money so I didn’t have to get a job. I only had to concentrate on my studies. For a girl with parents who could barely afford the rent, it was a big deal.”

      He cocked his head, the fingers at her back now motionless. “Let me guess. You flunked out and lost the scholarship.”

      Callie hesitated. She could say yes and let that be the end. His short sentence summed up the events accurately. But she knew leaving out the most important bits would be taking the coward’s way out, and certainly wouldn’t explain about her commitment to Matt’s brother and his fiancée—a couple she’d only spoken to once on the phone.

      “Yes, but there’s a little more to the story,” she said.

      “How much more?”

      “My grades slipped because I fell in with the wrong crowd. I was lonely, and the party kids were the only ones who would have anything to do with me.”

      In hindsight, she realized how lucky she’d been in high school. Moving just before the tenth grade should have meant she’d been the odd one out, friendless and alone. Instead, things had come together easily. She’d had plenty of friends and was well liked by her classmates. Some of that might have had to do with her dating Colin, his popularity rubbing off on her. Either way, things had fallen into place and she’d never missed a beat.