Authors: Vanessa Devereaux
“I wasn’t really being nice by selecting the room
with the view.”
“Oh, I can’t believe that,” said Sadie.
Hayley
dapped
her eyes.
“The truth is you’re my only guest tonight. In fact, you’re the only one for
the next week.”
A tear ran down her cheek.
“All businesses go through a slow time,” said Sadie.
“This one’s almost at a full stop.”
Ah, so that’s what the sadness was about. And there
was Sadie thinking that maybe a broken heart was the cause.
“Then we’ll have to think about what we can do. I’m
a business owner myself. While I’m here we’ll sit down and brainstorm about
things you can do to bring in more people.”
“I guess I have too much competition and don’t know
the first thing about running a bed and breakfast inn.”
She blew her nose.
“That’s not a problem. In fact, I didn’t know
anything about running a matchmaking service.”
“Matchmaking.
Now
that sounds so romantic.”
“It is, but I’m guessing a bed and breakfast inn can
be that, too.”
“I’m being rude. You’re probably tired and don’t
need to hear about my problems. In fact, I should show you up to your room.”
“No problem at all. However, I would like to go
upstairs and take a short nap.”
Hayley took one of Sadie’s bags for her, while Sadie
slung her purse and the other bag over her shoulder. They headed up the stairs
and Sadie noticed the lovely landscape paintings of what looked like Casper and
its surrounding area.
“Are you from here?” Sadie asked her.
“No, Spokane actually.”
Sadie followed behind along the hallway while
glancing in the rooms whose doors were open. Everything looked spic and span,
so it was such a shame the place wasn’t full. Maybe she should think about
offering her couples a romantic weekend here as a thank you gift for being
clients. Perfect Pairing was certainly doing well enough to afford a little
indulgence for them.
“This is your room. And it has an en suite bathroom
so you don’t have to run down the hall in the middle of the night.”
Sadie stepped inside and put her bag on the four
poster bed with the lace canopy above it.
“I can light the fire in the grate if you’d like,”
said Hayley.
Sadie shook her head. “No, please don’t go to any
trouble. In fact, I’ll probably catch up on my notes and then go to bed. I have
to see a client in the morning and then I’m having lunch with some friends. And
after that, well I might just be ready to come back here and relax and maybe we
can talk some more.”
“I’d enjoy that. Breakfast is at 7 a.m., downstairs
in the main room off the reception area.”
“Then I’ll make sure set the alarm on my watch.”
“Enjoy your stay.”
“I’m sure I will.”
Sadie waited for her to leave. The room was chilly,
but she didn’t want Hayley to go to all the trouble of lighting a fire when she
could do it herself.
She clicked her fingers and the logs jumped to life,
crackling and filling the room with a red glow. She walked over to the
fireplace and held out her hands to the heat. Tomorrow she’d be meeting with
yet another new client. She clapped her hands, excited about the prospect of
helping another person find the love of their life.
Chapter
Two
Cole knew something strange was going on when all
three of his sisters showed up for breakfast. He’d arrived fifteen minutes
early and ordered coffee, which he was sipping when he saw them head through
the door. They had a certain look on their faces. He knew what it usually
meant, that they were about to meddle in his life.
“It’s a cold one,” said Eileen, taking off her
mittens and blowing air into her hands.
“Sure is,” said Cole. He stood and kissed her before
turning to Sheila, and finally Michelle who he hugged.
Sheila sat down and pulled out one of the menus from
the stand in the middle of the table.
“I’m starving. I tried to stick to that new diet,
but I quit last night,” she said.
“You have to try their grand slam breakfast,” said
Michelle. “It even comes with biscuits.”
Cole smiled. It’s what he’d thought of ordering,
too. The pancakes looked tempting, but he still couldn’t bring himself to eat
them. Only one person made them the way he liked them and that was the end of
that story.
“So,
Cole,
how’s work?”
asked Eileen, slapping the back of his hand.
“It’s great. Always keeps me busy.”
The waitress headed their way. No one needed any
more time to think about what they wanted, and for once the whole True family
was in agreement.
Four grand slams.
Cole watched as each of his sisters poured either
cream or sweetener into their coffees. He was guessing they were kicking each
other under the table. When you were the only guy in a family of three girls,
and also the baby by five years, instinct was an essential and the only way to
survive.
No point in delaying the inevitable, because he had
to be at work in forty minutes.
“Okay, so what are the three of you up to?”
The girls shared sly sideways glances, and he was
sure he’d felt the air under the table move as they’d kicked one another’s
ankles.
“Can’t we just ask you to have breakfast?” asked
Sheila.
Cole swallowed the coffee he had in his mouth and
put the mug down on the table. “No, I know you all too well.”
Sheila grinned. “It’s an intervention.”
“Intervention?” asked Cole.
“Haven’t you seen the show where families confront
another member about their addiction?” asked Michelle.
“As far as I know my only addiction is to pizza.”
Eileen slapped the back of his hand. “Michelle was
using it as a metaphor. We think you need to start dating.”
He’d known they were plotting something like that
and he wasn’t going for it. He stood but both Eileen and Sheila pushed him back
down, holding his hands to the table. Shit, those two women were strong.
“If we let go, you promise not to bolt for the
door?” asked Sheila.
“I promise, but I’m not going to sit here and listen
to you rattle on about me going on a date. I’m not ready and probably never
will be, okay?”
“We knew you’d say that, so we went ahead and
purchased you a gift certificate to Perfect Pairing.” Eileen slid it over to
him. There, two inches from him sat a white card with gold lettering and the
words
Perfect Pairing
scrolled across
it with his name written in black ink underneath the word
recipient
.
He sat frozen almost the same way he had in the
attic the day before.
“It’s an early Christmas gift,” said Michelle.
They’d broken two rules. One, don’t mention or even
hint at him dating, and two, no gifts at Christmas. What were they thinking?
Sheila slid it closer to him, but he was still
frozen or he would have pushed it back.
“I guess this is one that’s going to need re-gifting.”
He finally got his arm working and pushed it to the middle of the table.
Eileen pushed it back. “It’s got your name on it. It
cost us a fortune and you’re going to use it to find yourself the ideal woman.”
“I had the ideal woman. I guess one in a lifetime’s
enough for me.”
He pushed it back.
It was Michelle’s turn to shove it at him. This time
it hung on the edge of the table close to his sweater.
“There’s another person out there for you and
Perfect Pairing is the company to find her. The owner has a wonderful track
record with matching people, and she’s assured us she’s going to take special
care with your match.”
“How about we just eat our grand slams, you put this
away, and we’ll forget it ever happened, okay?”
He slid it back so hard it caught the edge of the
pepper shaker and almost topped it.
Eileen grabbed the certificate. “Remember we used to
give you some tough love when you wouldn’t take your medicine when you were a
kid? Well, Coley, we’re doing the same now.”
That’s what they thought.
Three
against one.
And this time around one was going to come out the victor.
“This is the way to start a new life,” said
Michelle.
“A new life.
Is
that what you think I want?” asked Cole. Hell, all he wanted was the old one
back. Did they have a gift certificate for that?
“We know that you miss Amanda and you probably
always will, but she’d want you to be happy again,” said Sheila.
Shit, they weren’t going to let this go. He might
have to wrestle them to the ground.
“I am happy.”
“Are you really?” asked Eileen. “The kids said they
still hear you crying at night.”
Damn, he thought he’d been so quiet each night when
he’d woken up, felt cold and empty, and swiped his hand down the sheet and
realized it hadn’t been a nightmare. His wife was really dead and every time
reality hit, he’d cry.
“Just because I cry doesn’t mean I’m unhappy.”
That wasn’t true. He knew he spent most of the time
sad. His sisters were right. How annoying was that?
“Make this your Christmas gift to us. Go along and
talk to Ms. Sutton and at least let her try and find you a date if nothing
else.”
He’d had enough intervention for the day. He stood,
pulling his jacket off the back of the chair just as the waitress arrived with
a try of plates containing the grand slams.
At least his sisters’ meddling hadn’t spoilt his
appetite. He grabbed the slices of bacon and headed out of the door without
saying another word. They’d get the message that he just wanted to be left
alone.
He flung open the door to the café and pulled up the
collar on his jacket as he headed to his truck. He got in and chewed on a piece
of bacon while looking back at Mabel’s. They’d pushed their luck, family or
not. They’d pissed him off big time.
Cole chewed on the second slice of bacon and then
turned on the ignition. He put it into gear, the last piece of bacon still
hanging from his mouth and headed out onto the road.
When he got to the first set of stop lights,
something sharp suddenly dug into his side.
He tried to ignore it, but it was getting painful.
He eyed the light, making sure it hadn’t changed to green, leaned over, and put
his hand into his jacket pocket. There was a sheet of paper in there. The light
changed and he stepped on the gas pedal, holding the paper in his hand. He had
to concentrate on the road, so he wasn’t able to look at it. Instead, he waited
until he got to the next stop light. He glanced down.
It couldn’t be.
He’d seen it on the table when he’d left the café
but here it was in his hand, the gift certificate for Perfect Pairing. His
sneaky sisters…he wondered which one had slid it into his jacket pocket when he
wasn’t looking.
He was about to tear it up when he saw a woman’s
face appear on it.
Shit, he almost dropped it.
No,
no you don’t. You come along and see me and I’ll show you how perfect your life
can be.
Just who the hell was this middle aged lady talking
to him?
The sound of a horn blasting behind his truck made
him jump. He quickly put his foot on the accelerator and took off through the
intersection.
He checked the address on the certificate. It was a
suite number in a part of town he didn’t often visit, but when he looked around
here he was.
Cole shook his head. Just what had his sisters
slipped into his coffee?
And if all this wasn’t bad enough, he suddenly had a
strong urge to at least go inside and check out Perfect Pairing.
Chapter
Three
“These are the best pancakes I’ve ever tasted,” said
Sadie.
Hayley topped up Sadie’s coffee.
“Thank you, but it’s not my recipe, the previous
owner’s left it for us.”
“For us?”
Hayley nodded and slid onto the chair opposite
Sadie.
“I purchased this place with my then fiancé.”
“I take it things didn’t work out.”
“Not if you call finding him in bed with someone
else working out.”
“Oh dear,” said Sadie, dabbing the corners of her
mouth.
“That’s something I don’t ever want to walk in on
again.”
“I could imagine it was an awful shock. So you’re
running this place all by yourself?”