Читать книгу Make Me A Match: Baby, Baby / The Matchmaker Wore Skates / Suddenly Sophie - Melinda Curtis, Anna Stewart J. - Страница 13

CHAPTER FIVE

“WE’RE IN TROUBLE.” Gideon angled his laptop on the bar so Ty and Coop could see.

“What now?” Coop didn’t think his nerves could take any more matchmaking drama. There was enough drama in his personal life.

Gideon tapped the screen with his pencil eraser. “Ty was matched with Tatiana—”

“No, dude.” Ty hung his head. “No.”

“—and Coop with Mary Jo.”

There was a twang of something in Coop’s chest. Disappointment? How could that be? Coop wasn’t looking for love.

He glanced over at Nora, who was eating lunch with Mary Jo. She fit in easily with the crowd, as if she’d always belonged here. Zoe slept peacefully in a portable bassinet at her feet. The snow hadn’t relented. Twenty feet in forty-eight hours. The single population of K-Bay that they’d managed to bring to the bar would be finishing up lunch soon. They’d be expecting to hear who their potential matches were for next Saturday. They’d want to leave, run errands and go home.

“The test was too shallow.” Gideon clutched the placket of his polo as if it was a tie, stretching the fabric downward. “It didn’t discriminate with enough precision.”

“We’re going to be the laughingstocks of the town.” Ty chugged half his water.

“Nobody panic.” Coop ignored the panic flipping through his stomach and removed Gideon’s hand from its stranglehold. “We can say the computer crashed.”

“What?” Gideon sputtered back to life. “That’s like saying I’m incompetent.”

Coop lowered his voice. “Then let’s just announce their matches are a secret until the ATV event.”

Nora brought her plate over to the counter. “Don’t tell me. Let me guess. I was matched with Coach.”

The elderly bar owner stopped filling soda glasses with ice and took Nora’s measure. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

“It’s a bad thing because—” Gideon lowered his voice “—you’re married.”

“Then, you shouldn’t have had me take the test.” Coach flashed a mischievous grin at Nora. “Keep in touch. Mabel could kick the bucket any day.”

“And so could you if Mabel hears you talking like that.” Ty glanced over his shoulder as if expecting Coach’s wife to be there with a loaded shotgun.

“It didn’t match you with Coach, Nora,” Coop said wearily. It hadn’t even matched her to him.

“That’s a relief,” Nora said with a pained expression. “I hate to tell you this, but your questions read like the ones from a list in a glossy magazine. I don’t think I want to know who I was matched with.”

Gideon snapped his laptop shut and glared at Ty, who did the back-away shrug and said, “They were your magazines.”

“Ah, the sweet smell of disaster.” Coach finished prepping his sodas and hefted his tray, leaving the trinity of matchmakers with Nora.

Nora considered their pathetic mugs far too long before saying anything else. “I told myself I wouldn’t butt in. However... If you want to match people with their soul mates, maybe you need to think longer term than a one-nighter.” At Coop’s blank, shocked look, she added, “You didn’t ask where I saw myself five or ten years from now. You didn’t ask if I enjoyed cooking or gardening or puttering around a garage. Don’t you think it helps if you have common interests?” Her gaze fell away from Coop’s. “Women want fun, but in the end they all fall for a guy who does the dishes.”

Gideon scribbled notes like mad.

“What about kids?” Coop blurted.

Ty stared at him as if he’d eaten a live goldfish.

“You need to be compatible there, too,” Nora allowed. “Small family, large family, open to adoption. Do you want your kids to go to college? That kind of thing.”

Gideon leaned forward, as intent as he’d ever been in Mr. Yazzie’s algebra lectures. “What did you see in Coop when you met?”

Coop held his breath.

Nora surveyed Coop with a cool gaze that made him feel like an overpriced jacket in the midst of the clearance rack. “I went to the bar that night for fun. My mother had died and my father didn’t show up for the funeral. Coop and I talked hockey and NASCAR. We laughed and danced. And I...” Her gaze drifted to Zoe.

Had Nora gone to the bar because she wanted a husband? A baby? Anything that would make Nora seem less than perfect? And ease the ever-increasing feeling that he’d made a mistake by leaving her that morning. “Go on.”

“I wanted to feel special. And he did that.” She met Coop’s gaze squarely. “Until the next morning when he was gone.”

Crap. She was a great person. Coop was the pathetic loser.

He’d given her a night that was exactly what she’d wanted, but he couldn’t help but feel he hadn’t come close to giving her what she’d really needed.

And he was now afraid he didn’t know what that was.

* * *

“I COULD SIT HERE all night with this grandbaby,” Brad practically shouted from his recliner. His volume didn’t disturb a sleeping Zoe, even though he held her in his arms.

Outside, the snow still came down heavily, illuminated by streetlights.

Nora stood in the kitchen doing the dishes with Coop. “You’re surprisingly domesticated for a bachelor.” And she was entirely too comfortable being domestic with him. It was St. Patrick’s Day all over again. There was just something about Coop that hoodwinked common sense. That urged her to trust. That said, “He’s the one.”

“When Pop was first injured, I had to make sure he had good nutrition.” Coop washed dishes efficiently. He’d added the right amount of dish soap and had the proper sponge for the job. “Don’t get me wrong. We eat a lot of meat and we only have a handful of vegetables we like.” He handed her a plate. Their eyes met. Their hands touched.

Her heart beat faster.

Only because she nearly dropped the plate.

Wake up, common sense urged.

Her father was a drunk. He lied to cover his addiction. He lied to earn forgiveness for his insensitivity. He followed every promise of an easy buck, even if he had to spend ten to do so. But... Coop didn’t seem to be a drunk. Sure, she imagined he exaggerated a bit to sell things, like cars and matchmaking services. But he wasn’t an insensitive jerk. People in town cared for him. They watched his back. They wished him well.

Her trip here had seemed so simple. Show up, give Coop the paternity test, state her demands and make the last bus back to Anchorage.

But Coop was nothing like the man her broken heart had painted.

He was...

She was...

His gaze still held hers. “The snow may let up tomorrow.” His eyes were full of promises that had nothing to do with babies and child support.

“And the bus will leave.” She dragged her gaze away. “With us on it.”

He washed the last plate. “How much time is left on your maternity leave?”

“I start back to work a week from Monday.” There was too much longing in her voice. It was time to tell him the truth.

“I only came to find you to arrange for financial support. When my father was sober, which wasn’t often, he felt it necessary to try to be a part of our lives, but he never fulfilled a promise. Not one.” She took the last plate, carefully avoiding his touch. “Even so, every time he showed up, I was hopeful he’d changed. That he’d finally be the father I wanted.” She forced herself to look at him, to make him understand why she couldn’t listen to her heart and stay. “And every time, he broke my heart. I don’t want that for Zoe.”

Coop’s eyes darkened to a stormy green. “I’m not some deadbeat who doesn’t do what he says he’s going to. Is that why you didn’t tell me about Zoe?”

“You dumped me.” She squared her shoulders. “Without so much as a text saying it was great but you weren’t into long-distance relationships.” Her throat was thick with hurt and battered hope, making it hard to speak, hard to be heard, hard to admit, “And then you didn’t remember me.”

“I’m not your father.” Coop held her arms with soapy fingers, turning her to face him. “I’m just a guy who was dazzled by a beautiful woman and woke up scared.”

“You?” The man with the nothing-fazes-me smile? “Scared?” The sharp edge of hurt she’d been carrying around in her heart for ten months dulled somewhat.

“We never talked about the future or our pasts.” Coop lifted her chin with one wet finger. His eyes were soft and apologetic. His voice rough with remorse. “I had dreams of being a sports agent, making big bucks and living large. I had dreams of living in Malibu, driving a Porsche and being a man every woman wanted. And then Ty had his accident.” He paused to clear his throat. “Now I’m a used-car salesman and a struggling matchmaker living in a mobile home with his dad. No woman wants that.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, you’re a good-looking guy—” Overlooking the beard, which was growing on her. “With a steady job. Women give you points for that.” Tatiana certainly did.

“Points? Like keeping score?” A hint of a grin teased the corners of his mouth. “I thought rating the opposite sex was something guys did.”

Her cheeks heated. She stepped back and began putting dishes away. “I’ve heard some men rate women on their appearance at first glance. Don’t even think about denying it,” she said when he opened his mouth to do just that. “I’ve heard them. And...” She sounded guilty already. “Some women keep a running tally in order to judge a man’s long-term potential.”

“You do keep score.” He released the sink plug. The water slurped and gurgled, taunting Nora as his laughter might have. “This is better than Gideon’s survey.”

“It’s just a thing I do. It doesn’t mean anything.” There were no more dishes to put away. No more chores to hide behind.

“What’s my score?” There was a teasing note to his voice, but there was also an underlying platform of seriousness.

Her hands knotted in the tea towel.

He slowly unwound the damp white material and replaced it with his now-dry hands. “Nora.”

She stared at their hands, reminded of that night and of something she hadn’t recalled, something she’d forgotten: his tenderness. “I don’t actually keep score,” she said, still in a place that was half memory, half here-and-now. “I give points when a man does something I like or admire, and I take points away when he does something I don’t.”

“My score, Nora.” Resignation. He knew what was coming.

His deficit shouldn’t have made her feel guilty. He was the one who’d run out on her. But there was his touch, his gentle smile, his broken dreams and his falling in love with Zoe.

“You don’t have a score.” She was a horrible liar.

His thumbs stroked the backs of her hands, an odd contrast to his jaw hardening beneath that scruffy dark beard. “I want a number.”

“You don’t have a score because...” She shouldn’t tell him. They were getting along so well. Civility would help her negotiate child support. But a small part of her wanted him to know—with certainty—that his leaving had hurt her. “Because the amount of points you lost when you sneaked out the door is astronomical. I just can’t trust a man like that.” But she wanted to.

She expected Coop to release her. She expected him to turn away and scoff. She didn’t expect him to pull her close, to look deep in her eyes or to press his whisker-fringed lips softly against hers.

She hadn’t expected him to poke holes in her resolve to raise Zoe alone. But he did, with one too-brief kiss.

His point deficit was erased. Its use invalidated. The point system broken.

Coop stepped back. “I don’t care about points or the past.” He spoke in a low voice, one that set aside pride to make way for truths. “I’m responsible. And I won’t run scared again. I could be responsible for—”

“Don’t say it.” Despite her words, she backed into the corner of the kitchen, waiting to hear what would next come out of his mouth.

“Stay, Nora.” His gaze was guarded. His words as solemn as a wedding vow. “Stay until you’re due back at work. Being a new mom is hard. Give me a chance to...to...spoil you a little.”

To love you a little.

That was what Nora heard him say.

But she wasn’t interested in loving a little. She’d had that with her dad.

And so she turned away.

But she didn’t turn him down.