Me: I have a lot to fill you in on. I spent the weekend hiding in a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.
I felt Claire stiffen beside me before she hastily scratched the pen against the paper.
Claire: Did something happen with Dex? I’m so sorry, friend!
My brow furrowed as I read and replied to her note and then slid it back.
Me: Yep. And now I’m mentally calculating how many pints of ice cream it will take to literally Cherry Garcia myself to death.
Claire snorted, covered her mouth with her hand, and waited a minute before replying because she’d drawn the eyes of a couple of other staff members with her little outburst.
Claire: I don’t mean to laugh, but listen, there will be no death by Ben & Jerry’s on my watch. You’ll see, we’ll figure this out!
I shrugged slightly when I read her reply. Maybe we would, maybe I was doomed to be a single matchmaker for the rest of my life. Only time would tell.
And speaking of time, I checked the clock on the wall. We had at least another forty-five minutes before this Monday morning meeting was scheduled to end. Plus, we had to wait to find out how Julia would choose the winner of the competition now that we’d finished with a tie. I decided to use the time to write out exactly what happened Friday night on the harbor cruise and tell my best friend how I felt about it.
Enjoying the cathartic process of writing it out, I gave Claire every last detail, only stopping short of mentioning things like the way Dex’s huge hands had left burning trails of fire on my back as they moved over my skin during our last kiss. Those memories could stay locked up in my brain forever. This wasn’t a romance novel, after all. But as Dex so keenly observed, I loved me some romance novels. And as I admitted to Claire in the note, I also loved me some Dexter Harrington.
I sighed as I slid the note to Claire. Thanks to Belinda, my memories of that last kiss with Dex would probably be the closest I’d ever get to my own happily ever after. I zoned out completely as Claire read the novel-length confession, then startled when she jumped up and interrupted the meeting.
“Julia?” Claire asked, totally talking over the matchmaker who was giving her report.
“Yes, dear?”
“Can you wait until tomorrow to have the meeting about the competition? Amy just told me she has to throw up, and I would hate to have that happen all over your fancy desk.”
I covered my mouth with my hand, completely shocked at Claire’s outburst, then realized it fit perfectly with the scenario of me needing to throw up. I stood from my chair and rushed out without looking back.
I didn’t know what Claire was up to, but I knew one thing, she’d rescued me from the rest of that meeting, and since my stomach was fine, I figured I probably had more ice cream I could go eat.
25
Dex
I picked up my knife and fork, ready to dig into the steak dinner I’d just made for myself. It had been a long Monday after a rough weekend, and I was in the mood for some comfort food. Just as the first savory bite was halfway to my mouth, a knock sounded at the door. I stared down the door, my fork hovering in the air. Maybe if I didn’t make any sudden movements, whoever it was would just go away.
Another knock. “Dex? Dexter Harrington?”
My brow furrowed at the sound of a female voice calling my name. I couldn’t place it.
With a sigh, I set down my silverware and scooted back from the table. So much for my perfectly timed meal. It took a lot of planning and foresight to make sure each part of the dish came together at the right time so the final product was ready all at once. There was nothing worse than cold side dishes after the steak finished cooking. Except maybe a cold steak while you finished cooking the sides. Now my whole meal would be ruined by this interruption.
I swung open the door, and as my brain took in the face of my visitor, I was still clueless as to who she was. “Can I help you?”
“Hi, Dex,” she replied. “Can I call you Dex?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and looked around her for a clue about her identity. “That depends. Who are you?”
She rolled her eyes and smacked her forehead with her palm. “Duh. Sorry. I feel like I know you from your pictures but you have no idea who I am. I’m Claire. I work with Amy at First Comes Love.”
“I see.” My heart pinched at just the sound of her name. Was Claire here to take Amy’s place as the matchmaker for my account? Because if that was the case, she’d wasted a trip. Amy was the one I’d hoped to get out of the deal, and since it was apparent that wasn’t going to happen, I wanted nothing to do with having a matchmaker again. I took a deep breath, ready to send this woman away with no dice. “What can I do for you, Claire?”
“Well, I was hoping to get your help with something.” My petite visitor looked behind her and then around me, eyeing my living room. “Mind if I come in?”
Did I mind? I wasn’t sure. That wasn’t the kind of answer I expected from her if she was taking over as my matchmaker. What could I possibly be able to help her with?
She seemed to sense my unease and pursed her lips. “It’s actually Amy who could use the help.”
Well played, Claire.
I sighed and stepped back, holding the door open with one hand and waving her in with the other. “Come on in.”
“Thank you,” Claire said brightly as she skipped past me. When she eyed my steak dinner-for-one on the table, she spun around and wrinkled her nose. “Ooh, sorry. Looks like I have terrible timing. You can eat while we talk if you’d like.”
“It’s fine.”
“No, no. I insist. I love a good steak as much as the next guy and you definitely don’t want to let that bad boy go to waste. Have a seat—you eat, I’ll talk.” Claire plopped into one of my kitchen chairs and gestured to mine. “Seriously, sit. Eat.”
I snorted, feeling a little bit like a dog being told what to do. But I was starving and minutes away from having an ice-cold twenty-dollar fillet. I sat and took my first bite, noting that it wasn’t too cold yet. Good thing I hadn’t had the fan above the table on.
“All right,” Claire said, pulling out her laptop and clicking around. “Let me start by saying Amy doesn’t know I’m here. I’m her assistant, and she’d kill me if she knew I was sticking my nose in all of this.”
I chewed my food, deciding not to comment. I wasn’t a fan of people sticking their noses in other people’s lives, either.
“But … she told me everything that happened on the harbor cruise Friday night.”
I flinched, but again, didn’t comment. Just simply ate my dinner while she talked, like I’d been instructed.
After all the time I’d spent working myself up to making a move on Amy, I couldn’t believe it had actually worked out for that short while. We were a real couple … well, a couple who for-real dated while I fake dated a bunch of women at the same time, but still. It was real. Though all the while, something inside nagged at me, whispering that it wouldn’t work out.
When her coworker—and apparent nemesis—had caught us kissing on that boat deck, I almost wasn’t surprised to stand there and watch it all fall apart. Who was I kidding? This woman wasn’t going to sacrifice her career for me. She’d wanted to win that competition and go on to run the company, and I sincerely hoped my efforts had helped make it happen. You know what they say, if you love something, let it go. And I was no stranger to that story line.
“I know you only said you matched with Erin so Amy would tie with Belinda,” Claire said, “but the thing is, well … The truth of the matter is none of us want Belinda to take over the company.”
I raised a brow. This was a coup?
“She’s vile, Dex. Like, really heinous,” Claire continued. “She looks down on anyone who isn’t a senior matchmaker like her. Actually, she looks down on the other senior matchmakers, too. No one has been there as long as she has, so she considers them beneath her. If she becomes our new boss, half of us are going to get chopped the first day. Guarantee
d. Especially me. I’ve never been particularly friendly to her.”
“So, what, you and the rest of the staff are plotting to overthrow her?”
Claire waved a hand. “The support staff has never plotted against Belinda. We are normal, honest, people. But we have been rooting for Amy to win the competition. The only person who wants Belinda to win is her own assistant, Bobby. And we think that’s because she gives him odd side jobs and pays him under the table. He’ll obviously get a raise with her new position, too.”
“Odd side jobs? Like what?”
She bit her lip. “I’ve had a few suspicions over the years, but there’s only one thing I can prove—with your help. I believe he hacked into Amy’s account and messed with her dates so she’d lose the competition. Amy said you said something of the sort to Belinda on the boat.”
I watched with a wary eye as Claire slid her laptop over to me.
“It’s logged in under Amy’s account right now. Do you think you could get me some proof that Belinda had Bobby go in and mess with it?”
“And if I do, what’s your plan after that?”
Claire sat up straight. “There’s a meeting tomorrow to discuss the tiebreaker situation. You were wrong—Julia hadn’t planned for that ahead of time.”
I smirked. Amateur.
“I was actually hoping you’d come with me to the meeting to explain how she did it and show Julia the proof.”
I choked on the drink of water I’d just taken. “Me?”
“Yeah, you.”
“Look, Claire, I have no problem digging into the system and pulling up whatever you need to prove that Belinda cheated. But I don’t see why I’d need to walk the proof in the door myself. I’ll show you what you need to show Julia.”
Claire closed her eyes and sighed. “Um, hello? Dex, you need to come to the meeting because of the way Amy will absolutely swoon and lose her mind if she sees you charge in on your white horse and save the day.”
I couldn’t help the big, loud, mocking laughter that burst from my chest. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack,” she said, her face perfectly composed.
My smile faded. “That’s ridiculous.”
“No, what’s ridiculous is you making her fall in love with you and then throwing yourself down on your sword at the first sign of trouble. That’s ridiculous.”
I sobered. “Making her fall in love with me?”
“Oops. Pretend I didn’t say that.”
I cleared my throat, refusing to let hope take root within me. Did Amy really love me, too? No, I couldn’t go there. “Claire, Julia has a strict no-dating-the-clients policy. Amy wants Julia to promote her so she can run the company. I’m not going to stand in the way of her career plans, and I’m certainly not going to jeopardize her dreams.”
“Dreams, shreams. If you help me prove Belinda cheated in the competition, Julia will make Amy the winner and then you and Amy can live happily ever after.”
I stared blankly at her.
“Dex,” she said through gritted teeth, “keep up. If Amy wins, she’s the boss. She makes the rules. If she wants to amend the no-dating-the-clients rule, she’s free to do so. But first, we need to help her get the job.”
I leaned back in my chair, taking it all in.
Claire crossed her arms over her chest, a smug smile on her face. “This is why Amy keeps me around.”
I considered this for a moment, then moved forward again and put my forearms on the table. “I appreciate you wanting to help Amy win the competition, and I don’t mind helping you do it by looking into the network and supplying the proof you need. But how do I know Amy even wants me to … you know, ride in on my white horse, or whatever?”
“I’m glad you asked.” Claire grinned and pulled a folded piece of paper out of the back pocket of her jeans. “This probably goes against every bit of girl code, but you should read this.”
I took the paper from her, annoyed that my hand shook slightly as I held it between my fingers. “What’s this?”
“Open it. Read it.” Claire stood and gathered her things—all except her laptop—and headed for the door. “I’m trusting you with the laptop. Figure out the goods on this Bobby and Belinda debacle, and if that letter convinces you to show up for Amy tomorrow, text me and let me know later tonight. And if it doesn’t, I’ll swing by and pick up my laptop in the morning and do everything myself. But, Dex, I really think you should get your girl. You both deserve it.”
She left without giving me a chance to reply, so I put down the paper and picked up my knife and fork again. As I cut into my steak and popped another bite into my mouth, I glared at the paper. What could it possibly say that would convince me to embarrass myself by busting into that office and declaring my love for her? It seemed to me that Amy wanted to focus on her career.
Wait, had Amy actually put her career before me, or had I been the one to put her career before me? I attempted to swallow the bite I’d taken, but it went down sideways. Painfully.
Slamming my silverware down harder than necessary, I picked up the paper and unfolded it, squinting at the chicken scratch hastily scrawled on the page. My chest tightened more with every word I read. Amy had outlined exactly how long she’d had feelings for me, exactly how long she’d resisted those feelings, and exactly how happy she’d been when she finally acted on them.
She’d told Claire about game night with my friends and how it felt like coming home; how she’d finally found a family she could be part of. I’d known she was an only child, but wow.
She’d written of the way it tortured her to watch me on dates with other women, even the ones she knew were doomed to fail by our own design. I’d wondered about that, and now I knew.
Finally, she’d admitted to Claire that she could see herself walking down the aisle to the Windows ’95 theme song in a white Lord of the Rings elf-queen-style dress, marrying me in a grand ceremony of epic nerdy matrimony.
She said she loved me.
She loved me, and yet, I’d been ignoring her.
Something she’d said on the boat deck floated to the surface of my memory. She’d said that it was the end of me being her client, and that it was also the end of anyone being her client.
She’d chosen me.
She knew she was going to lose the competition or get fired—or both—and she was still there kissing me on that boat.
She’d chosen me.
If it weren’t for me falling on my sword like Claire so aptly accused me of, we’d still be together right now. But Amy would be jobless, since the no-dating-the-clients policy had definitely been broken and we had definitely been busted.
But I had a chance to fix it.
I put the note down and moved my half-eaten and long-forgotten steak to the side. There was a Post-it on the table with login instructions and Claire’s phone number, which I grinned at like an idiot, as if it were Claire herself and she could actually see me choosing to ride in on my white horse and save the day.
Well, she’d see it firsthand tomorrow.
Because Amy had chosen me.
26
Amy
“So,” Julia began, lacing her fingers together and then resting her joined hands on her desk, “it’s been a whirlwind six weeks since we last met like this, hasn’t it?”
I looked at Belinda out of the corner of my eye and noted she was doing the same. We murmured in agreement, focused our full attention back to Julia, and my stomach turned.
Six weeks ago, I was bound and determined to win this competition no matter what. I’d had a one-track mind. Beat Belinda. Take over the company. Live out the rest of my days running Southern California’s premier matchmaking service. I’d wanted to make a name for myself in the care and keeping of other people’s love lives and never need to worry about my own.
Then I’d met Dex. And slowly but surely, I fell in love with him and transformed into a completely different person than I’d been at the start of this whole thing. Did
I really want to spend the next twenty-five years running this empire alone?
Belinda was married when she’d started working with Julia back in the day. She’d devoted her time and attention to First Comes Love for the last twenty-five years, totally ditching her husband for her career. There was nothing healthy about her work-life balance. She’d spent half of her years on earth in this industry, avoiding the love she had waiting for her at home. I’d never really understood why she bothered to be married. Based off her example, as a young college student, I’d figured it would be more efficient to be single. Was that the only way for me to be successful, too? All-in. Go, go, go. To the detriment of my love life. Or was there perhaps a better way?
“I have to hand it to you both,” Julia went on. “You found matches for all three of your clients. Though, like I said in the beginning, I expected nothing less from you two. You’re both rock stars. Which is why it makes me so sad to have to pick between you.”
I squirmed in my seat. “Did you decide on a tiebreaker?”
Julia sighed. “Truthfully, kid, the fact that you ended in a tie was a big bummer for me. I told you Patrick is anxious to travel, and he surprised me with cruise tickets. Forty-seven days on a boat, that son of a gun. I can’t even. We leave next week. So as much as I would like to give you each one more client and have a sudden-death round, I don’t have time.”
Again, Belinda and I looked at each other, then back at Julia. Neither of us spoke, the nerves too much for both of us, I suspected. After giving a lot of thought to what I’d do if Julia picked Belinda, I knew there was no way on earth I’d be able to work under her. She’d probably fire me, in any case. Whatever happened today, the one thing I knew wouldn’t happen was me staying on as a senior matchmaker. Those days were over. The only thing I needed to decide was how Dex could fit into my new future. If he even wanted to, of course.
“Amy, you know I love you. But Belinda has been with me for—”
A Match for the Marine: A Sweet Romantic Comedy (First Comes Love Book 1) Page 16