Virginia was caught between feeling guilty over lying to Stone and putting him through this—even if it was for his own good—and trying desperately to suppress the laugh bubbling up in her throat in response to what her brother assumed for an enlightening description. Leave it to Stone to reduce a notable, thriving career and identify it in such a way that it could fit just about every single woman both he and she knew—excluding herself since she had yet to learn how to successfully boil water without burning something.
But, for the sake of playacting—and the fact that Maizie thought that it would be in everyone’s best interest to have Stone acquaint Danni with Ginny at the very outset of this relationship, Virginia pretended to be a little confused.
“Are you talking about the woman with the cable network cooking show?” she asked innocently.
“Yes, her. The one whose house is going to pay for Ginny’s college education,” he underscored. Stone was only half kidding.
Danni Everett had said yes to his estimate, but not until after asking some rather surprisingly intelligent questions. He’d been rather impressed by that. Truthfully, he preferred working for people who had some sort of understanding about what was involved in making the renovations they wanted and were aware that he couldn’t just mumble some incantations under his breath and make their requested changes happen overnight. He also appreciated that she fully understood and accepted the fact that the house was going to look considerably worse before it looked better. A lot of people he’d done work for had taken exception to that.
But none of that was going to happen if he couldn’t go over there and get started.
“I’m going to college?” Ginny asked in surprise.
Stone paused to kiss the top of Ginny’s head. He kept forgetting that she listened to everything rather than tuned conversations out, the way that most kids Ginny’s age did.
“Yes, someday,” he told her. “It just might be a little harder without this new project coming through.” He eyed Virginia accusingly. How could she let him down like this, without any warning? “I thought you said you’d be able to watch her for me.”
They had an agreement. Since this was summer, Ginny wasn’t in school—not that he considered kindergarten actually “school.” But the teacher had been nice and Ginny had been with kids her own age, so that gave both of them time to conduct their business. Once the official school year started for Ginny, one of them would pick her up in the afternoon and look after the little girl.
If he was in between projects, he always made a point of being the one there for Ginny. Virginia was there the rest of the time, whenever he wasn’t available. That, to him, was the beauty of his sister running her business out of the house.
With school out, Ginny had to be watched full time. For the most part, this last month, that responsibility had fallen to Virginia. There were two more months to get through and then Ginny would be going back to school, this time to first grade and that entailed longer hours, giving them both a little more time to attend to their own work.
But they weren’t there just yet.
“I know and I’m sorry,” Virginia apologized, doing her best to look properly contrite. “But that was before this thing came up.”
“Thing?” he repeated, no more enlightened than he had been a moment ago. “What ‘thing’ are we talking about?” Stone pressed.
His sister hadn’t said anything to him about there being any possible snags when they’d discussed his taking on this latest job. Why had she waited until the last possible moment to throw this curve ball at him?
Virginia shrugged self-consciously. She really hadn’t considered the possibility of getting the third degree when she’d begged off. She hadn’t thought a plausible alibi properly through.
“A thing,” she repeated more forcefully. “I’ve got this thing.”
The annoyance over being broadsided like this by Virginia at the eleventh hour temporarily faded as Stone looked at his sister with growing concern.
“There’s nothing wrong, is there, Virginia?” he asked, all sorts of horrible possibilities running through his mind. After all, Eva had been healthy and thriving until suddenly, her life ended. He knew firsthand how quickly fate could strike, canceling out a life. “You’re not going to see a doctor or anything like that, are you, Virginia?” he asked, his voice pulsing with growing concern.
Virginia was exceedingly tempted to grab the excuse he’d just handed her on a silver platter, but she knew Stone. If he thought there was anything wrong with her, if he even suspected that she was ill, he’d put his own entire life on hold and insist on going with her to the doctor, or specialist, and he’d want to be right there, in the office to discuss her options and offer her his physical and emotional support.
He could be incredibly selfless at times, but she felt he was letting that sterling quality go to waste on her. Somewhere out there—hopefully a lot closer to home—there was a woman who needed a man like Stone—and who could be the kind of woman that he needed as well.
What she needed right now, for both their sakes, was a plausible excuse he could accept, one that would cause him to back off.
The “thing” could be a new client, she suddenly thought. Quickly, her brain scrambled to come up with some details—any sort of details—to toss her brother’s way.
Specifics continued to elude her.
She went with vague. “I’ve got this new client I’m trying to land. They said they wanted to meet with me for an early lunch. If things go well, it might turn out to be a very long lunch,” she told him. “I just can’t take the munchkin with me.”
Stone nodded. “No, you can’t,” he agreed.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea,” Virginia said brightly. “Why don’t you take her with you?”
“As what?” Had Virginia lost her mind? “My assistant?” he asked with a touch of sarcasm.
“Sure, Daddy, I can be your assistant,” Ginny piped up excitedly, enunciating the last word very carefully. “I can help. Like when you were fixing the leak in the kitchen. Remember?”
He remembered. The leak had taken him twice as long to stop, but he hadn’t wanted to discourage Ginny’s desire to be helpful. He couldn’t afford to take that kind of time on a customer’s house, otherwise, he’d be there until Ginny graduated high school.
“I remember, honey. But that was our leak and our kitchen,” he pointed out.
Her eyebrows drew together in consternation. “The lady doesn’t like little kids helping to fix leaks?” she asked him.
Stone looked at her, caught off guard by something she’d just said. “Ginny, how did you know my new client is a lady?” To the best of his recollection, he hadn’t said anything to his daughter about the woman.
Unlike her aunt, Ginny seemed to have an answer for everything. “I heard you talking to Aunt Virginia about her,” Ginny told him innocently.
“I really don’t remember saying anything,” Stone told his daughter as he tried to recall what Ginny could have overheard. Giving up, he shrugged. “Not important,” he decided. “However, I’d better call to tell her I won’t be able to get started today.”
But as he reached into his pocket to extract his cell phone, Ginny caught his hand, pulling it toward her. “No, don’t, Daddy. You can go see the lady. I’m a big girl. I can stay home alone until you get back. I’m brave,” she added as a final convincing argument, lifting her chin up proudly.
Touched, Stone laughed as he ruffled her hair. “Nice try, kiddo—and don’t think I don’t appreciate this—but you’re not quite old enough to be home alone.” She began to protest, but he cut her off before she could say anything. “Besides, you get into trouble just being in a room alone, never mind a house.”
“But Daddy—” Ginny began, this time sounding far more urgent than the first time she’d attempted to convince him she could remain alone.
“Quiet, kiddo,” he chided. “I’m dialing.” Stone nodded at the card he had in front of him as he
tapped out the numbers. The phone rang only once. And then he heard the phone on the other end of the line being picked up. He really hoped the woman was as reasonable as she looked. “Ms. Everett?” he asked once he heard the melodious greeting on the other end.
Danni recognized his voice immediately. She also recognized that tiny little flip her stomach had made. A tiny little flip it had no business making.
“Stone.”
The way she said his name brought an instant feeling of warmth rushing over him. Since when had his imagination taken on this extra dimension? His imagination had always been restricted to envisioning projects, not anything else.
“Today’s the day you’re going to get started, isn’t it?” he heard her saying. “I didn’t get my dates confused, did I?” she asked him.
“No, you didn’t, but about that,” he began, taking advantage of the segue, each word weighing heavily on his tongue, “I’m afraid I’m going to have to cancel today.”
“Oh.” He heard genuine disappointment throbbing in her voice and he was sorry about that. Still, he wasn’t prepared for what came next. She asked him “Why?” Ordinarily, when delays cropped up—and they did on rare occasions, usually involving a delay in the primary materials arriving—the people he was working for at the time never asked why he wasn’t coming, they just accepted that he wasn’t.
“My sitter canceled at the last minute,” he told Danni, sparing Virginia a less than pleased glance, “and I’ve got no one to watch my daughter. It’ll take me time to make other arrangements, so I thought it might be best if I just—”
“Bring her with you,” Danni interjected the invitation before he could finish his sentence.
Stone halted abruptly, caught completely off guard. He was certain that he’d misheard the woman on the other end of the line.
“Excuse me?”
“Bring her with you,” Danni repeated, then added, “Your daughter,” so that there was no wiggle room for misunderstanding. “Look, I had my producer rework the taping schedule so I that could take the day off and be here—in case you had any concerns or questions that suddenly occurred to you when you got started on the house,” she explained. “Since I’m going to be here for the day, you might as well take advantage of that.”
For a second, it sounded like an invitation to him, but he knew she couldn’t possibly mean what he thought she was saying. “Are you saying that you’re volunteering to take care of my daughter for me today while I work on your house?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
He could have sworn he heard a smile in her voice. And he would have been lying if he pretended not to be tempted by what she was proposing. Still, he knew he couldn’t agree to it. This arrangement would somehow bend the rules—wouldn’t it?
“I can’t ask you to do that,” he told her.
“Well,” she began slowly, “as I remember this conversation—you didn’t. I’m volunteering,” Danni pointed out. “I’m really pretty good with kids.” Then, in case he needed convincing, she continued, “I’ve got a goddaughter who’s just a little older than Ginny and I’ve taken her to the amusement park a few times without losing her or breaking her.”
“How do you know how old my daughter is?” Stone asked, still somewhat stunned that his client was offering to help out like this.
“You told me,” she reminded him. “The first time we met. You said she was four, going on forty,” Danni repeated the phrase he’d used. “Remember?”
“Now I do.”
He remembered the whole exchange. Remembered thinking that she had drawn the information out of him because he was talking more than he was accustomed to with a client. Stone found himself feeling rather awkward and foolish about the whole episode—and he wasn’t altogether certain as to why.
“Then you’ll bring her over?” Danni asked, clearly pleased by what she assumed his answer would be. “I would really love to have you get started on the house and I’m sure I can keep your daughter occupied for the duration that you’re here.”
Stone paused, giving her offer some genuine consideration. He knew he could ask Ginny to be on her very best behavior and she would promise him she would be and she’d actually mean it. But there was absolutely no denying that the diminutive girl was a live wire, one that couldn’t readily be contained, or entertained in hopes that she would be mesmerized enough to actually remain still.
Still, he heard himself asking, “You’re sure about this?”
He had no desire to wind up losing a client because he didn’t want to postpone his starting date.
“Absolutely,” Danni said with feeling. “I’d love to meet her.”
Careful what you wish for, lady, he warned her silently. Out loud, he said with more than a trace of skepticism, “Okay, I’ll bring Ginny with me. But at the first sign that my daughter’s getting to be too much for you, I want you to let me know and I’ll take her right home.”
Danni sensed that protesting she was perfectly equal to anything a four-year-old had in her bag of tricks wouldn’t convince the stoic contractor one bit and would just be a colossal waste of time, as well as her breath.
So instead, she replied complacently, “I’ll let you know.”
“All right. We’ll be over soon,” he said, ending the call.
The woman wasn’t going to let him know if Ginny got to be too much for her, he thought, putting his cell phone away. He could just feel it in his bones. Something about the woman struck him as being much too stubborn to admit to being tired out by a four-year-old.
He looked at his daughter doubtfully, then glanced over at his sister again. “You’re absolutely certain that you can’t—”
“Absolutely certain,” Virginia echoed his words, cutting him off. “As a matter of fact, I should be getting ready to go right now.” About to leave the room and run up the stairs to her bedroom, Virginia paused to kiss the top of Ginny’s head and to issue the little girl a warning. “Remember, I want you to be on your best behavior, Munchkin.”
“I will, Aunt Virginia,” Ginny promised.
Virginia eyed her niece, not completely convinced she’d gotten through to her. Ginny was just too exuberant for anyone’s own good.
“Remember what’s at stake,” she reminded the little girl. In response, Ginny nodded her head solemnly and vigorously.
“What’s at stake?” Stone asked, wondering if his sister and his daughter had some sort of code worked out between them. It seemed like an odd choice of words to use.
“My college education,” Ginny immediately piped up, then looked at him expectantly. “You said so, remember, Daddy?”
Virginia turned away so her brother wouldn’t see her smile. Ginny had the makings of a great little spy someday, she couldn’t help thinking.
“I remember,” Stone answered.
He looked from his pint-size offspring to his sibling. Something was up, he could swear to it. But for the life of him, he had no idea what it could be, or how to even begin to frame his question so he could ask the two of them what was going on. He knew they’d feign innocence and ask him what he meant—and he wouldn’t be able to tell them, or go into any sort of an explanation, other than to say that something just felt...off.
So for now, Stone decided just let it go and hope for the best.
“Okay, Gin, go pack up a few of your toys and let’s go,” he told his daughter.
“Be right back, Daddy,” she promised, flying out of the room. He looked after her, mystified.
Definitely something off, he thought.
He was more convinced than ever when Ginny returned almost immediately, her backpack bulging with her favorite toys.
It was almost, he speculated, as if she had them already packed and waiting.
Why would she do that?
The answer was she wouldn’t. After all, she was only four, he reminded himself, and that sort of thing would have taken a little planning on her part. Four-year-olds—even those who were alm
ost five, like Ginny, didn’t plan anything.
Still, he commented, “That was fast,” just to see what she would say.
“I am fast, Daddy,” Ginny informed him proudly, puffing up her chest a little.
She was one of a kind, his Ginny, he couldn’t help thinking.
“And you know to be on your best behavior, right?” he asked her even though Virginia had just said the same thing to her less than five minutes ago.
“Right,” she parroted back eagerly, then, for good measure, she crossed her heart and gave him her one-hundred-watt smile. “The bestest,” she declared.
Stone nodded, trying to convince himself that he had nothing to worry about as he left the house. What was the worst thing that could happen? He supposed that his new client could quickly become his ex-new client. But he’d weathered things like that before—usually after his clients had made unreasonable demands on either a completion date, or a cost estimate.
This, Stone thought, would probably be the first time he would have a project terminated “on account of daughter.”
Opening the rear passenger door to his wide-body truck, he stepped back to allow Ginny room to scramble up to her seat, then he lifted her onto the car seat he had secured there. Strapping her in, he checked to make sure the belts all held before shutting the door and then rounding the hood to get to the driver’s side. He slid in behind the wheel, snapping in his own seat belt and then started up the truck.
“When can I ride shotgun in front with you, Daddy?” Ginny asked, raising her voice above the starting hum of the truck’s engine.
“When your legs are long enough for your feet to touch the floor,” he informed her automatically. This wasn’t the first time she asked the question.
“Okay.”
That sounded much too complacent for Ginny. Maybe, he thought as he glanced at his daughter in the rearview mirror, he should have checked his garage for a pod before he left.
But since he was already running late, “pod checking” was going to have to wait until later, when he got back, he told himself.
Until then, all he could do was pray that Ginny’s good behavior somehow continued.
Wish Upon a Matchmaker Page 5