The Littlest Matchmaker

by Dorien Kelly

  “Romantic.”

  “Insane,” she replied. “I never stopped to think once.”

  “Not very Lisa-like,” he commented.

  She smiled. “Not anymore, but remember the ridiculous scrapes that Courtney and I used to get into? Nine times out of ten, I was behind the good idea gone bad.”

  He laughed. “And we all assumed it was poor Court, and not you. How many times did she get grounded for you?”

  “Lots. Those were the days.”

  She paused for a second, so that she could choose her words carefully. Her relationship with James was something she didn’t want to drag into her budding romance—or whatever the heck this was—with Kevin. “Things are different now. I have Jamie, and he comes before everything else.”

  Kevin frowned, making his features seem momentarily harsh.

  “I understand that,” he said. “But I also think that you don’t need to sacrifice happiness because you have a son.”

  “I know…Really, I do. But from here on out, I want to move slowly when it comes to men and dating. I deserve it, and so does Jamie.”

  Though she’d never admit it to anyone, had she moved slower with James, they would never have married. The thrill would have worn off, and she would have learned about what sort of man he really was. Lisa could never regret her impetuous act because she had received the amazing gift of Jamie, and she couldn’t imagine life without him. But all the same, she was now older and, she hoped, at least marginally wiser.

  “Moving slowly is okay with me,” Kevin said. “So long as we’re moving. Lisa, I meant what I said. I like you. A lot, in fact. I like your determination, your sense of humor…the way you taste when we’re kissing.”

  She looked over at Jamie, but he was busy loading chunks of bark mulch into his truck.

  “Let’s talk about the kissing later, okay?” she asked Kevin in a low voice.

  His smile was a little crooked and a lot endearing. “If we can actually do more than talk, I’m all for it.”

  “That’s honest.”

  “So far as the statement goes, yeah. I’ll save the rest for later, when we don’t have a small audience, complete with truck.”

  She took a deep breath and pushed away the anxiety that seemed to trail after her like a ghost these days. “The rest? There’s more?”

  He scrutinized her for a moment. Somehow it felt as though he was looking beneath her skin, and the inherent kindness in his eyes didn’t lessen her discomfort.

  “Okay, I’m catching on,” he said.

  “What?”

  “I’m beginning to understand how your mind works. You’re sure there has to be a downside, aren’t you?”

  Yes, he was catching on, dammit. “I—”

  “No denials. I promised you would always have the truth from me, and I meant it.”

  “Of course,” she said, but knew it for lip service, even as she spoke. “It’s just—”

  “Lisa, whatever it is, it’s in the past.”

  He was right, but that didn’t make letting go of the doubts any easier. Still, she needed to try, or years from now, when Jamie had moved from toy trucks to graduate school, she’d remain here…the quirky widow who could bake well, was friendly enough, but was so damn lonely that she ached. She craved her independence, but life had to hold a little more than that.

  She nodded her head. “Okay. I’ll give this a shot.”

  He smiled. “I’m hoping with time you’ll sound less like you’ve just lined yourself up in front of the firing squad.”

  She winced. “That bad?”

  “Pretty much, which makes me a little hesitant to go into the next topic.”

  “Which is?”

  “Jamie was telling me that he has a Thanksgiving pageant coming up, over at Hillside Academy. I guess it’s something the dads and kids put on for the rest of the family?”

  She hadn’t known that Jamie was aware of the pageant.

  “Correct,” she said. “I’m going to do double duty as both mom and dad. Nothing new in the Kincaid household.”

  “Well, here’s the thing…Jamie has asked me if I would help.”

  “You?”

  “Hey, is it so shocking?” he asked in what she figured was a mock-wounded tone. “I do have a couple of skills, you know.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not that. It’s just that I have this handled. We’re fine.”

  “You are. But maybe Jamie’s got something going on at school. Maybe he’s taking some grief for having a family a little different than the others’.”

  Her heart lurched at the thought. “I’m sure he’d tell me.”

  Of course he hadn’t told her that he knew about the pageant….

  “Maybe he would,” Kevin said, “or maybe not. He’s a pretty perceptive kid, and you have been a little stressed lately, you know?”

  “It’s possible,” she admitted, still not comfortable with how well this man knew her.

  Kevin inclined his head toward Jamie, who had abandoned his truck and was coming to join them.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” she said in a low tone to Kevin, then gave her son a welcoming smile.

  “Hey, pal,” Kevin said to Jamie.

  Jamie scuffed one foot against the brick walkway and looked up at them expectantly.

  “So, Kevin says you’ve been talking to him about your Thanksgiving show. Did your teacher tell you about it?” Lisa asked.

  “Nope. Carrie did.”

  No shock that a hummingbird-in-training would preshare the news. Maybe Kevin was onto something about Jamie taking grief.

  “Jamie, you know I can help with the daddies, right?” she asked. “It doesn’t have to be all boys. We don’t need to bother Kevin.”

  “It’s no bother,” Kevin said.

  She ignored him and focused on her son. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun working on the show.”

  “I don’t want you, Mommy. I want Kevin. He builds castles. You can’t build a castle.”

  And she’d thought Kevin’s honesty had stung. “Kevin’s busy building real houses for people, too. I can—”

  He crossed his arms and scowled up at her. “I want Kevin! He said he’d do it.”

  A crawly, claustrophobic feeling crept across Lisa’s skin. Sure, she was willing to date the guy, but not this! It was too much, too fast. She looked to the man in question for confirmation.

  “You did?”

  “Yes, but I also said that we had to clear it with your mom, right, Jamie?”

  Okay, maybe he wasn’t poaching on forbidden territory as much as it suddenly felt to her.

  “Want Kevin,” Jamie said mulishly.

  She did, too, but not in this role.

  “Look, I know what you’re thinking,” Kevin said.

  “Please stop doing that,” she said.

  He gave an apologetic shrug. “Sorry, but I do. Please relax. Don’t make this bigger than it is. I’ll be seeing a lot more of Jamie than I will of you. Slow and easy still, I promise.”

  Self-preservation compelled her to tell him thanks, but no thanks; she would be both mom and dad. But the thought that Jamie might be feeling as much a misfit at Hillside as she once had outweighed her personal qualms. She looked at her son and then at the man he’d apparently elected to be a stand-in for a daddy. She didn’t need Kevin for the job, but apparently Jamie did. And Jamie came first.

  “Okay, then. Jamie and I thank you,” she said to Kevin with as much grace as she could muster.

  With the matter settled to his satisfaction, her son returned to his truck.

  “Can you stop over for dinner tonight, and we’ll go over whatever information I can get together today?” Lisa asked Kevin. Now that she’d bowed to the inevitable, she just wanted to get the matter dealt with so that she didn’t have to think of him in a daddy role.

  He blinked, no doubt startled by the quick segue. “Yes, I can. May I bring anything?”

  She was so rusty at these social
niceties.

  “Whatever you’d like,” she replied.

  His gaze captured hers, and that warm feeling of intimacy returned. He reached out and brushed away a lock of hair that had been tickling the side of her face.

  “Oh, I know what I’d like,” he said in a low voice. “You.”

  That, she could handle.

  Chapter Six

  Kevin liked to think of himself as a clearheaded sort of guy, and most of the time that was even true. But at dinnertime as he walked up to Shortbread Cottage’s open gate, his mind felt muddier than the bottom of the Mississippi River. He knew he wanted Lisa in his life as more than his coffee source, but he didn’t want her to feel pressured. He also wanted to help Jamie. He felt sorry for the little guy, who so wanted to be like his classmates.

  In helping Jamie, he suspected he was setting himself up for a whole lot of additional hassle with Lisa, who was emotionally fragile, even though she’d never admit it. Still, no way would he have turned down the child to make the mom feel better. That would have been dead wrong.

  Okay, maybe it wasn’t just his mind. Maybe this whole situation was muddy. Kevin didn’t believe the old saying about good guys finishing last, but sometimes it was tough for a man with honorable intentions to finish first.

  Jamie stood at the bakery door, palms pressed to the glass and truck at his feet, keeping watch. He waved as Kevin approached. Kevin shifted the bundle of goods he’d bought at the downtown farmers’ market from his left hand to his right, and opened the door.

  “Hi,” Jamie said, then scooted his truck away from the threshold.

  “Hey, Jamie,” Kevin replied while sidestepping the vehicle. “How are you doing?”

  “Okay. But Mommy’s mad at my toys. She told them to stay in my room.”

  Kevin suspected that the timing was off for the wooden yo-yo he’d picked up at the woodcarver’s booth this afternoon.

  “And how do your toys leave your room?” he asked.

  The little boy grinned, his smile an echo of his mother’s. “Don’t know.”

  Kevin laughed. “Sure, you don’t. Does your mom know you’re in the bakery?”

  He shook his head. “Nuh-uh.”

  “Well, let’s say we go visit with your mom.”

  Jamie picked up his truck, which looked enormous in his skinny arms. “Kay.”

  Kevin followed Jamie through the kitchen, then through another doorway that led into a living room, off of which branched two hallways. The cottage part of Shortbread Cottage was a misnomer. While the house was only one story, it spread out a good, long way. Like a lot of homes in East Davenport, it had been added onto as extended families expanded. The builder in Kevin was always intrigued when he walked into these old places. Lisa was lucky; her home had been added onto with flow in mind.

  “Jamie,” he heard her call from another room, “did you bring the toys from under the sofa?”

  Kevin grinned as he looked at the plump blue piece of furniture in question. He was pretty sure that snooping under it hadn’t been on his “to do” list for tonight.

  “Lisa?” he called, not wanting her to come out and be startled. “I think Jamie had the sofa handled before he went into the bakery.”

  She popped out of what he assumed was her son’s bedroom.

  “Hey…Hi…I wasn’t expecting you yet.” She glanced at the watch clasped around her slender wrist. “Guess I should have been, though. I’d say come on in, but you already have.”

  She looked at her son. “Sweetie, could you stick the truck in your room and then we’ll go eat?”

  “Kay, Mommy.” Jamie hustled off to his room.

  She neared, and Kevin caught the scent of that exotic perfume that had gone straight to his libido the last time he’d smelled it. She was dressed casually, yet still dressy, somehow. With her jeans, she wore a light pink sweater that crossed over in front and tied the way his sister’s had when she’d been going to ballet class, back when. He had to say he appreciated it much more on Lisa, now.

  “I went to the farmers’ market this afternoon. Do you ever get there?” He shook his head at his dumb question. “Of course you don’t. You’re always here.”

  She nodded. “Pretty much. So what did you bring?”

  He reached into the sack and pulled out the bottle of red from a winery up in Clinton. “A local wine. I liked the name.”

  She reached for it, and their hands brushed. Lisa jumped, then laughed. “Sorry, I’m a little nervous. If Jamie weren’t in the other room, I’d have you do that kiss-and-get-it-out-of-the-way thing again.”

  He smiled. “I’d like that.”

  “So would I. But for now, let’s try that again.” This time, she took the bottle and read the label. “Ms. Demeanor. Very cute.”

  He dredged out the block of sharp cheddar from the organic farmer. “Healthy cheese.”

  “Borderline oxymoron,” she said, accepting it.

  “This from a woman who must go through a truckload of butter a week?” he replied, then reached again, bypassing the yo-yo. “Dessert…but just for you.”

  She set the wine and cheese on the low coffee table in front of the sofa and accepted the box. “Chocolate truffles?”

  “Yes, but they’re actually for the bath. Bringing sweets here seemed like a coals to Newcastle thing, and I wanted to give you something that would make you slow down and spoil yourself a little.”

  “Wow…”

  She looked at the ribbon-tied box in her hands, and Kevin wondered if he imagined the pink rising on her skin. It was possible, since he was also contemplating the flush that would come to her as she bathed. Good gift for her, a little rough on his composure.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  He retrieved the last item from the bottom of the bag and held it out. “I have this yo-yo for Jamie, but I thought you’d better decide when or if he could have it.”

  Lisa’s look was nothing short of surprised…and pleased. “Thank you for asking. Feel free to give it to him. It’s more portable than a truck.”

  “I’m not quite sure I understand that,” he said as he set the empty bag on the table.

  She smiled. “Almost every day, I’ve had to negotiate the yellow truck out of going to Courtney’s. I think it’s his favorite toy, ever.”

  It felt good to hear that. Very good.

  Lisa set down the bath truffles and scooped up the wine and cheese.

  “Jamie, dinner’s waiting. It’s time to leave the truck,” she called to her son. At his sound of disappointment, she said to Kevin, “Cue the yo-yo.”

  Jamie came out, but with a good deal of foot dragging.

  Kevin showed him the toy. “I got you a little something today. Ever play with a yo-yo?”

  Jamie turned it over in his hands. “Nope.”

  “I’ll show you how to use it,” Kevin said.

  “In a wide-open space,” Lisa added.

  Jamie ran ahead to the kitchen.

  “I hope you don’t mind if we eat in the café area,” Lisa said. “Jamie and I like to pretend we’re at a Japanese restaurant and eat at the living-room coffee table sometimes, but when it’s more than us, we use the café.”

  “No problem,” Kevin replied. He was a little tall for ground-level dining, anyway.

  After putting the wine and cheese on a countertop, she opened a large refrigerator and pulled out a bowl, then stuck the cheese in the fridge.

  “I’ve made lasagna for dinner. That work for you?” she asked while opening the oven and bending down to peek inside.

  “Absolutely. But I’d eat haggis if it meant I could sit across from you.”

  She closed the oven and stood. “Haggis? Guaranteed that will never happen. We do have a few minutes on the lasagna, though.”

  “So…do you have a corkscrew in here?” he asked.

  “Actually, yes.”

  While he opened the wine, Lisa went into the café, where he heard her talking to Jamie about nonlethal use of a yo-yo.r />
  “He’s all settled,” she said as she reentered the kitchen.

  He pulled out a stool from beneath a work counter that stood in the middle of the room. With a sweep of his hand, he offered it to her.

  “Now it’s your turn to settle.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Once she was seated with her back to the counter, facing him, he handed her a glass of wine.

  “I liked listening to you talk to Jamie. You’re a good mom,” he said.

  She took a small sip from her glass, then gave a diffident shrug. “I’m what I have to be.”

  He wondered how such an amazing woman could seem completely unpracticed in accepting kind words.

  “You’re more than that, Lisa Kincaid, and I’m betting it’s not easy at all,” he said.

  “Parenthood? No. And single parenthood is definitely not for sissies.” She reached to her right and set the wineglass on the counter. “But we’re pretty good at what we do, Jamie and I. We’re a team. Now, the other parts of my life, they’re a little less together. I’ve decided I need to work on them, for sure.”

  She had her worried face on. At least, he knew it was her worried face. Court and the others would tell him that he was crazy, that she looked as serene as always. And he supposed she did…to them.

  “Are you talking about the more adult parts, maybe?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “You’re not the only one,” he admitted. “What do you say we work on it together?”

  He liked that the worry had eased from her features. In its stead were a sparkle in her eyes and a flirtatious curve to her mouth.

  “Sort of like study partners?” she asked.

  He laughed. “Except this sounds better than any class I ever took.”

  “I think the lab classes ought to be pretty interesting.”

  He tilted his head. “Really? What do you think the first lab should involve?”

  She hesitated as though mulling the idea over.

  “Kissing,” she finally said. “Definitely kissing.”

  His favorite topic. He leaned in until he could have easily settled his mouth over hers for the kiss he planned to claim.

  “You sure?” he teased, just a fraction of an inch from paradise.