“What the…!” he muttered as he grabbed a post to keep himself from falling. He scowled at her. “Are you crazy?”
“Not half as crazy as you are, if you think this is an acceptable on-the-job performance,” she said, facing him down and suddenly realizing why Abby spent so much time annoyed with her.
“Did you not understand it when I told you last week that you were getting on my very last nerve?” she asked.
“Chill,” he said. “There’s nothing going on around here.”
“How could you possibly know that when the phone you’re supposed to be answering is inside? I’ve transferred the reservation line into the kitchen. Get in there and help Gail. If I don’t get a rave review from her when I get back, you’re fired. Is that clear enough?” This time, she simply had to stick to her guns. She wasn’t doing him any favors by letting him get away with this kind of lackadaisical behavior on the job.
He finally looked at least moderately shaken. “Come on, Jess.”
“That’s Ms. O’Brien to you,” she snapped.
He grinned as if she’d said something hysterically funny. “Come on, Ms. O’Brien, you know my old man’s going to have a conniption fit if I lose another job.”
“Then don’t lose it,” she said and walked away before she said a few more things about his work ethic that he probably wouldn’t understand anyway. If Devlin Forrest complained to Mick about Ronnie being fired, she’d deal with her father. Insolence and laziness were two traits Mick would never tolerate either. She was confident of that.
Concluding that she needed the fresh air and a long walk to improve her mood, she hiked the mile or so into town, then headed for the bank. At the front desk, she greeted Mariah, then nodded toward the executive offices.
“Is Laila back there? Is she free?”
Mariah nodded. “Go on back. Maybe a friendly face will improve her mood.”
“She’s having a bad day?”
“Days,” Mariah confided, “but don’t you dare tell her I said so.”
“Any idea why?”
“None.”
Jess walked back to the office that had once belonged to Trace before he’d convinced his father that Laila was the one who belonged in it. Trace had done nothing during his brief stint there to make it his own, but Laila had painted the walls a warmer shade of cream, then added bright splashes of modern art to the walls. The paintings had horrified her father, who thought they weren’t nearly sedate enough for a community bank, but Laila had stuck to her guns. It was the most cheerful room in an otherwise dreary old building.
Laila, however, looked anything but cheerful, at least until she looked up and saw Jess standing hesitantly in the doorway.
“I hear the mood is dark back here,” Jess said. “Is it safe to come in?”
Laila smiled wearily. “Come on in. I promise not to bite your head off.”
Jess took a seat and studied her friend. “You look worn out. What’s going on?”
“I’m trying to figure out how to keep some of our oldest customers from losing their homes to foreclosure,” Laila said. “I thought the economy was turning around, but we’ve still got people around here who are struggling. The board doesn’t want to hear their excuses. I’m arguing for compassion and a little ingenuity. I’m afraid I’m going to lose the battle.”
“I’m sorry. Having been on the other side of a foreclosure notice, I know how awful that is. If it hadn’t been for Abby coming down here to fight for me and straighten out the inn’s finances, who knows what would have happened?”
“But it worked out for you,” Laila said. “The bank knew you were good for the loan, just like I know these people will make good on theirs if we can just cut them a little slack. Putting families out on the street should be a last resort.” She waved off the topic. “Let’s talk about something else. Do you have time for lunch? It’s been ages since we’ve talked.”
Jess grinned, relieved that the tension she’d been feeling had evaporated once she was actually in a room with her friend. “I was hoping you’d suggest that. Shall we have Connie meet us?”
“Absolutely,” Laila said, placing the call and getting Connie’s immediate agreement to meet them at a new soup and salad restaurant that had opened a few weeks earlier. When she’d hung up, she said, “I would have suggested Sally’s, but Will’s bound to be there, so I figured you’d rather go someplace else.”
“That’s why you’re my friend,” Jess said. “You know me so well. I do want to hear about your date with him, though.”
Laila regarded her doubtfully. “Really? I thought maybe that was why you weren’t taking my calls.”
Jess winced. She should have known Laila would recognize exactly what she’d been thinking. “It was,” she admitted, “but I was being stupid. I want to know everything.”
“And I want to hear about Connie’s date in Annapolis the other day,” Laila said, as she grabbed her purse and they left for the restaurant. “She mentioned he was an accountant. I could have warned her about that. We’re not that interesting, but I didn’t want to scare her off.”
Jess laughed. “I can’t speak for all accountants, but you are the least boring person I know,” she told her. “Maybe she got lucky.”
A few minutes later, though, when they were all seated at an outdoor table facing the bay, Connie squirmed when Laila brought up her date.
Laila regarded her knowingly. “It was a bust, right?”
“Totally,” Connie said, though her cheeks were bright pink. She hesitated, then said, “I wound up having lunch with Thomas, instead.”
Jess stared at her. “Thomas? My uncle?”
Connie nodded. “It just sort of happened. We got to talking about fundraising and stuff, and ended up having lunch. No big deal.”
But Jess could see it was a big deal. Laila, however, seemed to accept Connie’s explanation at face value. There were a hundred questions on the tip of Jess’s tongue, but she bit them back.
Connie quickly turned to Laila. “And your lunch with Will? How did that go?” She flushed guiltily, faced Jess and asked, “Are you okay with her talking about this?”
“I wish everyone would stop acting as if Will and I shared some big romance,” Jess complained. “We didn’t. We’ve never even been on a date.”
“Only because he thinks you don’t want to go out with him,” Laila said. “That’s what he told me.”
Jess frowned. “The two of you were talking about me on your date? No wonder your social life sucks.”
“We were talking about you, because you were like this huge elephant in the room. We couldn’t ignore the obvious. He has feelings for you, and contrary to all your claims, I think you have feelings for him.”
“I think he’s annoying,” Jess said. “Is that what you mean?”
Laila rolled her eyes and Connie chuckled.
“The denials aren’t working for me,” Laila said, then grinned at Connie. “How about you?”
“Nope,” Connie said.
Jess was within a second of blowing that smug expression off Connie’s face by blabbing what she knew about Connie’s feelings for Uncle Thomas, but when push came to shove, she couldn’t do it. If there was something going on between those two, she didn’t want to be the one to ruin it by getting the whole family in an uproar. Kevin and Connor had obviously felt the same way when they’d sworn her to secrecy.
“Look, you two, think whatever you want,” Jess said. “Will and I would never work as a couple. We barely tolerate each other as friends. And if he were as interested in me as you two seem to think and we were at all suited, wouldn’t that fancy computer program of his have spit us out as a match?”
“He didn’t put his name in when he ran yours through,” Laila revealed.
“See what I mean?” Jess said, seizing on that. “He doesn’t want anything to do with me. That proves it. Let’s just drop this, okay? I don’t want to talk about Will or about the fact that this stupid company of hi
s is a fraud.”
Both of her friends regarded her with dismay. “That’s a little harsh,” Laila said. “Just because Connie’s first date and mine didn’t work doesn’t mean the next ones won’t.”
“You’re going to accept more dates?” Jess asked incredulously.
“Why not?” Laila said. “Nothing’s changed about the reasons we all signed up, right, Connie?”
Connie nodded, though Jess thought her expression looked doubtful.
“I’m game,” Connie said with lackluster enthusiasm.
Laila focused her attention on Jess. “You paid your money. You can’t back out now.”
“Since I haven’t had a single email or phone call, I’m thinking I should demand my money back,” Jess said. “In fact, the next time I see Will, I intend to tell him what I think of this whole ridiculous online dating scheme of his.”
“You have to give it a chance,” Laila insisted. “You don’t want just any old match. It has to be the right one. Give it time.”
“Like you and Will were such a great match,” Jess said sarcastically. “Or Connie and her accountant. Come on, guys, admit this was a mistake. When it comes to this matchmaking stuff, Will is an amateur.”
“I’m not throwing in the towel yet,” Laila replied determinedly. “Neither is Connie, and you promised you were in, too, Jess. Are you going back on your word to us?”
“It’s not as if we’re double-or triple-dating, for goodness’ sakes,” Jess protested. “You two can do whatever you want to do. I’m out.”
“A promise is a promise,” Laila persisted.
Jess sighed and caved. “Okay, fine. I’ll give it a little longer.”
But despite Laila’s optimism and Connie’s reluctant agreement, no one was going to persuade Jess that it wasn’t a big old waste of time and energy.
Will’s client, a single woman who’d despaired of ever finding the right man, arrived for her appointment with a man in tow.
“This is Carl Mason,” Kathy Pierson told Will, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “I hope you don’t mind, but I asked him to sit in on our session today. We met through Lunch by the Bay, and we’re getting married.”
Will saw the blush on her cheeks and the adoration in Carl Mason’s eyes and realized this was exactly what he’d hoped for when he launched the company. Unfortunately, though, he also knew that Kathy had a way of rushing into things without giving them sufficient thought. What if this was one of those occasions? They couldn’t possibly have had more than a handful of dates. He was pretty sure he’d arranged the match less than two weeks ago.
“When something’s right, it’s right,” Carl told him, obviously picking up on Will’s lack of enthusiasm for the news. “I know it must seem fast to you, but the minute I met Kathy, something clicked.”
“I’m happy for you both. I truly am,” Will assured them. “But marriage is a huge step. Shouldn’t you spend a little more time together before you make that kind of commitment?”
Kathy frowned at him. “I’m forty-six years old. I’ve waited my whole life to meet a man like Carl. I’ve already lost my chance to have children, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late for love. You’re the one who’s been telling me that for months now. I’ve finally found it, and I don’t want to wait. We don’t want to wait.”
“You’re both telling me how right this is,” Will said, treading cautiously. “Won’t it be just as right a few weeks from now, or even a few months from now? Then you’ll know for certain.”
“And we’ll have wasted weeks or months of our lives,” Kathy said.
“They won’t be wasted,” Will insisted. “I’m not suggesting you can’t be together during that time, just that you not jump into marriage. You’ll be getting to know each other, making sure that you’re as compatible as you think you are.”
“I don’t understand why you can’t just be happy for us,” Kathy said. “I mean, we’re practically the poster couple for Lunch by the Bay. We’re a success story! You should be gloating about the fact that your computer program made a successful match, not trying to bring us down.”
“I’m not trying to bring you down,” Will assured her. “In fact, if this works out, I’ll be the first to stand up and offer a toast at your wedding. I’m just worried that you’ve put a little too much faith in a computer program and not trusted your own judgment. It takes time to get to know another person. The computer is a tool that can cut that process down somewhat, but it’s not infallible.”
Kathy stood up. “Well, aren’t you Mr. Doom and Gloom all of a sudden. I’d hoped you’d come to the wedding, but I can see that’s a terrible idea. I don’t want any bad vibes ruining the happiest day of my life. Let’s go, Carl.”
Carl followed her to the door. “To be honest, I thought the whole computer thing was a crazy idea, but once I met Kathy, I became a believer. This is going to be okay, Doc. You don’t have to worry about us.”
Will appreciated the effort to reassure him, but he stared after them with a feeling of dread in his stomach. Client confidentiality required that he not tell Carl that Kathy had a long history of lightning-quick enthusiasms that faded all too rapidly. It was one thing to embrace a hobby and drop it practically overnight. It was quite another to do that with a husband.
He was trying to figure out if there was anything else he could do to slow down this impulsive wedding they were planning when his cell phone rang. Relieved by the distraction, he answered on the second ring.
“Is this Will Lincoln?” a woman asked hesitantly.
“It is.”
“Your name turned up as a prospective match from Lunch by the Bay,” she said. “I was wondering if you might be available for lunch one day this week. I probably should have waited for you to call, but I was afraid if I did, I’d lose my nerve altogether. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
Will bit back a sigh. How could he turn her down? He was the one who’d founded the company in part so he could meet people himself. It would pretty much destroy the company’s reputation if its own founder started rejecting the matches it kicked out.
“I’d love to have lunch with you,” he said, trying to inject a note of enthusiasm into his voice. “How about Friday?”
He chatted a little longer, then hung up. Merry Landry had sounded sweet. And from the information he’d managed to pull from the computer, on the surface it seemed they had at least a few interests in common. She was well-educated, had her own business and had the kind of large family he’d always envied. A family like the O’Briens.
Of course, there was only one huge drawback over which Merry obviously had no control. She wasn’t Jess.
On Friday at noon, Jess got a call from Heather, Connor’s wife. Heather owned a quilt shop on Shore Road, right next door to the art gallery Jess’s mother had opened.
“You busy?” Heather asked.
“It’s Friday, so we’re expecting a packed house for the weekend, but most of them won’t be showing up for a couple of hours. Why?”
Jess thought she heard a whispered exchange in the background, but it might have been customers talking.
Eventually Heather said, “I was hoping you could meet me for a quick bite. Connor, too. We’ve missed you.”
Something in her voice sounded off to Jess, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “Is Connor there now?”
“Nope,” Heather said hurriedly. “He just left to claim a table for us at Panini Bistro. Can you get there?”
“Do you two have news?” Jess asked, wondering if Heather was pregnant. They already had a son who’d been born before they’d married.
Heather laughed. “If you stopped asking questions and drove over here, you’d have your answers in less time.”
Jess sighed. “Fine. Give me ten minutes. Order a ham and cheese panini with lettuce and tomato for me.”
“Will do,” Heather promised.
Jess checked in with Gail, assured herself that Ronnie was at work in the ki
tchen again with the reservation line forwarded in there, then drove into town. It took several minutes to find a parking spot, then a few more to walk back to the restaurant. She immediately spotted her brother and his wife. Then, at another table way too nearby to be a coincidence, she saw Will and some attractive blonde woman who seemed to be regarding him with an adoring expression.
Though the chair Connor and Heather had left for Jess had a clear view of Will and his date, Jess grabbed the chair and shoved it between the happy newlyweds so her back was to Will.
“Please tell me that is not why you got me down here,” she said under her breath, shrugging a shoulder in Will’s direction.
Connor regarded her innocently. “Are you talking about Will? I think he’s on one of those Lunch by the Bay dates of his. Pretty woman, don’t you think?”
Jess’s temper flared. “I do not give two hoots if she’s more gorgeous than Marilyn Monroe. Why would you do this? Just to make me crazy?”
Heather started to laugh, then covered her mouth, but there was no hiding the merriment in her eyes. “Then seeing Will with another woman does make you crazy?” she inquired. Though she went for an innocent tone, there was too much amusement threading through her voice to pull it off. “Why is that?”
Jess wanted to kill them both. She really did, but she wasn’t going to give Will the satisfaction of witnessing her losing her cool in public. She plastered a smile on her face and caught the attention of the waitress.
“Could you make my order to go, please? I have to get back to work.”
“Jess!” Heather protested, looking dismayed. “Please stay.”
“Running isn’t the answer,” Connor scolded. “Don’t you see how silly it is for the two of you to go on wasting time by denying your feelings?”
“The only feeling I have for Will right this second is contempt, and, frankly, my feelings for you, dear brother, aren’t much better.” She frowned at Heather. “Why would you go along with this? I know it was Connor’s idea.”
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