by Corbit, Dana
Even with rolling her eyes, and her elbows imprinting her sides and her knees bumping Jenna’s every time she shifted, Haley couldn’t help but notice the restaurant’s charm. Warmth radiated through the open dining room as flames flickered inside yellow globes and old friends gathered around tables covered with checked vinyl cloths.
Somehow, though, she doubted that Matthew and Caroline were enjoying the atmosphere as much, not with their mothers looking at them with so much expectation. Such hope. Even now Haley’s mother was watching Matthew over the top of her menu, her reading glasses perched on her nose. “What do you like on your pizza, Matthew?”
“I don’t know.” Matthew didn’t look up from where he was reading menu options. “I’ll eat pretty much anything on it. Except anchovies.”
Trina’s face lit up like a child’s at a birthday party. “Well, isn’t that a coincidence? Caroline likes her pizza loaded, too. She’s the only one in the family. Her sisters won’t eat anything but cheese on theirs.”
“That is a coincidence,” Matthew said dryly, his gaze still squarely on the menu.
“I like anchovies,” Caroline was quick to point out.
“And you admit that in public?” Jenna’s eyebrow was so high that it disappeared behind her light brown bangs.
Haley pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. All this time, she’d been looking for a complicated compatibility formula for dating when according to the meddling matriarchs here, the answers to the human heart could be found in a steaming slice of pizza.
No. Wait. She and Tom were both flavor purists, insisting that adding anything to the trio tastes of sauce, mozzarella and crust was just overkill. So she could tell her mother and Mrs. Warren right now that pizza compatibility wasn’t the secret.
Pushing aside the thought, Haley focused on poor Caroline and Matthew, who were sandwiched so tightly together that their knees had to be bumping. If they felt half as uncomfortable as Matthew had made her feel when he’d arrived home from work today, then she pitied them. She wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
As if she needed another reminder of that face-off with Matthew, Haley peeked at the child seated next to her father. The usually vivacious little girl sat with her elbows planted on the table, a surly expression on her face. Already, she’d whined in Matthew’s car all the way to the restaurant, and her attitude didn’t appear on the upswing.
A waiter sporting a T-shirt with the words “Eat a Pie” approached then, carrying a large bowl of tossed salad and a stack of plates.
Amy Warren gave the order for two large pizzas—one loaded and one cheese-only—before taking her granddaughter’s hand on one side and her best friend’s on the other. When all their hands were linked, she bowed her head and began to pray.
“Father God, thank You for this opportunity to spend time with our dear friends. Please bless this food and guide us as we seek to build deeper connections between our families for the future. In Your Son’s name, Amen.”
As they released hands, Amy reached for the salad bowl and tongs as if she hadn’t just prayed for a blessing on their matchmaking scheme. Haley wouldn’t have been surprised if she prayed next for the quick arrival of their pizza order.
“They have the best salad here,” Trina said as her friend passed her the bowl.
Again, Haley had the urge to laugh, but she changed the subject instead. “Now where did you say the other guys were tonight?”
“You mean besides finding any excuse possible not to be here?” Matthew chimed, earning a severe enough frown from his mother to make Haley sit straighter in her seat.
“You know perfectly well that Dylan is catching up on paperwork at the office after his conference, and Logan had to help a friend move into her new apartment.”
“Did you say ‘her’?” He looked at her over the frames of his glasses, and then he lifted a shoulder and lowered it. “As I said…any excuse.”
“I hope we don’t miss seeing them completely,” Jenna said to no one in particular as she held a pizza slice suspended in front of her mouth. “Caroline and I fly out on Sunday.”
“Oh, can’t you stay longer?” Amy asked.
Though it couldn’t have been clearer that she was interested in extending the stay of just one of the Scott sisters, Caroline answered for them both. “Not if we plan to keep our jobs.”
Sunday probably wouldn’t be soon enough for Caroline, who’d sworn off relationships only to have her mother turn a deaf ear on her pronouncement. Even though Haley wasn’t feeling pressure from good-intentioned meddlers, she could understand the urge to put some space between herself and Matthew Warren.
What she’d ever seen in the guy all those years ago, she had a hard time remembering now. Matthew could give curmudgeon lessons in his spare time. In fact, if it weren’t for her promise to watch Elizabeth and the fact that Haley had nowhere else to go, she would have been catching her own jet plane along with her sisters.
Next to Matthew, Elizabeth continued to sit with her elbows planted on the table, her slice of pizza untouched on the plate in front of her.
Matthew cleared his throat and made some sort of signal to her with a tilt of his head. His daughter removed her elbows, but her scowl remained firmly in place. Matthew’s jaw tightened, his gaze trained on Haley rather than his child. Elizabeth looked as morose as her father did, and the child’s mood was Haley’s fault because she hadn’t respected Matthew’s rules.
Apprehension filled her gut. She could hope for the best, perhaps a shorter than average dinner, but she suspected this night wouldn’t end well.
“What kind of books do you like to read, Matthew?”
He turned back to Haley’s mother, caught off guard by her remark, especially when he was too busy grumbling at Haley to stay on his toes for the next round in the matchmaking game.
“I don’t get to read for pleasure often these days. I read a lot of law books and hymnals, though.”
Haley was ready to give him points for a smooth sidestep, but her mother wasn’t having any of it. “I didn’t ask what you do read. I asked what you like to read.”
Poor guy, he didn’t stand a chance. Haley knew perfectly well that Matthew had never been able to resist the classics. Even when they were children, while his brothers were in video-game trances, trying to get to the next tasty level of “Alien Fighter Jelly Beans” or some such, Matthew could always be found on the couch, kicking back with Dickens or Hemingway. The situation had been the same in the Scott household, with Caroline as the reader, except for the “Alien Fighter Jelly Beans” part.
The funny thing was that Mom knew all this perfectly well, too. If she was already counting on a tentative merger between Caroline and Matthew based a common enjoyment of pepperoni and black olives, then she surely expected their shared love of Beowulf and To Kill a Mockingbird to seal the deal.
“The classics are probably my favorite,” he told her.
“Of course. Now I remember.” Trina could have earned herself a Tony Award nomination for that over-the-top stage version of surprise. “Did you know that Caroline is a fan of the classics, too?”
“I do remember that,” he answered blandly.
Haley hoped her mother wasn’t trying to be sly with this interrogation because she was about as subtle as a steam-roller taking down a rubber duck. If she really wanted to know something new about Matthew, she could ask him why he hadn’t spoken to his child’s sitter all night or why he kept tossing sour looks her way. But clearly Trina was on a mission, and that mission didn’t involve intervening between Haley and her boss.
“Do you enjoy classical music, as well, because Caroline—”
Haley didn’t know whether to be horrified or relieved when Elizabeth interrupted the next round of the sales pitch by letting out a shriek that made the globed oil lamp on their table vibrate.
“I don’t want any dumb pizza!”
“Elizabeth.”
Matthew’s warning voice would have silenced Ha
ley, but Elizabeth must have taken it as encouragement because her voice became a wail.
“No pizza! No pizza!” Bracing both hands on the edge of the table, Elizabeth pushed back her chair, at the end of the booth, sending it teetering backward.
Matthew leaped to his feet, deftly nabbing the back of the chair with one hand and his daughter’s pint-size form with the other. His arm slipped around her waist, allowing her limbs to dangle downward. Though Elizabeth wailed, her flailing arms and legs occasionally connecting with his thigh or side, he didn’t even look at her.
His glare was for Haley alone.
“Well, we’ve had about enough fun for one evening.” He turned to his mother and her best friend. “Forgive us, but we have to call it a night.”
From the hooks adorning the booth, he retrieved coats, shoved them under his free arm and then strode to the door. As Matthew moved aside for the host to open the heavy wooden door for him, Haley watched, waiting for him to glance her way before he crossed through the doorway. They’d come together after all. He didn’t look back even once.
As the door swung closed, it appeared to Haley that more than a man and his overtired child were slipping away through that sliver of remaining light. She couldn’t let him leave. Not without at least another apology.
She turned back to the other women watching their exit as she had been. “I’m sorry. I have to go, too.”
“But all this pizza.” Her mother was frowning, probably more for the loss of Matthew’s company than hers.
“Just package it up. I love it cold.” Haley put an arm into her coat sleeve. “It reminds me of college.”
With that, she hurried across the room and out the door. She was responsible for this outburst, so she owed it to him to help now if she could. She caught up to him outside, just as the parking lot lights switched on. Busy wrestling someone from the thirty-five-pound weight class into the shoulder strap of her car booster seat, he didn’t notice Haley’s approach.
“Now hold still, silly. Let me get this done so I can get you to bed.”
“I don’t want bed.” Instead of a shriek, this time her words came out with a sniffling moan.
“I know you don’t, but you’re tired. You’ll feel better in the morning.”
“I’m not sleepy,” she whined.
Finally, Matthew must have had her buckled the way he liked because he closed the back door and pulled open the driver’s-side door. His shoulders stiffened the moment he saw Haley standing a few steps away.
“What are you doing out here?”
Haley pulled her coat closed over her neck. “We rode together, remember?”
“I need to get her home.” He gestured to the child already dozing and unaffected by the dome light. “I’m sure one of the others will give you a ride home.”
“My car’s at your house.”
“Oh. Right.”
Haley could almost see the wheels turning in his mind as he thought of a way to avoid sharing oxygen with her for another minute. And because Markston wasn’t so big, he could make the point that his house would not have been out of the way for the others.
Still, his practicality must have won out because he crossed to the passenger side and opened the door for her. He acknowledged her thanks with a nod, but the cold in his eyes trumped even the wind blowing in before he closed it. The music of Bach or Mozart or some other dead guy filtered into the car when he started the engine, but he flipped it off with a click. The kind of silence that would have made a librarian proud settled around them, making the five-minute drive feel like an interstate trek.
Finally, he turned into his driveway and hit the garage-door opener on his visor, but instead of pulling in, he shut off the engine in the driveway. Sensor-activated lights on either side of the two garage doors flicked on, illuminating the car’s interior.
As if they’d timed it, both turned back to check on Elizabeth at the same time. She slept heavily now, nothing in her repose hinting that she could feel the chill inside the car. Haley couldn’t help smiling when she looked at her. So sweet. Innocent. Completely trusting in a world where real trust was rare.
When Haley finally turned her head and shoulder back toward the front seat, Matthew was staring right at her. Through her was more like it. Haley held her breath. As much as she hated silence, she sensed that what was to follow it this time wouldn’t be better.
“Haley, this isn’t going to work out.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, though she had an inkling.
He exhaled heavily and pressed his lips together before he spoke again. “Your caring for Elizabeth. I don’t think this was a good idea.”
“No. Wait, Matthew—”
“I knew it, too. I knew it.” He seemed to be saying it more to himself than to her. “Why didn’t I trust my own instincts?”
“What are you saying?” She shot a glance back at the sleeping child, who’d already created a place for herself in her heart.
Matthew stared into the rearview mirror instead of looking at her. “A child needs structure. How can I expect you to give that when you don’t have any of it in your own life? You probably don’t know what it is.”
“I know what ‘structure’ is.” Even she could hear the crack in her voice, so she didn’t try to convince herself that he could have missed it.
Matthew startled and then looked over at her. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings here. You’re a great girl…um, woman…but…” He let his words fall away, apparently not sure what else to say.
There’s always a but, isn’t there? For the flash of a second, Haley was that fourteen-year-old again, hearing Matthew’s kind, if bumbling, attempt to let her down easy after she’d professed her feelings to him. But she couldn’t allow herself to go there. Not this time when what he was saying mattered so much more than an unrequited crush.
“I’m really sorry for letting Elizabeth miss her nap.”
Already he was shaking his head. “It’s not just that. It’s…oh, I don’t know…everything.”
She waited for him to list her infractions, but he didn’t, so she could only guess that there were many. “I know I’m a bit…unconventional—”
“To say the least.”
Haley swallowed and tried again. “I can do better. I’ll do whatever you need me to. I’ll follow your schedule. I’ll do it your way. Whatever you want. I need this job.” She needed Elizabeth, too. It was probably pitiful to admit it, but she’d never felt more valued than she did by a child who needed her care.
“I’m sorry, Haley. I don’t think—”
“But I love her, Matthew.”
He had opened his mouth to finish what he’d planned to say, words that would take away the only thing that had made sense to her since she’d moved back to Markston. Now he closed it, darting his tongue out to moisten his lips.
Haley studied him, waiting. Had she said the one thing that would make a difference to Matthew? She wasn’t sure, but she took a chance anyway. She couldn’t explain why, but it had suddenly become critical to her that she had the opportunity to stay here caring for Elizabeth. She needed that child, and Elizabeth needed her. Whether he realized it or not, Matthew needed her help, too.
“Remember, it’s only temporary,” she reminded him. “Only until you find a permanent child-care provider. Come on. Give me a second chance.”
He shook his head again. “I don’t know. It just doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
“I thought all Christians believed in second chances. Don’t you?”
As soon as she said it, Haley realized she’d gone too far. If nothing she’d said before had changed his mind, then calling Matthew’s faith into question certainly wasn’t going to do it. She stared at his profile and waited for his jaw to tighten the way it always did when he was annoyed. Instead, she was surprised to see the side of his mouth lift.
“Are you sure you want to pose that question to someone who earns at least part of his
income filing wrongful death lawsuits? Family members of victims don’t get any second chances, and there are those who believe the defendants don’t deserve them, either.”
Haley shrugged. She had no doubt which group Matthew fell into. There were no shades of gray in Matthew Warren’s world, only the blackest black and the whitest white.
That didn’t leave her with much of an answer, but because he still seemed to expect one, she remarked, “Should have known better than to argue with an attorney.”
“I’ll see you at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow.”
Haley gave him a sharp glance. “Wait. But you said—”
“I know what I said.”
“You mean you’re going to keep me on in this job?”
“It might surprise you, but I do believe in second chances. Especially when there are extenuating circumstances for you.”
Haley should have been upset that he’d acted out of pity again, but she was too busy being grateful that he’d changed his mind. “Thank you. You won’t be sorry. I promise.” Words rushed from her mouth as she hurried to reassure him before he changed his mind. “I’ll keep my end of the bargain. You just write down Elizabeth’s schedule, and I’ll follow it.”
“I’m sure you will.”
Haley pressed on as if he still needed convincing. “And I’ll follow your house rules, no matter how strict.”
Matthew cocked his head to the side, drawing his eyebrows together. “You make me sound like a dictator instead of a father.”
“Oh, no, no, no. I just mean I want you to know that you can trust me.”
He looked over his shoulder at the child who had slept through the disagreement and its resolution before turning back to her. “I know I can.”
She studied him to see if he was serious, and there was no humor in his eyes. Though she was thrilled that he’d decided to give her another chance, she didn’t understand it. What had changed?
He answered her unasked question with a simple statement: “I love her, too.”
It all made sense now. Because he knew she loved Elizabeth, he hoped she would do what was best for her. And he was right: she would.