Betwixt Two Hearts (Crossroads Collection)

by Amanda Tru

David grinned. “That’s not exactly what I meant, but my folks are in their fifties, and Heather and I have been out of the house for ten years. They’re done with kids and seem to be enjoying themselves. My aunt and uncle are nearly sixty and still have two daughters in college and one who’s a high school senior. I’d like to have my kids while I’m young enough to enjoy them—and enjoy life after they’re grown and gone, too.”

  “But babies don’t come on a schedule—at least, not usually—and you’re not married yet. You don’t even have a girlfriend. I’ve never even known you to have a date.”

  “Thanks for making me feel good, Larry.” David pointed his fork at his friend. “I don’t see girls hanging on you, either.”

  “Nope.” Larry scowled at the grapefruit wedges on his plate. “I’m not good husband material right now. The doctor said if I don’t lose at least fifty pounds, this might be my last birthday. I’ll either have a heart attack or get diabetes.”

  “You’re doing great. You didn’t cave to peer pressure and order French toast.” David ran the last piece of sugar-dusted bread through a puddle of lingonberry syrup.

  His friend eyed the morsel with regret. “I don’t have a death wish. The weight just piled on, a bit at a time. The doctor says that’s what it’ll keep doing unless I make drastic changes. So, grapefruit and celery are my new best friends. I’m getting a gym membership, too.”

  “Good for you.” David returned to their previous conversation. “I’ve had a few dates, set up by the matchmaking grannies at church, but none of them clicked.” He set his fork on his plate and pushed it toward the edge of the table. “I don’t even know any girls. I’m too old for college students.”

  “I know what you mean.” Larry nodded. “I get older and they get younger every year.”

  “Right now, after a family Christmas that looked like something out of Norman Rockwell, I feel like everyone around me has this wonderful life and I’m sitting at home alone. Everyone else my age is married with a family.”

  “Except me,” Larry said. “You really feel strongly about this. I’m sorry I laughed.”

  “It’s okay. I’m just feeling sorry for myself after the holidays. Everyone says to wait… that God will bring me the perfect wife, but I’m not sure that means I should sit home, waiting for her to show up on my doorstep. We don’t have any women in the office, and there aren’t any single young women at church. My seminary classes are online. I don’t know where I’d meet the right kind of woman.”

  “Oh! Hold on.” Larry reached for his coat and dug into the pocket. “I just saw something this morning on Facebook. It’s a new matchmaking company.”

  “Oh, no.” David shook his head. “I’m not doing online dating. I’ve heard too many horror stories, even from those Christian sites.”

  “It’s the way everyone meets people these days. I know several people who met online.”

  “Not me.”

  “I don’t think this one’s like a regular dating site.” Larry flicked his finger against the screen, scrolling through posts. “It sounded more like people looking for relationships, not dating. You can get a professional matchmaker.”

  “Matchmaker. A professional matchmaker? Is there a college degree for that?”

  “Didn’t you tell me you did Fiddler on the Roof in community theater? There was a matchmaker in that.” Larry continued his search. “I wish I could remember the name of the company.”

  “Yenta?” David scoffed. “Is she on Facebook now?”

  “Here it is. Betwixt Two Hearts. There. I shared it with you.”

  “You didn’t post it on my page, did you?” David picked up his own phone, alarmed. “I can just imagine what my family would say. They’re ruthless.”

  “No, I sent a message. See?” Larry held up his phone. “Computer-matching or a personal matchmaker. Not professional.”

  “I’m not interested in computer dating.”

  “Look at it. You can tell them what you want. So, tell them you want a wife.”

  Exasperated, David dropped the phone face-down on the table. “Like ordering one from Amazon? A modern version of mail-order brides?”

  Larry shrugged. “Or like Abraham, sending his servants out to find a wife for Isaac. It says here you fill out a questionnaire and they match you up with someone. You don’t go through a list of people like you do on those other websites.”

  “I think I’ll just wait for a real girl. Woman.”

  “How long you gonna wait?” Larry leaned back, still reading the website. “You might have kids at home till you’re eighty. If you get any at all.”

  “I’m not that desperate.”

  Larry peered over the phone, brows raised. “Really? I saw Angela at church a few weeks ago. I wasn’t going to mention it, but…”

  “What am I supposed to do? Tell her she can’t come to church? I think she’s given up on me, though. We went out to brunch afterward and I told her I’m in school to be a pastor. She wasn’t impressed.” He slid from the booth. “I’ve got to get going. Happy birthday. Hope you enjoyed your grapefruit and yogurt.”

  “Thanks. But really, man, it’s okay to check this out. Everyone’s doing it. It’s hard to meet people once you’re out of college or in a church like ours, where almost everyone’s over forty or already married. Someday…” Larry patted his stomach. “I may just look into it for myself, once I’ve got in shape. No girl’s going to look at me like this.”

  “The right girl will. You probably won’t find her on a dating website, though.”

  “That’s awesome.” David watched the ball spin, spiraling around the pole. It had a hypnotic effect, probably because of its silence as it traveled up and down. “But I’m getting dizzy watching it. Did you have any practical application in mind, or is it just for fun?”

  His boss smirked. “Just for fun, so far, but I’ll find something to do with it. Some of my best machines started out as toys.” He pointed the controller and the ball fell to the floor.

  “Now you can make toys for your grandson,” David said. “He must be about six weeks old now, right? Did you know they make Tinker Toys for babies?”

  “Really?” Cal tapped his watch and raised it to his face. “Tinker Toys.”

  “Are you making a Christmas shopping list already?”

  “Mostly Legos, so far. Meg likes to add things like baby dolls and teddy bears, just to pull my chain. She says he’ll need lots of warm fuzzies to compensate for the engineering gene.”

  “She might have a point. Has she forgiven you for the vacuum system you gave her for your anniversary?”

  Cal hunched his shoulders. “It was a great design. She could use it for everything, even things she drops down the drain, like the cap from the tube of toothpaste, or for getting the crumbs under the heating element in the oven. I made a dozen specialized attachments, all personalized just for her.”

  “And she didn’t think that was romantic?” David smiled sympathetically. Cal had spent weeks on that, ignoring the warnings of his friends, determined to make it a perfect, one-of-a-kind gift for his wife. It was a true labor of love, the most romantic thing Cal could think of, and after twenty-five years of marriage, Meg ought to have understood that.

  “Not really, but she’s using it, or makes me use it. I’d have been in real trouble if Angela hadn’t been there.”

  “Angela?”

  “Yeah, she dragged me aside, forced me to give her my credit card, and came back an hour later—still during the party—with a diamond bracelet. A very expensive diamond bracelet, in a gift-wrapped box and a card signed with my name. She told Meg the vacuum cleaner was just a joke, and this was her real gift.”

  “I didn’t hear that part.” Angela probably knew her brother pretty well.

  Cal rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not sure she believed it. She loves the bracelet, though, and she says I should shop at that store for all her gifts from now on.”

  “That will simplify your shopping,”
David said, concealing a smile.

  “But it’s so impersonal,” Cal complained. “Meg’s the most amazing woman in the world, and it seems kind of cold to just buy jewelry instead of making her something really special.” He regarded his new invention. “This would make a great mobile for a baby. You’d have to keep it out of their reach and make sure the batteries don’t die. I should ask Meg about it.”

  David watched him wander in the direction of his office, already talking to his wife through the blue-tooth earpiece. That, with all its weirdness, was what he wanted in a marriage. Cal adored his wife, convinced she was even more brilliant than he—with his genius IQ—would ever be. To him, Meg was the most beautiful, desirable woman in the world. Meg, despite her reaction to the vacuum cleaner, loved her husband. She laughed at his jokes and teased him about the baby gifts. Cal was an odd duck. Meg saw that and liked it. She didn’t try to change him into someone else.

  They’d been high school sweethearts. She’d supported him in their early years, working so he could go to college and then start his own business instead of taking a high-paying job in another company. As soon as Cal made his first big sale, she quit her job to become a full-time wife and mother. They were living happily—if a bit strangely—ever after.

  He caught his reflection in the glass wall. He was a nice, ordinary-looking guy. Clean, polite, kind to children and small animals… Not nearly as odd as Cal, but Cal had a great marriage, and David was single. Why hadn’t he had the foresight to get a high school sweetheart?

  Brittany breezed through the door of the coffee shop just as Eleanor ended the phone call. How did the girl do it? Eleanor couldn’t breeze through a doorway to save her life, but it looked natural on Brittany. Brittany had flair. Style. Personality.

  “Hi, there. Sorry I’m late. You already got your coffee?”

  Eleanor held up her cup. “I couldn’t wait. I was freezing.”

  “It’s cold out.” Brittany tilted her head, concern creasing her brow. “Is something wrong?”

  Perceptive, too. Eleanor took a sip of the too-hot coffee before responding. “No, I’m fine. I was just talking to my sister-in-law. She’s throwing a party for my parents’ anniversary.”

  “That’s nice.” Brittany tugged off heavy mittens and shoved them into her coat pockets. “How long have they been married?”

  “Thirty-five years. It’s not even like it’s fifty or something! Why do they need such a big deal for their thirty-fifth?”

  “Um… I don’t know. Thirty-five years is a long time, and it’s always fun to have a party.” Brittany pointed. “There’s an empty table.”

  Eleanor slid onto a stool. “But this is a big party, and way more… fancy than I expected. She’s having a string quartet and a wine bar!”

  Brittany’s mouth fell open. “A wine bar? Is that like an open bar with just wine? No beer or mixed drinks?”

  “I think so. And she’s meeting with a caterer to taste finger foods that will cost more than a sit-down meal.” Eleanor propped her chin on her hand, elbow precariously near her cup. “Laurie can afford it, but still… it’s their thirty-fifth. An accomplishment, no doubt, but still…”

  “Let me get something to drink, and you can tell me about it. It sounds like fun.”

  Not fun. Eleanor watched her new friend chat with the barista. Her unexpected friendship with Brittany was one of the best things in her life here. It reminded her of college days, when no one expected anything of her except that she do her schoolwork and be a friend.

  Brittany set her coffee on the table and shrugged out of her coat before settling on the other stool. “So, this party… what are you going to wear? Can you sew like Penny?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, no, I don’t sew, and I don’t know what I’m going to wear.” Would Brittany understand? Their friendship hadn’t progressed to the soul-baring level yet.

  “You don’t look very happy about it.”

  “It’s just… the thing is, Laurie expects me to come with a date. They all expect it.”

  “Oh. Is that a problem? I suppose it’s down in the cities. Do you know someone down there to invite? It might be awkward to ask someone from up here, especially if you have to spend the night.” Brittany leaned forward. “Do you really need a date? I mean, they know you’ll be driving in from out of town.

  “I don’t think they care about that. They expect a date. A good one.”

  “A good one?” Brittany’s eyes widened.

  “Someone presentable, preferably a professional of some kind,” Eleanor said. “Someone who fits in with their crowd. And preferably someone who will convince me to return to civilization and get a real job.”

  “Wow.” Brittany stopped stirring sugar into her coffee and stared. “That’s… interesting. I didn’t realize your parents were so different from Penny’s.”

  “Totally different. It’s hard to believe they’re related. Uncle Carl and Gary are so down to earth. My mother acts like they’re backwoods hicks. But she grew up here, too.” The words burst out on their own.

  “She’s their sister, right? Will they be invited to the party?”

  “Probably. They might even go.” A happy thought occurred to Eleanor. “Maybe Aunt Violet will go, and I can say she’s my date. I need to take care of her, so I can’t have a man tagging along.”

  “Your aunt isn’t that frail, and she’ll whap you with her cane if you imply she is.”

  “True. If I carpooled down there with some of the family, I wouldn’t need a date,” Eleanor mused, “but it would be better if I had a date.”

  “But you don’t?”

  “No. The thing is, when she started talking about table arrangements and invitations, Laurie assumed I’d be bringing a ‘plus one.’ I didn’t correct her. It kind of snowballed, and now everyone is looking forward to meeting my date.” She hadn’t exactly lied… she just hadn’t corrected them. “If I have a date, maybe they’ll believe I have a real life up here.

  “You do have a life up here! You said you like your job, and you’ve got family here.” She flashed a bright smile. “And a friend.”

  That did sound like a real life. “Thanks.”

  “They just want you closer to home?” Brittany asked.

  “Sort of. They do, but it’s more than that. I need some time to decide what I want to do.” Eleanor smiled tightly. “What I want to do when I grow up. I just always assumed I would do the same things they do. I was born to be a teacher. But now, I’m not sure. Or rather, I’m pretty sure I’m not a teacher. I quit my job and came up here to find myself.”

  “Okay, but it’s not like you backpacked to Tibet. You’re only an hour away, in your mom’s home town, and you got a job with your uncle. You’re surrounded by family.”

  She didn’t get it. Eleanor tried to find words that wouldn’t make her parents sound like conceited snobs. “Mom and Dad believe in what they do. They think it’s so important that nothing else really matters. Their friends are all like them or are in a position to help them—usually in politics. It’s not that they look down on people like Uncle Carl and Gary. They just sort of see them as… outsiders.” She shrugged. “They raised my brothers and me to follow in their footsteps. Sports and education. Music lessons, the right social activities. I was a member of the same sorority my mom was, even if I did go to an out-of-state school.”

  Brittany looked fascinated. “I had no idea. I assumed you were like everyone else here. I mean, like Penny and her siblings.”

  “I am! I’m making them sound bad, but my parents are great people. They’re involved in every kind of charity, especially for education. My brothers, too. They’re all teachers or started as teachers. Really good people.” Eleanor’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. “I’m the one who didn’t fit in.”

  “And if you go back without a date, you’ll be answering questions and they’ll feel sorry for you. And probably pressuring you to move back there, I suppose.” She sipped her coffee. “There must b
e someone in the area who’d go with you. Didn’t you have a boyfriend there? You said you lived there for three years after college.”

  “I did, twice, but nothing ever came of it. They were both nice guys. Mom and Dad approved of both of them, and it was convenient to have a date for things,” Eleanor said. “In the end, both times, I got dumped. I wasn’t ready to get serious, and they started wanting more than I was willing to give. I can’t think of anyone down there who’d be willing to take me to the party, when it would be a one-time thing. I’m coming back here the next day.”

  “And you haven’t met anyone here?” Brittany asked. “I don’t suppose any of the guys who work for your uncle would do?”

  Eleanor covered her face with her hands. “That sounds so bad. I’m not a snob, really! Most of the guys who work for him are married or older. I haven’t met any young, single guys there, and even if there was one, it would be awkward.”

  “What about church? You go to Riverdale with your aunt and uncle, don’t you?”

  “Well, I will when I have time. So far, I’ve been busy or just want to relax and sleep in after working all week. I plan to get there soon, though.”

  “I don’t know if there are a lot of single guys there, though,” Brittany said. “You could try a church in St. Cloud.”

  That made Eleanor laugh. “Go to church in St. Cloud in hopes of meeting a man? I’m not that desperate.”

  Brittany settled herself more comfortably on the stool, considering the question. “You could go out to a nightclub. That’s what single people do, right?”

  “Not me,” Eleanor said. “Do you?”

  “No, but I have a fiancé.”

  “Can I borrow him for Valentine’s Day?” Her question was only half in jest.

  “No!” Brittany slapped at Eleanor’s hand. “You can not. Oh! What about a dating website?” Brittany picked up her phone and tapped on the screen. “There are Christian ones. You might find someone there.”

  “He doesn’t have to be a Christian,” Eleanor said, “as long as he’s not something weird.”