“Geo?” she asked, her sultry lips pouting as she spoke.
“That’s me. And you must be Sasha?”
She nodded, extending a hand in his direction. Her dirty blonde hair shimmered in the early evening light.
Geo brushed her hand aside and wrapped his arms around her back. “Sorry, I’m a hugger.”
“That’s quite all right.” Sasha kissed his cheek as he stepped back and lingered by his side. “Shall we go in?”
Geo bowed slightly and thrust his hand toward the front door of the museum. “After you.” He smiled when Sasha grinned. She was gorgeous.
“Where would you like to start?” Sasha asked as they entered the large hall.
Geo shrugged. “Contemporary art?” He named the first grouping he saw on the map.
“That’s this way.” Sasha led him off to the right, and Geo admired the sway of her body. He wished she’d remove the trench coat, but she was probably still chilled from the outdoor air.
“Tell me about yourself,” he said as he kept close by her side when they walked. “How did you end up with a matchmaker?”
“I get that question a lot,” she replied. “I just feel like it’s a waste of my time to be out looking for men.”
Geo frowned. He wasn’t sure if he liked that answer, but her beguiling blue eyes were sucking him in. He was attracted. Plain and simple. But the softness of her voice had nothing on Penny’s deeper tone.
“And you?” she asked as they entered the contemporary art section.
“It’s sort of an experiment.” He didn’t want to lie, but he couldn’t be honest about it, either, and still get what he needed from the date.
“I don’t take you as the type that has trouble finding women.”
Her half smile and full lips were any man’s dream. “True,” he admitted. “But I must not be very good at it or I’d have found the right one by now.”
“What do you think of this piece?” Sasha stopped in front of a canvas with paint splattered about the middle.
“Honestly?”
“I want nothing less.”
Geo took a deep breath and leaned in toward the artwork. “I think it looks like something my nephew did for me last month.”
Sasha threw her head back and laughed. The tinkling sound echoed throughout the hall and startled Geo with its melodic tone. “You know what, Geo? I agree. Let’s get out of here.”
…
“She said you enjoyed being outside.”
Penny’s date met her at the zoo at six. It wasn’t normally open that late, but there was a special event, and the matchmaker had pull and got the two of them in. She must have realized that a dinner date wasn’t going to cut it for Penny. It wasn’t about the location for her, but rather the man sitting across from her in that case.
“I do. I have an office job, and though I get out some, I’m mostly stuck inside, so it’s nice to be out when I can.”
Penny liked Jack the moment she saw him. He was tall, fit, and had intentionally messy hair. He’d probably taken time styling it that way, but it looked like he’d just rolled out of bed. His black-rimmed glasses made him look smart and interesting, and she had already enjoyed the first part of their date. Something about him looked familiar, but she’d brushed that off and tried her best to just enjoy her time with him.
“Is this your first…match? If you don’t mind me asking?”
Penny tried not to laugh as she pictured Geo storming over, enraged about her date as he played his role in getting her out of the situation.
“Second, actually.”
“So the first wasn’t marriage material?” Jack asked.
Penny rolled her eyes. “You could say that. Do you really want to hear about it?”
“If you don’t mind telling.” Jack took her hand as they walked through the exhibits. She noticed his fingers were soft whereas Geo’s had more of a rough feel. Most of the animals were sleepy, but that hadn’t stopped their conversation from flowing well.
Penny detailed the date for him, complete with the beard in the soup. She left out the part where Geo carried her away from the restaurant, but he didn’t seem to notice the story didn’t have an ending. By the time she got to the cracker crumbs in the beard, he was doubled over laughing.
“This makes me so glad you’re the one who met me here at the zoo.”
“Because I don’t have facial hair?” Penny grinned as he chuckled even harder.
“You’re actually my first match, and I can’t imagine going for a second one after what you went through.” He stopped walking and turned to her, taking her other hand in his as his laughter faded. “Thank you for giving this a second chance.”
“Of course.” Penny felt comfortable with him immediately, and they spoke as if they were long lost friends. She needed to stop comparing the way his hands felt to Geo’s. She was on a date with Jack. Not Geo. “I knew there had to be good men on her roll, too, or she wouldn’t still be in business.”
“Did he offer you dessert and just pull some leftovers from his beard?” Jack laughed as he dropped her second hand but kept a tight hold on the other one.
“Things didn’t get that far.” Penny pointed to the prairie dogs popping up and down out of their little holes. “I love those guys.”
“Me, too. I have some family out in Wyoming near this big open field covered with mounds of prairie dogs.”
Something clicked in Penny’s mind as she slowly pulled her hand from Jack’s fingers. “Did you say Wyoming?” A memory was forming before her, one of her as a little girl, looking into prairie dog holes similar to what Jack described.
“Yeah, I grew up in the city, but it was always the best time when the family would gather out on the farm.”
“Ever have any reunions there?” Penny swallowed as she wiped her hand against her leg.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, we did—wait—” Jack turned to Penny, and she saw the realization on his face that matched her own. “Penny…are you…”
Penny nodded. “I think so. And you’re little Jackie.”
Jack shook his head at the old nickname. “I haven’t heard that in a long time.”
“Probably a good twenty years, right?”
“So this makes us…”
Penny shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think my grandmother’s sister is your…”
“Father’s mom.”
“We’re cousins of some sort?”
“Not first cousins or anything.” Jack was wiping his own hand on his pant leg, as if holding hands was equal to incest.
Penny laughed nervously. “Does it really matter? Second, third, whatever, it’s all relative, right?”
Jack started to laugh. Penny frowned for a second and then joined in.
“Can you believe this? Of all the people in the entire city, Ivana Date set us up with each other! Does she think we want dates that badly? We’re willing to go out with one of our own?” Penny gasped for air. As bad as her first date had been, at least he wasn’t a relative—as far as she knew. There were a lot of cousins out there, most of which she probably hadn’t even met. Jack was one she remembered as a gangly kindergarten kid who had caught bugs with her and hunted prairie dogs one summer during a family reunion. Of course, he looked nothing like he used to now that he was grown.
Penny wiped her eyes. “Thank goodness you mentioned the prairie dogs.”
Jack nodded. “Or we might never have figured it out.”
“Until the wedding.” Penny envisioned her family running into Jack’s at the rehearsal dinner and the relationship coming to light at the last moment.
“That was a close call.”
“I don’t think Ivana is going to get a five-star review from me.” Penny couldn’t believe this woman called herself a professional. When she caught her breath, she was surprised at
the sense of relief she felt. Things had been going well with Jack, cousin or not, but she had been struggling with one item, whether she wanted to admit it or not. He wasn’t Geo.
Penny and Jack spent the rest of their few hours together enjoying the animals at the zoo, catching up on distant relative gossip, and commiserating over yet another failed dating escapade. Penny hoped it was the first—and last—time she’d ever date a cousin.
Chapter Fourteen
Penny smiled as she thought about her first impression of Jack at the zoo. She’d thought he was cute, and she felt like she’d known him forever. Apparently, she wasn’t so far off. She could only imagine what Geo was going to say about this debacle. They’d texted a few times about his coming over to work on the articles that evening. She was sure to get all the gritty details then, but how much should she reveal about her own dirty past? Kissing cousins? They hadn’t kissed, granted, but it was a nickname that would surely stick if Geo grabbed ahold of it.
Penny wondered how she was going to continue on with the dating itinerary. Things were going from bad to worse. Either the men were friend-zoned, bearded and food-laden, or distant cousins. The only good part was Penny was relatively certain things could only get better from here.
“Any juicy details?” Josie appeared in Penny’s doorway just as Penny was about to get down to work. She had a way of knowing when Penny’s mind was already off track. “Matchmaker, right?”
Penny nodded. “Ivana Date.”
“You want a what?”
“The matchmaker. That was her name.”
Josie raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“Yup. And she’s about as good as she sounds. I had the blind date that nightmares are made of a couple of nights ago, and then last night, well, that’s a long story.”
“Sounds like your article could be very intriguing this week.”
“It certainly could be.”
“Are you looking forward to next week?”
Penny picked the itinerary up from her desk and ran her finger down the list, glad for the change in topic. “Picking a man up the old-fashioned way. What does that even mean?”
Josie leaned on the doorframe and shrugged. “The bars?”
“I don’t drink.”
“You don’t have to. You just have to go where the men are and lay down a few lines.”
“Like, ‘Are you okay? Because I thought I just saw you fall from heaven.’”
“You’ve heard that one before, I bet.” Josie laughed. “It was the one my husband used on me when we first met.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
Josie shook her head. “Apparently, it works…sometimes, at least. It was that or his killer smile and piercing blue eyes.”
Penny smiled. She was happy Josie met her match. She hoped she was on the right road to finding her own—for her sake and for the cover story she so badly wanted. But so far, things weren’t looking good in that department. Wait until her sisters heard about her bearded date. She’d wanted to call and update them, but it would be much more fun to tell them in person, and their next bowling adventure was coming up in a few days. She just had to get through writing this latest article first.
“I’ll let you get back to it.” Josie disappeared, and Penny stared at her computer screen. She looked up statistics on matchmakers in general and how often matches occurred as well as how often those matches led to an actual marriage and long-term relationship. She’d be armed with facts when Geo came over that night.
…
Geo raised his hand to knock on the door then lowered it. He felt a bit torn after his date with Sasha. She was the ideal woman in every way. The matchmaker told him something had to give, but with Sasha, he didn’t see any compromises being made. The only thing she was lacking was the fact that she wasn’t Penny. And that kept crossing his mind, no matter how many times he tried to push it away. He should have had his mind on Sasha all evening, but something kept Penny in the back of his thoughts. After he’d saved her from her dating horror story the other night, she’d been all too grateful, and they’d shared quite a moment. The look in her eyes just before she’d kissed him…
He knocked on the door and shifted from foot to foot, waiting for Penny to answer. When the door swung open, he was surprised by how refreshing her clean face and disheveled short hair was to him. “Rough day?” he asked.
“With all these dates, it’s hard to get spruced up so often. I didn’t figure you’d mind.” She stepped back and let him enter, and he surveyed her baggy sweatpants and fitted T-shirt.
“I don’t.” He was in jeans himself, and he wouldn’t have admitted it had she asked, but he found the casual look appealing on her.
They settled into what had become their spots on her couch, and George saw her laptop, already out and ready.
“Before we get started, I think we need to download.” Penny curled a leg beneath her and dug her toes into the cushion between them.
“Download what?” George asked, removing his coat and tossing it behind him on the couch.
“About our dates. You go first.” Penny had a coy grin on her face, like she had something to share.
Geo frowned. Did she just want to ignore what happened between them? Well, he could do that, too. “You know about the first date.”
“The one who wouldn’t stop talking.” Penny nodded.
“Then I met Sasha at the St. Louis Museum of Art.”
“And?” Penny leaned forward, looking for more details than Geo was willing to give.
“I was impressed.”
“She was cute?”
“More than cute.” Geo avoided looking at her as he described Sasha’s dirty blond hair, banging red dress, and classy trench coat.
“Sounds nice.” Penny spoke in a slow voice that caused Geo to take a peek at her out of the corner of his eye. Did the details bother her at all? “How long were you at the museum?”
“Maybe twenty minutes.”
“What? It sounded like you found her attractive. What went wrong?”
“Nothing. We just realized looking at art wasn’t first date material for either of us, so we got out of there.”
“And went where?”
Geo glanced at Penny and found her wringing her hands. So maybe the details did bother her…
“We just walked around and talked. Eventually, we found a little café and got some cocoa and muffins. She was actually really interesting. I felt like we could have great conversations in the future.”
“And how did it end?”
Geo paused in his story. He wasn’t sure if he should tell Penny the rest of the events of the night. They were colleagues and semi-friends, but they had also shared a few highly personal moments that confused things, and he didn’t want to make things more awkward between them than they already were. Especially right before they got down to work.
“Come on, Geo, did you kiss her?”
Geo sighed. “I did.”
“And?” Penny urged, her voice cracking. “How was it?”
“It was…” Geo felt brief elation at Penny’s reaction. She definitely didn’t like the idea of him kissing someone else. Then he thought back to the taste of her red lipstick as it transferred from her lips to his. Sasha kissed like she looked, and she was everything most guys would want. She’d looked the part, and the things she said lined up with what Geo thought he wanted in a woman. It wasn’t his fault if he didn’t feel anything when they’d touched, was it? “It was nice.”
“Nice? That’s it? Was it soft?” Penny chuckled beside him.
Geo regretted making so much fun of her so-called soft kiss with Pete. Looking back on it now, she’d gone beyond her comfort zone telling him about it, and he’d made light of Pete’s style.
“I wouldn’t call it soft.”
“What, then?�
�
Penny was pushing him, and he was pretty sure she knew it. “It was…different.” Geo glanced at Penny in time to see the creases around her mouth fold into a frown. He liked seeing her smile better. “It was almost like, I don’t know, kissing my sister or something.”
Penny’s face fell as she turned a shade of red that Geo had yet to see on her skin.
Geo grabbed the opportunity to change the subject and address her obvious discomfort. “And how was your second date? I already know how well the first one went.”
Penny frowned and avoided his gaze. “His name was Jack, and I felt like I’d known him forever.”
“Does that mean he didn’t have facial hair?”
Penny snorted. “Not a stray chin hair in sight. And I loved his messy hair, and he had these intelligent-looking glasses, too.”
“Okay, so it was attraction at first sight.” Geo was grinding his teeth awaiting her answer.
“I didn’t say I was attracted to him,” Penny blurted as she met Geo’s eyes for the first time since the topic of her second date arose.
“Okay…so…what did you do?”
“We met at the zoo.”
“After work? Isn’t it closed?”
“Normally, but there was a special event, and they let us in to browse around. The matchmaker pulled some strings.”
“Of course she did. Were the monkeys awake? They’re the best.”
“It’s not like he pushed me up against the cages or anything. We just held hands.” The defensive nature in Penny’s voice caught Geo off guard.
He held up his palms. “Whoa, whoa, I didn’t say anything. Does that mean he didn’t kiss you, then?”
“Kiss me?” Penny made a face. “No, why would he do that?”
“Well, it was a date…” Geo had never seen her so flustered, and he had to admit, she was adorable.
The Dating Itinerary Page 13
