by Kristi Rose
“You should pluck your eyebrows or should I say eyebrow.” Lydia drew an imaginary line straight across her forehead.
“Knock, knock,” Bill said. As the company’s spiritual advisor, it was his job to make sure there was peace among the staff as much as it was to make sure the couples who got matched together were well suited. Spiritually. For the staff he’d known to use humor, specifically knock-knock jokes. Elizabeth only hoped he didn’t do this with the clients.
“Please, not a joke.” Lydia covered her eyes.
“Knock, knock.” Bill said again with more force.
“Who’s there?” Mary always took the bait.
“Babylon.”
“Babylon who?”
Bill watched at Lydia, who peeked at him through her fingers before answering, “Babylon with hurtful words all you want, but cuts require time to heal.”
“That’s not even a joke.” Lydia crosses her arms over her chest.
Aware that the meeting was moments from deteriorating, Elizabeth went for a distraction. “Mary, is everything set for the mixer Friday?”
Their biggest event yet, an outdoor concert and BBQ, mixing happily matched clients with new ones and (hopefully) potential ones. Only three days were left to weed out problems.
Elizabeth made a note on her pad to stop in and speak with Lottie Lucas, her bestie and the caterer for the event.
Mary consulted her two calendars before answering, “Yes.” She kept both for fear she’d mess something up.
“We have two video shoots today. One is that dreamy Captain Wentworth. I do love a man in uniform. I hope he’ll let me do his hair at least.” Lydia sighed dreamily.
“That’s unlikely, and remember you are not allowed to date the clients,” Elizabeth reminded her. Not that it was written explicitly in their handbook, but it was pasted into the one they gave Lydia and Kitty. A fortuitous insight on Jane’s behalf.
“Whatevs.” Lydia tossed her curls and rolled her eyes. She was quite masterful at it, really. “One day, I’m going to get a real job in a city much bigger and better than this one. Watch and see.”
Everyone had one such person in their family, Elizabeth assumed. The obnoxious-know-it-all-entitled one. Yes, that was their Lydia. As much as it annoyed her, she tried to remember this Lydia-monster was the product of two things: being the baby of the family and their mother’s influence. A diva in her own right. What couldn’t be overlooked was that Lydia continued to ride it so long. It couldn’t be easy not having all your expectations met.
Mary snorted. “One day you’ll go to a bigger city, you say? That’s not hard to do. Meryton had less than five thousand people.”
Lydia ignored Mary. “While Lady Catherine is here, see about moving the company to New York? Why you two picked here—”
Elizabeth didn’t bother to raise her voice. “Privacy. That’s why.” They’d repeatedly had this conversation. Not one to flog a dead horse, Elizabeth stood and effectively cut off further discussion. “We’ll not be suggesting a move to anywhere. Is that all, Bill? Any other bombs you’ve got up your sleeves? I’d like to get back to my desk.”
Bill pantomimed pulling his sleeves wide and peered up them. He then faced Elizabeth and shook his head.
“Jane,” Elizabeth whispered. “You think she’ll give us a hard time about how nearly our entire family works here?” This was not a new concern for Elizabeth and something she’d voiced before. More than once.
“No, we’re the owners. We don’t need to run every decision by her.” She shrugged. “I’m not worried, Lizzy. Everything works out.”
Normally, Elizabeth would roll her eyes at such blind optimism, but Jane had been that way since she was in diapers.
They walked back to their shared office in silence. Though Jane immediately took a seat and got to work, Elizabeth stood at her desk staring at her to-do notes but not really reading them, all the while flipping her phone over repeatedly in her hand.
“I don’t like this, Jane. Why didn’t she tell us she was coming?” Elizabeth plopped into her chair then lifted the top of her laptop and started searching her emails for answers.
“I think she may have.” Jane ducked behind her laptop.
Instantly, Elizabeth’s attention was back on Jane. “I beg your pardon?” It was not like Jane to forget something of this magnitude.
“She asked me to talk to you about automation so we could all speak about it at a later date.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Something niggled at her memory pushing to come forward.
“I tried, remember? A few weeks ago at Mom and Dad’s?”
What she was kindly not saying was how Elizabeth nearly bit her head off at the mention of turning their beloved company into something like those online sites. If she didn’t have to have a website she never would.
“I’d told her we talked, and that it wasn’t in MM’s future. We continue to believe in human factor.”
Elizabeth nodded and returned to stare at her computer.
Pulling up a search engine she typed Mr. Darcy, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. A few articles down she found what she was looking for, the Wiki page for William F. Darcy, billionaire. Who, oddly enough, couldn’t take a picture that wasn’t blurred.
It didn’t take much reading to get a bead on what was really going on.
“We’re in trouble, Jane. Mr. Darcy is not coming to learn more about us. I’m willing to wager this year’s salary he’s coming to automate us or…worse.”
“What do you mean by worse?”
“Darcy, according to this page.” —she turned the computer so it faced Jane— “is a business broker.”
Jane leaned toward the screen. “Why is he fuzzy? Are there no quality pictures of him?”
“Perhaps he’s so unsightly the camera breaks every time it snaps a shot of him. This is what we get.” Elizabeth tapped the grainy, squint-inducing images.
“What do you mean by ‘business broker’?”
“I mean that’s a gentle way of saying corporate raider. Most of The Bourgh’s assets come from what he’s acquired and sold.” Now more than ever, her Star Trek reference seemed more relevant. Too bad no one in her family got it.
“Why would he be coming here?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “Why indeed?”
Meryton Matchmakers was a rising matchmaking company, and it was her matchmaking company. And Jane’s, of course. Too bad Lady Catherine de Bourgh struggled to remain the silent partner she was intended to be. In today’s world, where people made up and broke up on social media, a TV bachelor sparred pencil-thin, fame-seekers against each other for his affections, and wooing was done though text messaging, Elizabeth and Jane figured Cupid could use a hand.
Ironic as it might be, Elizabeth wasn’t a believer in love. At least not the love she saw today. No, she was worse than nonbelievers; she subscribed to the ideal that each person had one true soul mate. The odds of finding them were exceedingly impossible, and though Elizabeth knew she might never find that person, she couldn’t imagine going her entire life not having tried.
Hopefully, what they did here everyday at MM narrowed those odds some, and she wasn’t about to let money get in the way of people, like herself, finding the love of their lives.
Books also by Kristi Rose
The Cowboy Takes A Bride
* * *
The No Strings Attached Series
The Girl He Knows
The Girl He Needs
The Girl He Wants
* * *
The Meryton Matchmakers Series
Meryton Matchmakers Book 1
Meryton Matchmakers Book 2
Honeymoon Postponed: A Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Adventure
Matchmaker’s Guidebook - FREE
* * *
The Second Chance Short Stories can be read alone and go as follows:
Second Chances
Once Again
Reason to Stay
He’s the O
ne
Kiss Me Again
or purchased in a bundle for a better discount.
The Coming Home Series: A Collection of 5 Second Chance Short Stories Love Comes Home
About the Author
Kristi Rose was raised in central Florida on boiled peanuts and iced tea. Kristi likes to write about the journeys of everyday people and the love that brings them together. Kristi is always looking for avid readers who are willing to do beta reads (give impression of story before edits) and advance readers who are willing to leave reviews. If you are interested, please sign up for her newsletter. Aside from her eternal gratitude she also likes to do giveaways as well.
Come hang with Kristi at any of the following:
@krosewrites
KristiRoseBooks
www.kristirose.net
[email protected]
Care to leave a review?
Dear Reader,
I am so honored that you took the time to read my book. If you feel so inclined, I would appreciate it if you left an honest review. You don’t have to say much. Put some stars (or one star) and a few words. Some folks don’t even put words. Reviews go a long way in helping authors in all sorts of areas including marketing.
Thanks again. You’re a rock star!
Have a great one.
Kristi
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