by Debbie Mason
“Wait, so you don’t want to marry me?”
She didn’t even try to hide her distaste at the suggestion. “No, I’m in a relationship. My partner would kill me if she knew what I was doing, but you understand, don’t you? Your mother’s just like mine.”
After the particularly crappy few days he’d had, it looked like things might be turning around. First, getting Shay cleared of the charges, and now this. “Listen, if someone outbids you, and your mother and mine fold, keep bidding. I’ll cover it.”
“Perfect.” Her brow furrowed. “You’re a great guy. If I was straight, I would totally be willing to spend half my trust fund to hook up with you. How is it that you’re still available?”
“Thanks, and it’s a long story.”
“And not a happy one by the looks of you. I’m sorry, and I was sorry to hear about your mom too. I hope it’s not as serious as she—”
Okay, that didn’t sound like she was talking about his parents splitting up. “I’m not sure I know what you mean. Are you talking about my parents—”
She got an oh, crap look on her face. “Yes, of course that’s what I was talking about. Hopefully it’ll all work out. I better run. See you at the auction!” She hurried to her truck.
Logan ran up the path beside the cottage. Jogging on the spot, he checked his pulse while returning Victoria’s wave. “She left in a hurry. What did you say to scare her away?”
“It’s not what I said, it’s what she said. Is there something going on with Mom that I don’t know about?”
Logan shrugged. “She’s been pretty happy the past few days on account of you resigning from the FBI, and she was even happier to learn you and Shay are done. But she’s acting weird this morning. She asked Jasper to move her out of the tower room. She said something about it being haunted and that she didn’t get any sleep last night.”
“None of that sounds like what Victoria was talking about. Are you staying out here or coming inside?”
“Are you in a better mood than you have been for the past few days?”
“The auction is in three hours, so what do you think?”
“I’ll pass on the invite. But as your big brother, I’m going to give you a word of advice—get your head out of your ass and talk to Shay. Anyone can see that you love her. Why torture yourself? And us.”
“You’re right, I do. I’ll never love anyone like I love Shay. It wouldn’t be easy, but if she asked, I eventually would’ve forgiven her for not listening to me and rescuing her uncle and putting herself at risk because that’s who she is. Her bravery and her strength, they’re just two of the many reasons I love her. But she didn’t ask. She’s always the one to walk away. I’ve finally realized I love her more than she loves me.”
“Did you ever think she just has a hard time showing it? She hasn’t exactly had great role models in her life.”
“I’ve thought of that. But if she really loved me, she would’ve put up a fight. She fights for everyone else, just not us.”
“You know what, you’re right. You deserve someone who will fight as hard for you as you fought for her. I hope you find that someone, baby bro. But don’t worry if you don’t. I’m sure Mom will.”
“I know you and Connor think this whole matchmaking thing is hilarious, but just wait until she sets her sights on one of you.”
“The way things are looking, we’re safe for at least another year.”
* * *
It looked like Cupid had taken over the Salty Dog. There wasn’t an inch of the bar that hadn’t been pinkified, glitterfied, or heartified. Including the topless bartender who wore a bow tie with sparkly red hearts. “Gerry, would you put on a shirt, please?”
“Sorry, no can do. The boss says this is tonight’s uniform. For the men at least,” he said, shaking the cocktail maker in time to Bruno Mars’s “Just the Way You Are.”
“Gerry, I am the boss.”
“Sure, you are. How about a Valentini?”
She opened her mouth and then closed it. Somewhere in the bar Cherry was calling, “Next!” Shay followed the sound of her voice and then wished she hadn’t. There was a row of shirtless older men, several of whom were friends of her uncle waiting in line. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked when she reached Cherry, who was at that moment spraying Shay’s uncle’s best friend with a fake tan.
Cherry leaned back on the sky-high heels of her boots to whisper, “They’re not what you’d call buff, so I thought I’d give them a little help. Everything looks better tanned.”
“No, everything would look better covered up. With a shirt. Don,” she said to her uncle’s best friend. “Put that phone down now. No pictures, do you hear me? That goes for all of you. If Charlie hears about this from anyone, you’ll have to answer to me.”
“Why don’t you go have a pink champagne Jell-O shot or try one of the desserts from Truly Scrumptious? The cherry chocolate chip brownies are to die for, and they’ll put you in a better mood,” Cherry said.
“The red velvet blossoms are real good too,” Don said.
“So is the sweetheart martini.”
“We are going to make a killing tonight, Shaybae. Just you wait and see. Oh, you’re on at seven.”
“On what? Behind the bar, you mean?”
“No, Libby’s working the bar with Gerry. You’re working the pole.”
Several of the men sounded like they were choking, and two of them were definitely laughing.
“She’s joking,” Shay said to the men in line, and under her breath to Cherry, “Please tell me you’re not advertising that there’ll be strippers performing tonight.”
“Exotic dancers,” she corrected while continuing to spray Don, and then she looked toward the door and her mouth fell open. She turned to Shay and nailed her with the spray tan. “Sorry, sorry,” she blurted, distractedly wiping at the front of Shay’s white shirt. “Finn’s wife is here. Do you think she heard about him locking me in the examination room with him?”
The line of men turned to look at the attractive and very obviously pregnant blonde, who entered the bar with two other women. “He didn’t. They weren’t locked in the examination room together. She’s joking. Tell them you’re joking,” Shay said to Cherry.
“I’m joking.” She tugged on Shay’s arm. “They’re coming this way, and Kitty Gallagher and Rosa DiRossi just arrived too.”
Shay didn’t get a chance to respond or to wonder what was going on. “Shay, I’m Olivia Gallagher.” The blonde extended her hand with a warm smile. “And you probably know my sisters-in-laws Ava and Sophie.” She gestured to the attractive dark-haired women, who Shay remembered from growing up in Harmony Harbor.
“Hi, yeah, I do.” She smiled at Ava and Sophie and shook Olivia’s hand. “Nice to meet you. This is my friend Cherry.”
They’d just finished the introductions when Kitty and Rosa reached them and took Shay by either arm. “You can’t have her, she’s ours.”
“I’m your what?”
“Our golden ticket,” Rosa said.
“Nonna, she has no idea what you’re talking about,” Sophie said to her grandmother before looking at Shay. “The Widows Club has a bet on tonight’s auction. They’ve all sponsored candidates, and if theirs wins the date with Michael, they win the bet.”
“No, well, yes, but there’s much more at stake than two hundred dollars—that’s the prize for our candidate winning,” Kitty explained to Shay. “What we want is the grand prize, the title of Matchmaker of the Year.”
“Nice. Okay. I wish I could help you out but—”
Cherry cut off Shay. “How do you win the title?”
“Michael has to not only go on a date with your candidate, but he also has to marry her.”
“You better pick someone else if you want to win,” Shay said. The bar had suddenly gotten hot and her heart was beating a little too fast. She couldn’t think of Michael dating someone else, let alone marrying them, without feeling like she was goi
ng to throw up.
“But we thought you loved him?” Michael’s grandmother said, looking confused.
“She does, and she’s now officially your candidate,” Cherry said to Kitty and Rosa, handing Don the spray tan and shooing the older men on their way.
“Our candidate,” Olivia corrected. “That’s why we’re here.”
“No, we’re here because our husbands and Logan sent us. They want you to put Michael out of his misery,” Sophie said.
“I wish I could help. I really do. But Michael made it clear we were over. He doesn’t want me anymore. If you don’t believe me, ask him yourself.”
“What about you? Do you love him?”
* * *
“Ms. Angel, this is a surprise,” Jasper said from where he stood at the entrance to the tastefully decorated ballroom wearing a black suit. Unlike the Salty Dog, it was the audience that provided the color and glitter.
“I know. I’m surprised too.” She looked behind her. “I seemed to have lost my entourage. Do you know what I’m supposed to do?”
He held out his arm. “I’d be delighted to escort you to a seat. The festivities have already begun, but lucky for you, I have one available at the front. And may I say you look beautiful tonight.”
“Really? I was afraid to look in the mirror.” She glanced down at the body-hugging, low-cut red dress and black heels with red bottoms that she wore.
As soon as she’d agreed to come, the women dragged her down the street to Tie the Knot, where Jenna and Arianna awaited her. While Cherry did her hair and makeup, the other women hunted for her outfit, and Jenna gave her a pep talk. Her childhood best friend assured Shay that Michael was her one, which Shay knew. At least she knew he was hers. In a matter of minutes, she’d know if she was his.
“Trust me, you do,” Jasper assured her over the women who started clapping and cheering. Several stood up and whistled. “And I believe I’m not the only one who thinks so.” He smiled and lifted his chin at the stage.
She’d avoided looking in that direction. From the women’s reactions, she knew Michael was there. As soon as she saw his face, she’d know. She’d never been more terrified to look at someone in her life. At Jasper’s careful nudge, she slowly lifted her gaze.
No wonder the women were going nuts, was her first thought. Michael looked like he belonged on the cover of People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive issue. He wore a black tux that fit his tall, well-built frame to perfection. The collar of the white shirt unbuttoned, his hands resting loosely in the pockets of his pants, he was the picture of easy elegance and supreme confidence.
She raised her eyes to a face that had inspired her to dream of a life bigger than the one she’d thought she deserved. Michael’s impossibly blue eyes locked with hers, and she held her breath for so long the room began to spin. And then his eyes filled with an emotion that took away her breath and her fears, and she sagged against Jasper. She’d never been more relieved in her life. Or at least she had been until she caught a glimpse of Michael’s mother to the right of the stage.
“Don’t worry, miss. I have it on good authority Maura has seen the light.”
Shay didn’t have time to contemplate Jasper’s comment. He settled her in a chair in the front row beside an attractive blonde.
The woman smiled and offered her hand. “Victoria.” She leaned in to whisper, “I saw the way you two just looked at each other so I want you to know, if I didn’t have to do this, I wouldn’t. No hard feelings, but Michael and I have an understanding. For tonight and the next month, he’s mine, and then he’s all yours.”
Stunned, Shay was still staring openmouthed at the blonde when the bidding began, which meant by the time she recovered from her shock, the bidding was already at twenty grand. Twenty grand? Were they flipping insane?
“All right, ladies, let’s open our pocketbooks a little wider,” the auctioneer said. “Remember, not only do you get a night with our delectable bachelor, the money raised here tonight goes to Michael’s favorite charities. Second Chance Inc., an organization that helps to reintegrate ex-convicts back into society, and the Steppingstone Foundation, which provides programs for underserved students so that they have a better chance of going to college.”
Shay didn’t think she could love Michael any more, but upon hearing that he supported Second Chance Inc., she jumped to her feet. “Eighty thousand dollars.”
She had a moment of satisfaction when the women around her fell quiet in shock. However, Michael’s mother ensured Shay’s satisfaction didn’t last any longer than a moment.
Maura Gallagher grabbed a paddle and shot to her feet. “A hundred thousand dollars.”
“For God’s sake, Mom, you can’t buy a date with me. I’m your son.”
She held up a finger to silence him and walked to Shay. “Do you love my son?”
“Do you think I’d be standing here, looking like this”—she gestured at her outfit, made-up face, and out-to-there hair—“and offering to spend eighty thousand dollars just to get five minutes alone with him if I didn’t?”
Maura gave her a pointed stare.
Shay sighed. Obviously, the only way to satisfy Michael’s mother was for Shay to bare her soul right here in front of half of Harmony Harbor. “I’ve never loved anyone as much as I love your son, and I never will. I’ve spent the last ten years trying to make something of myself, trying to be someone who deserved someone like him. I know in your eyes, I never will be—”
She hadn’t realized Michael had come down off the stage until he took her hands in his. “You have and will always be the best woman for me. I don’t care what anyone else thinks. You’re it for me.” He looked at his mother. “I love you, Mom. But don’t make me choose between you and Shay because I’ll choose her. Every single time.”
“I wasn’t planning to make you choose, Michael. But I am your mother, and I want you to be with someone who loves you even more than I do. I believe you do, Shay, so you can have my date with my son. And while I know it can never be enough, as an apology for the pain I caused you all those years ago, I will be making out the check to Second Chance Inc. in your name. I hope it will go to someone who has shown the same strength and commitment as you have into turning your life around.”
Shay offered Michael’s mother her hand. “Thank you.”
Kitty stood up. “Michael, darling, I don’t want to rush you, but you are eventually going to ask Shay to marry you, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Grams, I am. Would you like me to do it now?”
“Yes, please. We have a title on the line, you see.”
Michael looked down at Shay. “If I leave for a minute to get your ring, you promise to be here when I get back?”
“They’d have to drag me away. But you don’t have to leave,” she said, self-consciously tugging the chain from under her dress. “I, um, pawned the other ring you gave me, and I wanted something of you with me when I left town, so I kind of took this.” She held up his great-grandmother’s ring. “You did say you were going to give it to me…”
He went down on bended knee. “Shay Angel, you didn’t need a piece of me. You’ve always had all of me.”
Olivia Davenport has finally gotten her life back together. But her past catches up to her when Olivia learns that she’s now guardian of her ex’s young daughter. With her world spinning, she doesn’t have time for her new next door neighbor, no matter how handsome he is.
An excerpt from Primrose Lane follows.
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Finn Gallagher stood on the garden path calling after the willowy redhead running after his dog. “Dana, don’t chase him! He thinks you want to play!”
If he wasn’t concerned about Miller getting lost in the woods because some crazy woman wouldn’t listen, Finn might take the time to figure out what it said about Dana Templeton that she was gardening in a pink shirt and a pair of khaki slacks stuffed into beige rubber boots decorated with pink flowers. He thought it was seriously weird that so
meone coordinated their wardrobe to dig in the dirt.
She whipped around, the pink floppy hat falling off her head. If he didn’t know better, it appeared her shoulder-length red hair was about to do the same.
“You don’t understand. He has my gardening gloves!”
“Good God, woman, I’ll buy you another pair! Just stop running after him.” He blew out an annoyed breath when she ignored him and continued to sprint down the path. He didn’t know what ticked him off more—that she wouldn’t listen to him or that he now had to chase after her and his dog.
“It’s okay. Don’t strain your leg, Finn. I’ll go,” his sister-in-law offered.
Huh, he didn’t think anything could have ticked him off more than Dana and his inability to run like he used to, but his sister-in-law had just proved him wrong.
He started after Dana. “Thanks, but I’ve got this. I’m not an invalid, you know,” he said to Sophie. Then realizing he was being hypersensitive, he added over his shoulder, “My overprotective baby brother would have my head if he knew I let you run a five-mile marathon when you’re pregnant and not feeling well. Go home and put your feet up, have a nap.”
Sophie called after him, sounding a little sheepish, “It was just an excuse. I’m feeling fine. I didn’t want Kitty and Tina to know we’re having an early Mother’s Day celebration with Rosa today.”
Their grandmothers had a long-standing feud. He didn’t know what it was about or if they’d just taken up where their DiRossi and Gallagher ancestors had left off. According to local folklore, the original feud had started sometime in the seventeen hundreds. Apparently his grandmother had started this one by insisting that Sophie’s mother, Tina, stay at the manor. A move that was guaranteed to tick off Rosa, who wasn’t exactly her former daughter-in-law’s number one fan.
“I’ve got your back, but you might want to…” He lifted his chin at the dark-haired woman crouched on the path picking up the flowerpots that Miller had bowled over. Because he wasn’t paying attention, Finn’s foot landed awkwardly on the uneven woodland trail. His pained grimace turned into an eye roll when he heard Miller’s playful bark and Dana’s panicked cries for his dog to stop before he dies.
