Wishing for Wonderful: The Serendipity Series, Book 3

by Bette Lee Crosby

  “Consider it a vacation,” John said. “Call your high school buddies, go to the mall, hang out and have some fun.”

  “I’ve already called everybody I know,” Lindsay said. “Donna Bobbs moved to Ohio, and she left without even saying goodbye. Can you believe it? And it’s not just Donna, it’s everybody. All those friends I had in school,” she reminisced sadly, “every single one of them has gotten married or moved away.” She gave her head a rueful shake and asked, “How can such a thing be possible?”

  John shrugged. “It happens, but it should be easy enough to find new friends. You’ve got to get out and start socializing. Go to the gym; there’s plenty of young people there. I’m sure you’ll meet—”

  “I don’t go to the gym anymore,” she interrupted sadly. She didn’t mention how she feared the gym was a place where she’d meet another man like Phillip.

  “I don’t know if this would be of any interest,” Eleanor said, “but do you think you would consider a temporary job?”

  “Sure,” Lindsay answered.

  “My nephew’s receptionist is out on maternity leave. I spoke with him last week, and he mentioned that he needed someone to fill her spot.”

  “You think he’d consider me?”

  “I’m sure he would, if he hasn’t already hired someone.”

  “Wow,” Lindsay said. “That would be awesome.”

  “I’ll call and find out,” Eleanor offered.

  “Awesome,” Lindsay repeated. For the first time since she’d met her, Lindsay looked straight into Eleanor’s face and smiled.

  The fact that Lindsay had actually smiled at her spurred Eleanor on, and in the middle of her pork chop she got up and made the call. When Eleanor returned to the table she was smiling. “He said to stop by any time tomorrow.”

  “Awesome!” Lindsay repeated for the third time. She asked what type of business it was, although the answer really didn’t matter. It was only for a few months, and a job was a job.

  “Matthew’s a veterinarian.”

  “He works with dogs?”

  Eleanor nodded. “Dogs, cats, horses, all kinds of animals. He’s got one customer who comes in with a black pot-bellied pig. Can you imagine?”

  “Does he have rescue dogs?” Lindsay called to mind a picture of the dog she’d been looking for.

  “Rescue dogs?” Eleanor questioned.

  “Homeless dogs, dogs up for adoption.”

  Eleanor wrinkled her nose and thought for a minute; then she shook her head. “I don’t think so. He mostly treats sick animals. I can’t say whether or not he does adoptions.”

  Lindsay settled back in her chair. “I’ve got a good feeling about this.”

  Eleanor couldn’t help but notice how the smile on John’s face was nearly the same as the one on Lindsay’s.

  ~ ~ ~

  I can honestly say this is the first glimmer of hope I’ve seen in the Eleanor-Lindsay relationship. Oddly enough this turn of events was not of my making, but looking at the future I can see it might be advantageous.

  You, like most humans, probably think every person has a single perfect match. Not so. Unlike Life Management events, perfect matches are something I control. If circumstances change I’m open to suggestion. A job change often means a new match pool, so if I see a better alternative I’ll go with it. Of course I’ve got to get The Boss’s okay, but He pretty much knows what’s gonna happen before I think to ask. Since Lindsay hasn’t picked up on any of the matches I’ve offered, her love life is in a holding pattern.

  Eleanor and John are another story. They’re already committed. There is no potential of a different match for either of them, so before I give Lindsay the go-ahead on anything I’ve got to take care of them. They don’t know it yet, but there are a lot of problems ahead. Right now Eleanor thinks Lindsay is the major stumbling block, but she’s wrong. Ray is.

  The night Eleanor told him about her relationship with John, Ray was like a wild man. Eleanor chalked it up to him having his father’s hot-headedness, but it’s a whole lot more. That young man is a pot ready to boil over. I saw what was in his heart at the Labor Day cookout and let me tell you, it was not a pretty sight.

  I was hoping when Ray saw the Grays’ house, he’d realize John didn’t need his mother’s money. Regretfully, that was not the case. Every now and then I come across a human with a mind so closed up that not even I can look inside. Ted Bundy was like that. And on occasion, Eleanor’s son can be the same way. All along I’ve believed with Ray there was hope, but that hope is looking slimmer and slimmer. I’ve got to find a way to get inside Ray’s head and change his way of thinking. If I don’t, Eleanor and John are in a very precarious position. Young or old, no couple can withstand the weight of such family pressures.

  Three weeks from now Ray is going to have a knock-down-drag-out argument with his mother, and he’ll tell her that if she marries John she’s as good as dead to him. I can’t let that happen. Parent-child love is not really my responsibility, but if I’m to save this match I have to do something.

  It’s beginning to look like I’ve got the Lindsay situation under control, but when it comes to Ray I’m stumped. I’m tempted to turn him over to Life Management, and I would if I thought I could get away with it. Unfortunately, they’d just kick him back. Not his time, they’d say. Deal with it yourself.

  Eleanor and John have the kind of love I’ve built my reputation on. If it weren’t so perfect I’d give up on it, because there are way too many complications. I’m one entity with seventy-eight thousand, four hundred and sixty-three matches to do this year alone. How can The Boss expect me to give every falling-in-love-human my undivided attention?

  The truth is I could use a vacation. If I asked for one, you know what He’d say: Love never takes a vacation. That might be true, but I’m thinking maybe a day off…

  ~ ~ ~

  As far as Lindsay is concerned, the situation is starting to take a turn for the better. For weeks she’d been avoiding Eleanor, squirreling herself away in her room, sleeping late, looking at magazines or playing on her laptop. Even when her stomach was grumbling for food, she skipped breakfast because it meant sitting opposite Eleanor.

  This morning was different. She was awake before the six-thirty alarm buzzed, and by seven-fifteen she was dressed and ready to go. When she walked into the kitchen, Eleanor was making coffee.

  “Mmm, smells good,” Lindsay said. She poured herself a cup of coffee and purposely sat in the chair alongside Eleanor. They talked for almost twenty minutes but not one word of the conversation was about John, nor was it edged with that all too familiar cynicism. Had I not seen that it was Eleanor sitting next to Lindsay, I could have easily believed the girl was talking to Amanda or one of her other friends. Eleanor told Lindsay everything she knew about Matthew and the Kindness Animal Clinic, and Lindsay, in turn, told Eleanor about the dog she’s been searching for.

  “I just know I’m meant to have that dog,” Lindsay said.

  “I felt the same way when I found Canner,” Eleanor replied. “I named him Canner because that’s where I found him, behind a bunch of garbage cans out back of the school.”

  “How long did you have Canner?” Lindsay asked.

  “Well, now, let’s see. When I found him I was eleven years old and when he died I was seventeen, but I’ve got no way of knowing how old he was when I found him.”

  “Wow, six years. I’ll bet you really loved him, didn’t you?”

  “Goodness gracious, yes. When Canner died I cried for months on end.” Eleanor sighed. “My stepdad was real nice and offered to buy me a new dog, but I told him no dog could ever replace Canner. That was like trying to replace a member of the family.”

  Hanging onto every word, Lindsay said, “Did you have any sisters or brothers?”

  Eleanor shook her head. “No, but I surely did wish for one. Being an only child can be pretty darn lonely.”

  “It was the same for me!” Lindsay cut in. “I had this
two-foot tall doll, and I used to pretend she was my sister. I wouldn’t even eat dinner if Genevieve wasn’t sitting at the table.” Lindsay gave a long regretful sigh. “I hung on to that doll for years and took it with me when I went off to college.”

  “Do you still have it?”

  “No,” she said sadly. “One night we had a big party at the sorority house, and the next morning Genevieve was gone.” Lindsay was about to explain how she’d posted reward notices for Genevieve’s return, but the clock chimed eight and she had to get going.

  Eleanor walked to the door with her. “You have the directions, right?”

  “Unh-hunh.” Lindsay nodded, then she climbed into her car and drove off.

  As Lindsay drove, she found herself thinking about Eleanor. Not the Eleanor who was constantly clinging to her father’s arm, but a young girl who was lonely and sad, a girl whose real father had been replaced by a stepdad. At least he was nice, Lindsay thought.

  Then she began wondering what had happened to Eleanor’s real dad. Caught up in those thoughts, she didn’t see the clinic’s sign until she whizzed past the driveway. Once she’d passed it she had to drive four more blocks, circle around three blocks and come back on the other side of the road. The second time around she carefully watched for the turnoff, and when the sign came into view she pulled into the parking lot.

  The Kindness Animal Clinic. The name alone caused Lindsay to conjure the image of someone her father’s age, a man with silver hair, soft hands and a Santa Claus stomach. She was wrong on all but one count: he did have soft hands.

  Matthew Mead had dark eyes, dark hair and broad shoulders. He looked like the type of man she’d meet at the gym. She mentally removed his white lab coat and pictured him in a skintight tee and jeans. He was definitely the type. In days gone past, Lindsay knew, she would have fallen head over heels in love with just such a man, but not now. Contrary to what people think, bad memories don’t bury themselves. They continue to bleed into every waking moment, like a gash that refuses to heal regardless of how much Neosporin is slathered onto it.

  She dredged up her interview smile and extended her hand. “Lindsay Gray. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  His smile mirrored hers: friendly, pleasant enough, but definitely not an invitation to something more. He didn’t lead Lindsay back to his private office but motioned for her to have a seat right there in the reception area. He sat across from her and leaned forward with his forearms resting on his knees.

  “So,” he said. “Tell me a little about yourself.”

  Lindsay fumbled through her purse, pulled out a copy of her resume and handed it to him. “There’s not much to tell,” she said nervously. “I’ve had two years’ experience dealing with customers in the bookstore, and although I’m interested in animals—dogs in particular—I’ve never worked with them before.”

  “You don’t need veterinary experience for this job,” he said. “It’s basically sitting behind the counter, greeting customers and entering their information into the computer.”

  “Oh, I have computer skills,” Lindsay said.

  “Good,” he replied. “Then you’ve got the job.”

  Lindsay looked at him with a wide-eyed expression. “That’s it? You’re not going to interview other people or check my references?”

  He laughed and it was a warm laugh, the kind she might expect from her father. “Aunt Eleanor’s word is enough for me. If she says you’re good, you’re good.”

  Lindsay was near speechless. “Great,” she stammered for want of something better.

  “If you want you can start today.” He motioned to the empty reception desk. “As you can see I’m without a receptionist.”

  This was more than she’d hoped for. Lindsay tucked her handbag in the cubby beneath the reception desk and followed Matthew through the hallway for a tour of the building. There were three examination rooms with steel tables in the center, jars of dog treats on the counters and various posters on disease prevention. There was also an operating room, which Lindsay hoped to never again enter, and in the far back of the building there was a long room with stacks of cages along one wall. Some of the cages were large, some were small, but only three had an animal in them: two dogs, one cat.

  As soon as they walked into the room both dogs jumped up and began barking. The cat seemed oblivious to it all. Lindsay looked at the dogs. Neither one was the dog she’d been looking for.

  “Are these the only dogs you have?” she asked.

  Matthew nodded. “Right now. In addition to veterinary services, we board animals for our regular customers. Sophie,” he pointed to the Yorkie, “is going home Friday. Butch will be with us until the end of next week. Another two dogs are coming in on Thursday, plus three dogs and a cat on Friday.”

  He explained that part of Lindsay’s job was to take each of the dogs for a walk twice a day. He reached into the closet and pulled out a freshly ironed lab coat, a match to what he was wearing.

  “You might want to wear this instead of your suit jacket,” he said. “There’s a lot of animal hair around here.”

  Lindsay donned the lab coat and hung her jacket in the closet.

  They returned to the reception room. Matthew booted up the computer then stepped aside and relinquished the chair. “You’ll catch on faster if I let you do it,” he said. Once Lindsay was seated, he began a step-by-step tutorial of how to access each pet’s file and what information she had to enter for visits or new appointments.

  It wasn’t terribly different from the computer program Lindsay used at the bookstore, but catching a whiff of musky aftershave when Matthew leaned in to guide her to some new reference point was definitely different. Howard hadn’t taught Lindsay the Big Book Barn system, she’d taught him. And no matter how close Howard came, he’d never had anything more than the scent of dust and forgotten words.

  After they’d gone over most everything, Matthew looked at his watch.

  “Perfect timing,” he said. “Max Cohen is coming in for a checkup at eleven; go ahead and pull his file.”

  One step at a time, Lindsay went through the process then after she’d entered the date and the reason for visit she turned to ask if what she’d done was right. She didn’t realize Matthew had squatted down in back of her so he could watch the screen as she worked; when she turned they were nose to nose. Close up she could see tiny green specs in his eyes, something she hadn’t noticed right off.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t realize—”

  “No, no,” he answered. “I shouldn’t have been looking over your shoulder that way.”

  At that very moment, the bell over the door tinkled and a woman with a large German shepherd walked through the door.

  “Hi there, Max,” Matthew said. He came from behind the counter and bent to scruff the dog’s head.

  Cupid

  Pauses & Posters

  Subtlety. I’m a master at it. Of course I’ve had centuries of dealing with women like Lindsay, so I’ve learned how to handle them.

  Attractive women come with a built-in problem. They can’t tell lust from love. A man with lust is not necessarily a man in love. This is something a woman like Lindsay finds difficult to understand. Instead of waiting for her perfect match, she picks up the gauntlet and forges ahead, making mistake after mistake. The result, unfortunately, is always the same.

  According to plan Lindsay’s where she needs to be, but it’s too soon for anything else. That’s why Eloise Cohen got into a heated argument with her mother-in-law and stomped out of the house five minutes early. If I hadn’t stepped in Lindsay’s over-the-shoulder glance would have led to something more, something she isn’t ready for just yet. Soon maybe, but not right now.

  Until she quits thinking about Phillip and all her other mistakes, she’s better off with a harmless flirtation.

  ~ ~ ~

  At the end of that first day, Matthew suggested Lindsay might want to wear jeans or something that wouldn’t pick u
p stray hairs like her wool suit. She nodded and then walked out of the Kindness Animal Clinic with a broad smile. Obviously he’d taken notice of what she wore.

  The next morning when she sat down at the breakfast table with Eleanor, Lindsay was wearing an especially flattering blue sweater and jeans that cost one hundred and thirty-eight dollars.

  Eleanor handed her a cup of coffee and smiled. “You look lovely.”

  “Why, it’s just jeans,” Lindsay replied. “Matthew told me to wear something comfortable.”

  “How was it?” Eleanor asked. “Did you like working there?”

  Lindsay nodded, “Yeah. I like Matthew too.” She pulled back the smile making its way onto her face and added, “I mean, he’s a really nice man to work for. Not my type, but really nice.”

  “Your type?”

  “Yeah, you know, dating-wise.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t really thought of—” Eleanor was going to say she’d never imagined Lindsay and Matthew together. It was a lie, but a well-intentioned one.

  “It’s not that he’s not handsome,” Lindsay replied quickly. “He is. He’s very handsome; the kind of guy most women would go for.” A shadow of regret flickered across her face. “It’s just that I’ve had experience with his type. A woman who goes after someone like that is just asking for a broken heart.”

  “Are you talking about my nephew, Matthew?”

  Lindsay sipped her coffee and nodded. “Unh-hunh.”

  “Matthew?” Eleanor laughed out loud. “Why, he’s not that type at all. He hardly ever dates. He’s so wrapped up in his business he’s forgotten a man needs to have a personal life.”

  “Really?” Lindsay smiled. She then helped herself to a fresh-baked biscuit and slathered it with butter.

  When she arrived at the Kindness Animal Clinic a few hours later, Lindsay noticed that Matthew’s hair was a lot lighter than she remembered. He was also a bit taller than she’d originally perceived. For the remainder of the day Lindsay found herself watching Matthew. When he squatted to talk to a big dog, she craned her neck to see the round of his back and the slope of his shoulders. And she began to find excuses to wander back to his office and ask a question or seek a word of advice.