Betwixt Two Hearts (Crossroads Collection)
Page 85
“That is hilarious.” Jordan plopped down next to him and stuck out her hand. “Are you praying, or am I?”
If I have to hold your hand… “It’s your house, how about you?” Now that he’d spoken the only words required of him, Heath folded his hand around hers and begged God for the ability to focus on whatever she said.
God either said no, or his powers of ignoring the Almighty had risen to nearly blasphemous heights. Please? Just one moment of clarity?
“Um, Heath?”
“Yeah?”
“Look, you seem like a nice guy, but I’m not going to sit here and hold hands all through lunch—especially since mine might turn black and fall off before I can finish up that sandwich.”
A look confirmed it. He’d gripped her hand with everything he had, and even still, he had to consciously order himself to unclasp said fingers. “Sorry.”
“Is that just the ‘effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man’?”
“Not sure.”
Jordan took a couple of bites before she remembered drinks. “Soda, water, or coffee?”
“Any chance you have milk?”
Within seconds, she’d pulled a carton from the fridge and poured a glass. “It’s whole…”
“My favorite. Thanks. I got used to drinking milk with sandwiches, and…”
A text message came through on her phone. Jordan didn’t even glance at it, but Heath saw the name. “Hey, that’s your mom. Mind getting it? I don’t want her deciding I’ve kidnapped you and sending that cop. He’s too good with those handcuffs.”
Once assured that all was well, Ann disconnected, and Jordan slid from the chair. “Excuse me—need a twenty-second break. Be right back.”
Heath watched her go, trying to figure out what she meant. Understanding hit just before a door closed. Laughter commenced. His sandwich bite flew across the room and hit the fridge, leaving a nice mustard and mayo blot on a child sponsorship card. He was still trying to clean it off and chuckling when she returned.
“Good one, huh? I’ve called it that ever since that night. Makes for discretion in the right circumstances.”
“Can’t wait to tell Selby.”
“I can’t wait to meet her.” Then, as if their first date hadn’t been a classic Heath disaster, she said, “What are you guys doing for dinner?”
He groaned. “I have a date. In New Cheltenham. With ‘Kendyll.’ That’s –‘yll,’ not ‘A.’”
“And you don’t want to go now that you’ve talked to me more and—”
“I never wanted to go in the first place. And when I saw the Betwixt list this morning, I wanted to go even less.”
She froze. “Wait. Betwixt. Like the .com? That matchmaking service?”
“Is there more than one?”
Eyes closed, sandwich resting on the plate, Jordan sighed. “Yeah. I signed up after our date. Forgot all about it. I bet I’ve got matches that I’m supposed to review or something.”
“You do.”
The eyelids flew open. “How do you know?”
Heath just pulled out his phone, pulled up the matches, and slid it across the counter. “Um… there.” Her astonishment should have been insulting.
“When did you sign up?”
“The next day.”
A smile formed. “You’re telling me that within their twenty-four-hour window, not to mention within twenty-four hours of our date, they matched us up?”
“I don’t know. I thought I just signed up for one match, but I must have clicked something for more, because a few weeks later, all of a sudden, there were ten in my box.” Heath sighed. “There’s something sickly, horribly, cruelly ironic in me sitting here able to talk to you about something when I am stuck with a date with someone I don’t want to go out with in just a few hours.”
Silence returned with a vengeance. Once more, the knowledge that animals with smaller bodies and faster metabolisms see in slow motion became of paramount importance. Heath stuffed bite after bite into his mouth to stop himself from saying a word.
“Heath?”
“Hmm??” Thank you, Lord, for a full mouth.
“Two things.” Jordan’s sidelong glance made him ready himself for another bite. “First, don’t go.”
The half-chewed bite forced its way down. “What?”
“The date. Don’t go.” Jordan winced and stared down at her plate. “Is that awful of me to ask?”
Without waiting for her to change her mind, he zipped a message through the app, canceling the date. “I hope not, because that means I’m doubly awful. Can’t wait to see what Selby says when she sees I canceled.”
“Is she going to be happy that the sorta secret admirer thing kind of worked?”
Kind of worked? Is that good or bad? Heath opted to stick to facts. “I didn’t tell her I was doing it.”
“Good.”
“What was the other thing?”
She grinned and readied her sandwich for a bite. “What animal facts are lurking in you right now? I can see them.”
“You should not ask me that question.” Perhaps it was the way she cocked her head and looked at him—almost like a puppy. Perhaps. More likely, it was the way her freckles drew him in and held his heart captive—silly as it seemed, even to himself. Regardless, Heath began.
“Well, did you know some animals see in slow motion…?”
Not for the first time, Selby pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped out a scathing message for Heath. She also deleted it—also not for the first time. Instead, she continued pacing. Up one side of the room, across, down the other, sidestepping a large planter and a chair.
“I’m about to rearrange this room!”
A key in the lock told her she might not need to. Sure enough, Heath entered and hung his coat on the hook. “Hey…”
“You’re supposed to be on a date. With Kendyll.”
“About that…”
“Heath!” Selby stood before him, arms folded over her chest, her best glare fixed on him. “You promised to do this.”
“So that I’d be able to have a date without going on and on about bladders, right?”
“Don’t mock me, oh my brother. I have our father’s little finger at my beck and call.”
He shoved hands in his pockets, but instead of looking properly fearful and chagrined, Heath just shook his head. “I’m telling Dad that you’ve become a call girl.”
“I’m telling Dad that you called me a woman of loose morals.”
Heath only made it through another, “I’m telling Dad” before he broke down laughing. “Joke’s on you, little sis. I spent all day with Jordan.”
Her tirade began and fizzled from an, “I don’t—” to an equally intense, “—what did you say?”
“You heard me.”
“She’s on your list. You went out of order?”
Everything shifted then. An unbelievable story emerged—one of a cool guy who set up a secret admirer plan that actually worked, of coming to the girl’s rescue, of creating an elaborate scavenger hunt, and of eating lunch and seeing a movie together. More than all that, though, one thing stood out.
“You flirted with her.”
The tiny smile he fought to hide said it all. “Maybe a little.”
“And she didn’t run screaming?”
“She only ran from me once, but that was just for a twenty-second break.”
A knowing nod followed that one. Selby flopped onto the couch and hung her head over the chaise end, looking up at him upside down… ish. “You started in on the chimps, didn’t you?”
“Twice, but that’s not what caused the twenty-second break.”
Selby sat up and peered at him. “You emphasized that. Why?”
As he repeated himself, twice, Heath pulled out his phone, flipped through it for a moment, and passed it to her. The screen showed them standing before a movie poster. He might not notice it, being somewhat insecure about women for obvious reasons. However, Selby did.
Selby couldn’t help herself. “Hey, Heath.”
“She’s cute, isn’t she?”
“She’s more than cute. That’s the most naturally beautiful I’ve ever seen. Does she even wear makeup?”
He shrugged.
“Should’ve known you wouldn’t know. Anyway, look at that picture.” When he stared at it much longer than she’d intended, Selby groaned. “She’s leaning. She leaned, Heath!”
“Yeah, well I’m not the ‘Everlasting Arms.’”
“I—” The unsuppressed snicker stopped her. Selby eyed the photo again, and her thumbs hovered over the keyboard. “Is her number in here?”
“Um… why?”
“You owe me.” Selby scrolled until she found Jordan Aylward and typed out a message.
Selby: This is Selby. Did Heath really spend all day with you?
When her phone pinged, and Heath reached for his again, Selby knew she’d been had. “You knew I’d do that.”
“I know you well, little sister.”
The pacing began as she read the text message and zipped one back. Minutes later, she and Jordan switched to phone calls. Between replies to Jordan, Selby shot remarks at Heath, beginning with the need to rearrange the living room. “It is not conducive to angst-riddled pacing.”
“Rearrange away. Meanwhile, I’ve got to call Ann. I promised.”
It took three seconds after Selby heard Heath say, “Hello,” to fully realize what had happened. “My brother had a date—one that went well enough that his date got my number.”
Jordan’s snicker sounded much too elegant for such a word. “He’s a great guy—so far.”
Loyalty and deep love reared equally fearsome fangs and hissed out a threat. “He is. Period.”
“And I’m sure he’ll prove that to me.”
“He could prove it at the gala on the ninth…” Selby shot Heath a gloating look before adding, “He needs a date.”
“We’re already talking about it.”
All hope of rational and mature thought or actions dissolved with those words. She squealed like a cheerleader voted prom queen. Twice.
As much as she’d hoped Arnie wouldn’t hear about her encounter with Gary, when she arrived Monday afternoon, the old guy looked ready to spit nails. “Are you okay? Floyd called—so did Gary. He apologized. Well,” Arnie amended. “They both did.”
“It’s okay. He was just looking out for his father. Went about it in all the wrong ways,” Jordan admitted, “but it ended well enough.”
“Floyd said Gary’s worried about all this.”
“That’s true, but it’s good. Don’t you think? I mean it shows that he’s concerned about his father.” Desperate for a change of discussion, Jordan swept her gaze over the room. “No offense to your Helen, but this room is so much cozier and more comfortable now. I really like it.”
Arnie blushed. “I was thinking about taking out the wallpaper and the sconces, but if you like it…”
“I’d like it even better without. We can do that if you want.”
“I’ve been taking up a bunch of your time. I thought I’d hire Floyd.”
Thinner ice she’d never trod. “Um… Arnie? Let me do it. First, Floyd’s not going to take your money, and if you let him do it for you without paying him, it’ll convince Gary that all his concerns were valid. And second, I’d like to because I like you.”
“Can we take the sconces down now. Like… now, now?”
She’d gotten those and the brass butterflies down before Arnie started in on Gary and Floyd again. If she didn’t do something, he’d talk himself out of a relationship he needed. “Hey, Arnie?”
“Hmm…”
A glance over her shoulder showed him fingering a silk plant. Please let it go. Jordan waited until he looked at her before she nodded. “Yeah, that should probably go. Floyd’s family might have allergies.”
“It’s fake.”
“Dust.” And that settled it for her. “I wonder what Floyd and his wife do for Valentine’s Day.”
Arnie started in on a story about it being the day Floyd proposed. “They recreate that date every year. The restaurant they went to has changed a dozen hands over the years. It was Italian back then. Became a family restaurant, a Chinese, sushi, and it’s Italian again.”
“I suppose they’ll go the Saturday before, then…”
“No.” The hopes that soared crashed down to earth again when he said, “They’ve got other plans that night.”
That would be it. She’d give him the tickets to the Valentine’s Day ball, he could give them to Floyd, and maybe Gary would see that Arnie wasn’t out to get anything but a nice relationship with his son out of the whole deal. Perfection.
“They invited me over for dinner. Wendy called just before you came. I didn’t say yes, but if you think it’s okay…”
“Call her right back and say yes, Arnie. You can always change your mind between now and then. But if you don’t, you’ll always regret not knowing.”
Arnie sank into his chair and closed his eyes. “He’s a good man, my son.” As he had every time he’d said the word, a sigh escaped with “son.”
“I agree. I checked him out, remember? Church website—he’s always doing something for someone. His wife posts loving things about him on her wall and his. They raised three kids who love him fiercely.”
When he reached for the oversized phone that would never fit in her back pocket, Jordan relaxed and went back to removing unnecessary bric-a-brac. And I just have to figure out what to do with those tickets since I can’t ask Heath to the thing. Not for the first time, she wondered if she’d be going to the gala with him or her mother. Either way, I get to dress up and see him in his element. And maybe that’ll loosen him up more. It might be worth the dung beetle to get to see him more relaxed.
A smile formed just as Arnie set aside the phone again. He demanded to know what it was. Much to her disgust and delight, Jordan couldn’t keep it in. “Would you be surprised to learn that I had a sorta secret admirer?”
“I’m more surprised that you don’t know of many not-so-secret ones.”
“I thought you sent him—at first. But then I saw him standing behind Gary. They really look a lot alike.” Arnie looked skeptical. “No, really. They’re about the same height, same build, both have dark hair and beards…” She pulled out her phone and found the picture to show him. “See…”
“Nice looking boy. Odd that beards are back after being gone for so long. He keeps his nice and trim. I like his face.”
You sound like that angel in It’s a Wonderful Life. But then, I like his face, too.
“Where’d you meet him?”
With that question, Jordan told it all. From the first flutters of attraction when they met in the lobby of a Rockland restaurant and her walking out, to signing up for a dating service, the secret admirer stuff, him rescuing her from Gary, and the coincidence of Betwixt, and the movie. Most of the movie, anyway.
“And he works for your ma?”
“Isn’t that weird? And we signed up for the same matchmaking service.”
Arnie eyed her. “You skimmed over that movie awfully fast. What aren’t you telling me? What movie?”
She named it.
“Romance, huh? Sounds promising. Helen and I saw Dr. Zhivago on our first date.” Arnie eyed her. “So, did he hold your hand?”
Face hotter than a sunburn in August, Jordan shook her head. “No…”
“But?”
“He wanted to.”
That red face flamed even hotter as Arnie slapped his leg and bellowed, “Atta girl, Jordie!”
A snowstorm warning had sent him to check on all of the animal departments—just in case. Tilly and Mosi were doing well, the arctic animals had been given access to indoor
s and outdoors, and the tropical animals had all been settled in for a “long winter’s nap.”
With nothing else to do but get trapped there or go home, Heath forwarded anything he might be able to work on from home, grabbed his stuff, and hurried out to his car. Once he’d started the engine and the seats began warming, he pulled out his phone and zipped Jordan a text message.
Heath: Heading home. You safe?
Her reply came in the form of a call. “Hey, I’m home early. Arnie sent me home. He’s getting soft and selfless now that he has family to badger him.”
“I’d hoped this one would miss us. I thought we could meet for coffee and I could practice my conversational skills on you, but…”
“Alive is better. Hey, your sister. How much do you like her guy from Betwixt?”
Just as she asked, an alert popped up on his phone. Heath settled his phone in the dash cradle and headed for an exit. “As much as I can with the little time I’ve spent with him. She likes him, though. Selby wasn’t looking for anyone, so it’d have to be someone pretty special to pique her interest. Why?”
“I won tickets to the Valentine’s Ball. I would have asked you, but I figured you have to go to the gala, don’t you?”
“I was going to ask if you’d decided…”
Jordan didn’t give him a chance. “My next thought was that maybe Kevin?”
“You’re better with names than faces.”
“Yeah… anyway, I thought maybe he’d like to take Selby. I’d give them to him if he wanted them.”
Heath grinned. This would be perfect. “I’ll give you that number if you give me a promise to go to the gala with me.”
“What about my mom?”
What Ann had to do with it, Heath couldn’t imagine. “What about her?”
“I’m supposed to be her date.”
Troublesome, but not unsurpassable. “And if I get her to agree?”
“Fork over the number. That’s not even a dare—or a question. It’s a done deal. She’s positively giddy about us going to the movies. So is Arnie.”
A car slid toward him in that slow-motion spin that signaled a loss of control. Heath braced himself for impact, but the car stopped a few feet away. A slow exhale preceded his response. “Add Selby to the ranks of the thrilled. She said I should make the movies all my first few dates until I’m comfortable. Wish she’d thought of that four weeks ago. It might have saved a lot of money and mortification.”