Perfectly Matched: ...And the Rest of the Matchmaking Chef Books

by Maddie James

  Today wasn’t the day on his list, but heck, why put it off? And seeing Patti go skittering off out of the gym after her glance met his, well, it seemed like the appropriate time.

  He had to talk to her, set some things straight. Now.

  Assuming she’d gone to her classroom, he moved down the hallway. Empty. His sneakers squelched on the newly mopped and waxed floor as he walked. Her classroom was about halfway down on the right. He arrived; jiggled the door handle. Locked.

  He gave a quick glance inside. The room appeared empty. About to turn away, a slight movement across the room caught his eye. He angled his gaze toward the rear of the room. Yes.

  There. A foot. Twitching and moving about. Behind the cabinet.

  “What in the hell.”

  Jim reached into his pocket for his keys, found the master, slid it in the lock, and quickly slipped inside the classroom. As quiet as he could muster, he shut the door and locked it behind him. With soft footfall, he crossed the room to where he stood directly in front of Patti, who at that precise moment inhaled deep and let out a big sob.

  “What in the world.” He crouched before her.

  She jumped, flattened herself further into the corner, and wailed, “Jim! What are you doing here?”

  “Just trying to figure out what is going on with you. Come on out of there, Patti. We need to talk about this.”

  Her head gave a brisk shake. “Nothing to talk about, Jim.”

  He moved a little closer. “Why are you crying?”

  She swiped both hands over her face in a downward motion. “I’m not crying. Who said I was crying?”

  Stifling a chuckle, he reached for her hand, grasped it, and pulled her to her feet as he stood. “I said you are crying, and you are.”

  Steadying her in front of him, much like he would do one of his students when he wanted their full attention, he peered down into her face and said, “Don’t move.”

  Surprisingly, she obeyed.

  He reached into his pocket for a handkerchief, looked into her eyes as he wiped away fat tears from her face and beneath her eyelids, and said, “Now if those aren’t tears, I don’t know what are.”

  Patti sniffled. “Oh, all right. I was crying.”

  “Why?”

  She glanced off. “Because.”

  He caught her chin between thumb and forefinger and pulled her back to look at him.

  “Because why.”

  Sniffling, again.

  “Patti…”

  “Oh, geez, Jim. This is so embarrassing. I’m serious. I don’t know what to do here. I mean, we kissed. I can’t work here now.”

  He studied her for a moment. “Perhaps that’s not a bad idea.”

  She froze. “What?”

  “I said, perhaps that’s not a bad idea.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about. I’d have to quit, Jim. Find another job. Move to Alaska maybe.”

  She was so cute, and bewildered, it was very difficult for him to not chuckle at her sincerity, even though it was ridiculous. Slowly he moved closer to her. She backed into the corner. He took another step. She was flat against the wall now.

  “Jim. Stop. We…”

  “Patti, I want you to transfer to the middle school. You have a middle school certificate, right?”

  She blinked. “Yes, but…”

  “Put in for a transfer.”

  “Why? Oh, shit, Jim! I swear; it was Suzie, not me! It was not my idea. Please, please don’t make me quit my job because of some silly thing. I swear, I didn’t know she had invited you…it wasn’t my doing. Don’t make me quit because I was an idiot. It was all Kate’s idea to begin with, the matchmaking thing instead of the online dating services and all, so really, please don’t make me…”

  Jim had quite had enough. He crowded closer, into that tight space between cabinet and wall, and looked square in her eyes. “Transfer, Patti, because I have this rule. I don’t date my teachers, and that complicates things because I don’t want to stop kissing you.”

  Chapter Seven

  In all of her days, Patti was pretty darned sure she had never seen a more serious look from a man, not like the one she was seeing right now coming from Jim.

  “Oh?”

  “Oh.”

  “Jim, this is all sort of weird and confusing.”

  He didn’t respond, but what he did do confused her even more. His hands went to her waist and he snaked them around to her back, pulling her snug up against him. She had to admit that felt pretty darned enjoyable, for Jim was tall and nicely built, and he had fine broad shoulders that she had never really noticed before, until now, and, the real unsettling thing was, that his gaze had traveled to her lips, and he was watching them move as she spoke.

  She couldn’t help it. She licked those lips while he was watching.

  “Forget weird,” he said, and she closed her eyes as he moved in for the kiss.

  A kiss that they weren’t supposed to be having since there were “rules.”

  A kiss that felt quite possibly like the best kiss she’d ever had in the world. His lips were firm, moist, and all over hers. He tasted like wood smoke and salt, and every time those lips scraped over hers, her tummy turned to jelly and quivered, sending little sparks down to her toes, and all she wanted to do was get closer and put her arms around his neck, which she did, and thread her fingers through his hair, which she did, and let him kiss her more and more and more and more and more….

  After a moment of feeling like she was stealing kisses in the barn back of the football field, she moved her hands to his face and pulled away.

  “Jim,” she said. “I need to go.”

  She hated the defeated look on his face, and it seemed his stature dropped about four inches at her words. “Patti, please… I know this kissing thing is new, but we’ve known each other forever, and, please, let’s just…”

  This time she placed her fingertips on Jim’s lips. “I need to get over to the school board office before it closes. Today is the last day they are open before the holidays. And if I want to put in that transfer to possibly get into the middle school by January, I need to get moving.”

  With a dumbfounded look on his face, Jim stepped back and let her pass. Patti went to her desk and retrieved her purse, then ran back into his arms for one last, lingering kiss on the lips, then turned and left.

  ****

  Watching her go was like witnessing a tornado pass through your neighborhood. You weren’t sure in which direction the thing was going to go, whether you should take cover or run, or simply just stand there in fascination unable to take your eyes off of what was happening.

  Jim decided he didn’t have time for any of it. Patti was gone, headed off to the school board office. Asking for a transfer?

  He wanted to smile. There was some part of him that wanted to be elated. Her revelation meant that she was interested in him. And he, well, of course he was interested in her.

  Wasn’t he?

  But shit. She was going to ask for a transfer. In the middle of the school year. And they would ask a reason. And what would she say? Surely she wouldn’t say it was because they had been kissing in her classroom, would she? Certainly she would make something up. Right?

  Suddenly his nerves made him a little queasy.

  What would she make up?

  Teachers don’t just leave, or ask for transfers in the middle of the year, unless something is really, really wrong with their job, and he didn’t need something like that coming down on him and the school.

  He couldn’t afford rumors. And the receptionist at the board office was eager for gossip and could squeeze information out of a turnip if she wanted to….

  Oh, hell.

  Jim raced out of Patti’s classroom and toward his office. He glanced at this watch. Patti had been gone only a few minutes. If he was quick about it, he could get to the phone in his office before she got there. Racing hell-bent-for-leather, he turned the corner on those newly waxed tile f
loors, skidded around a water fountain, and made a beeline for his office where he shut the door real quick, ran to his phone, and made the call.

  He relaxed when the person on the other end picked up the phone, and he could say,

  “Hey, it’s Jim, and I need a huge favor.”

  Chapter Eight

  Too busy to think much about it, Patti sailed through Tuesday and worked her ass off all day on Wednesday. The carnival started at five o’clock in the evening with a chili supper until six. After that, the short Christmas caroling session would begin, with the games and other fun stuff to follow.

  Exhaustion was Patti’s middle name, but she kept on going like the Energizer Bunny. No time to stop. No time to think.

  About kisses.

  About Jim.

  About stupid transfers to the middle school.

  What had she been thinking?

  For forty-eight hours she’d swept it all out of her mind. For the first twenty-four, she’d been elated. Jim’s kisses were to-die-for and made her feel really tingling and special inside. Over the next twelve, she was beginning to falter. And all day long today, she was very much regretting having even said anything to Jim about asking for a transfer.

  Because, well, she never made it to the school board office. She’d gotten caught at the light on Jacobs and Main, and by the time she had gotten there, they’d closed up shop early and had gone home.

  But she’d never told Jim that. Because she’d not talked to him, not that she was avoiding him. And she assumed that he assumed she had gone and done it.

  That confused feeling settled over her gut again.

  What should she do? Tell him the truth? That she didn’t make it there in time? Because in all honesty, she wasn’t even sure that she wanted to transfer to the middle school. She loved her fourth graders!

  But then if she didn’t transfer, and if she told him what she’d not done, she wouldn’t be able to sample his kisses anymore, and in all honesty, she wasn’t quite ready to give them up yet.

  They were too new and needed exploring.

  Later, after the chili and the caroling, the fun stuff began. There were face painting booths, snow cone machines, lots of games with the kind of crap that kids loved, and moms hated, for prizes, a dunking booth—brrrr—and various and sundry other kinds of fun to be had by all.

  Patti had just put out the sign on her booth when Suzie and her family stepped up in front of her.

  “Hey, Patti, I just wanted to say…”

  “No worries, Suzie. I’m fine. I don’t really know what happened on Saturday night, but it’s okay. I guess you’re off my case then officially, huh? Since I sort of screwed things up the first time. ‘Cause, you know, I don’t wanna ruin your track record.”

  She watched Suzie glance up to her husband, then back to her. “Oh, um, Patti, of course we’re not through! We barely got started. In fact, I may even have a blind date for you, if you’re up for it.”

  What? No. Not this, not now….

  “Blind date?” She glanced about, having said that a mite too loud, and she had no clue who was standing around her. In fact it sort of made her nervous to talk to Suzie out in public, at all, her being a matchmaker and all. Were people talking? Thinking that she had to stoop so low…

  “You mentioned New Year’s Eve. I have a bite, if you are interested. Small group of my friends, and we have a singleton, a male of course, and well, if you would like to round out the group. We’re having dinner at the Lodge and then a private party in one of the suites. Let me know, and I’ll make all of the arrangements.”

  So was it as simple as that? Apparently.

  She bobbed her head. “Okay. Well, let me think on it. Thanks, Suzie.”

  The chef smiled back, then herded her family off in another direction. Patti returned to her booth, finally ready to get things started, and tacked up her sign good and straight on the left support.

  “My God, I cannot believe you are doing that!”

  Patti spun at the words, only to face Kate, who was staring aghast at her sign. “What’s wrong?” she asked her.

  “Patti, you’ve got to be kidding me. This is the kids’ Winter Carnival. A kissing booth?”

  She squared herself in front of her friend. “Yes. Why not?”

  “Why not? Why? You can’t pass out kisses here like some hooker on the street. This is a school and community function! There are kids here. What were you thinking?”

  What was I thinking? It’s charity, that’s what.

  “You don’t understand, Kate, it’s not what you think. Just hang around for a few minutes, and you’ll see.” She glanced over Kate’s shoulder. “In fact a line is already forming, so if,” she grasped her upper arms and scooted her aside, “you could slide over to your right just a little bit…”

  There. There they were. A huge big long line of them. Men.

  All wanting kisses.

  Was this not Heaven? And could there possibly, in that long line of men waiting to sample her kisses, be the man of her dreams?

  All thinking about Jim aside, at the notion of a potential suitor in the line, the old feelings of excitement and anticipation that she used to get when perusing the online matchmaking sites came back to her. Choices. She liked choices, didn’t she?

  Well, just because Jim Hamilton had suggested she quit her job just so he could continue kissing, didn’t mean that she couldn’t go sampling kisses, or potential kisses, from others, right?

  I mean, it’s not like he owns me. And how dare he ask me to quit my job anyway!

  It had been a very good idea when she’d come up with it a couple of weeks ago, and it still was. The hospital thought so too. For every kiss she gave out, a man had to pay a dollar.

  Thing was, they weren’t getting real kisses, just candy ones. Hard candy kisses that she’d had made up special for the occasion at Bittersweets. Jillian Bass was such a dear. Normally she only did chocolate truffles, but she had made an exception for this event. And she’d donated all her time and the ingredients.

  It was all part of the hospital’s “Candy for Kisses” campaign to stop the spread of flu germs this winter.

  But oh, looking at the specimens waiting patiently in line in front of her, she wondered if she might sacrifice a few germs for a couple of short pecks on the cheek from just a few of them….

  ****

  Jim felt good. Pretty good, anyway.

  And once this night was finished, he’d feel much better. The Winter Carnival was one of the biggest community events of the season, and both the school board and the community expected it to be successful. Patti had been in charge for years, and she’d always delivered.

  He was proud of her, for this year and in the past, and he wondered why he’d never given her huge praises for all that she pulled off. He’d have to remedy that.

  Even though he’d not seen her for a couple of days, he felt semi-good about where they were in this budding relationship. He’d feel better when a few things were settled. One being this thing about her job. He’d thought about it quite a bit, and he didn’t want to lose her at his school, and middle school would drain the creativity out of her. Oh, she was an excellent teacher, and her personality was likely perfect for teaching middle school, but the fact remained that he wanted her here, in his school, and he wanted her kisses, too.

  So they’d just have to work some things out on those issues. Dammit, he’d break his own rule, too, to make it work.

  He was so glad he’d gotten in touch with the Assistant Superintendent before Patti had arrived. He’d not heard back yet from Tom Porter, but he trusted that his request had been met.

  He supposed Patti would be upset about that, but he figured this was not the time to discuss it.

  But they would. Soon.

  He spanned the gymnasium; the crowd was thick. Kids with elf faces where running about. Santa was in one corner taking requests; Mrs. Santa was passing out cookies. There were reindeer games happening over in the far
corner with the P.E. teacher, and a Frosty the Snowman building contest happening in the center of it all. The perimeter was lined with booths—bake sales, informational tables, a gingerbread house making station, and there, over in the corner….

  What in the world? There was quite a bit of commotion over there it seemed.

  Principal mode kicked in pretty darned fast. Wherever there were crowds, be them kids or parents, he got worried. Bigger things happened with numbers. He scurried over to that end of the gym just to see what was going on.

  A very long line snaked all the way from the Snow Cone machine, weaving in and out of the “dunk the teacher” machine area, to around the corner. He followed, moving closer to the source, hearing a few cheers and snickers go up on his way.

  He noticed Tom Porter, the Assistant Superintendent, standing off to the side, watching, a frown on his face. Distracted by that, he went to his side, stood next to him, and gazed off between the crowd toward the booth.

  “Looks like a lot of action going on here, huh, Tom?”

  Tom’s glare bolted straight ahead. “Yup. Are you going to do something about this, or shall I?”

  He wasn’t sure, exactly, what Tom was referring to until he swung his own gaze a little further to the right, got a good angle between a couple of really tall men, and saw for the first time exactly what Tom was speaking of.

  A very tall man had just dipped Patti Jo Baker, planting a long and sloppy kiss square on her mouth, underneath a big sign that read, Kissing Booth: Get ’Em While They’re Hot!

  His throat closed up tight. “Ah, hell…” The words slipped out on a thin breath.

  Inside every vein of his body, his blood boiled.

  ****

  Patti righted herself and then gently pushed back her latest kisser. All right, it was time to rein things in. This was getting a little out of hand.

  She’d had good intentions, truly. And she had raised a lot of money for the hospital flu campaign, so she’d met her goal there. But in all honesty, she’d really screwed with the mission of the event.