An Unexpected Match (6 page)

He couldn't allow himself to worry about competing. This was parenting, not a popularity contest. His job never came with the promise of balloons and confetti. He alone held the responsibility for molding a young life. He couldn't afford to fall short on that duty by giving Haley free reign over his daughter.

After this evening's festivities, he would have a discussion with Haley. He would lay down the rules for the Warren household, and she would have to get on board or he would—He stopped himself. What exactly would he do? Fire Haley and cart Elizabeth to court with him every day? Perhaps he could send Elizabeth to Amy's Elite Treats with his mother like a store pet. Or he could pack her off to Dylan's optometry office or, worse yet, the state park with Ranger Logan.

There was no perfect solution here and certainly none that would provide even the minimal stability he wanted for his child: that of being in her own house. Except one.

He blew out a frustrated breath. No, Haley was not the perfect sitter. Not even close. She believed beds could be made any time of the day and it was okay to watch cartoons before breakfast. Even imperfect, Haley was still
the best solution he had for the time being. And she might even do a passable job with some strict guidance.

Matthew rubbed his forehead, a full-blown headache now thrumming beneath his fingertips. Even thinking of it as a temporary solution wasn't enough to soothe his worries. Elizabeth was already becoming more attached to Haley than he would like.

He could only imagine what a few more weeks would do to that situation. Was he setting up his daughter for more pain by allowing her to form a deep connection with another woman who would soon disappear from her life? He'd had no control when his wife had left, but now he would have no one to blame but himself.

The situation felt like a pending court date when his case wasn't even close to being prepared. No matter what Haley had said about being there for as long as his family needed her and how dedicated she appeared to be right now, she was bound to lose interest and find a new project soon.

So it would be in everyone's best interests if he acted fast to find a permanent replacement. This would give him the chance to thank Haley for the help and send her on her merry way before her attention span reached its breaking point. Perhaps it would even spare his child from dealing with a broken heart.

J
ust after the dinner rush, four Scotts and three Warrens squeezed into the largest booth at the downtown pizza eatery called The Pie. Haley would have suggested that they'd be more comfortable at one of those long tables in the back of the room if the two mothers didn't appear downright giddy with the arrangement. Mrs. Warren had picked out the table herself, telling the waiter it looked cozy. Then they engineered it so that Matthew and Caroline were sitting next to each other. Could they be more obvious?

Even with rolling her eyes, and her elbows imprinting her sides and her knees bumping Jenna's every time she shifted, Haley couldn't help but notice the restaurant's charm. Warmth radiated through the open dining room as flames flickered inside yellow globes and old friends gathered around tables covered with checked vinyl cloths.

Somehow, though, she doubted that Matthew and Caroline were enjoying the atmosphere as much, not with their mothers looking at them with so much expectation. Such
hope. Even now Haley's mother was watching Matthew over the top of her menu, her reading glasses perched on her nose. “What do you like on your pizza, Matthew?”

“I don't know.” Matthew didn't look up from where he was reading menu options. “I'll eat pretty much anything on it. Except anchovies.”

Trina's face lit up like a child's at a birthday party. “Well, isn't that a coincidence? Caroline likes her pizza loaded, too. She's the only one in the family. Her sisters won't eat anything but cheese on theirs.”

“That is a coincidence,” Matthew said dryly, his gaze still squarely on the menu.

“I like anchovies,” Caroline was quick to point out.

“And you admit that in public?” Jenna's eyebrow was so high that it disappeared behind her light brown bangs.

Haley pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. All this time, she'd been looking for a complicated compatibility formula for dating when according to the meddling matriarchs here, the answers to the human heart could be found in a steaming slice of pizza.

No. Wait. She and Tom were both flavor purists, insisting that adding anything to the trio tastes of sauce, mozzarella and crust was just overkill. So she could tell her mother and Mrs. Warren right now that pizza compatibility wasn't the secret.

Pushing aside the thought, Haley focused on poor Caroline and Matthew, who were sandwiched so tightly together that their knees had to be bumping. If they felt half as uncomfortable as Matthew had made her feel when he'd arrived home from work today, then she pitied them. She wouldn't wish that on anyone.

As if she needed another reminder of that face-off with Matthew, Haley peeked at the child seated next to her
father. The usually vivacious little girl sat with her elbows planted on the table, a surly expression on her face. Already, she'd whined in Matthew's car all the way to the restaurant, and her attitude didn't appear on the upswing.

A waiter sporting a T-shirt with the words “Eat a Pie” approached then, carrying a large bowl of tossed salad and a stack of plates.

Amy Warren gave the order for two large pizzas—one loaded and one cheese-only—before taking her granddaughter's hand on one side and her best friend's on the other. When all their hands were linked, she bowed her head and began to pray.

“Father God, thank You for this opportunity to spend time with our dear friends. Please bless this food and guide us as we seek to build deeper connections between our families for the future. In Your Son's name, Amen.”

As they released hands, Amy reached for the salad bowl and tongs as if she hadn't just prayed for a blessing on their matchmaking scheme. Haley wouldn't have been surprised if she prayed next for the quick arrival of their pizza order.

“They have the best salad here,” Trina said as her friend passed her the bowl.

Again, Haley had the urge to laugh, but she changed the subject instead. “Now where did you say the other guys were tonight?”

“You mean besides finding any excuse possible not to be here?” Matthew chimed, earning a severe enough frown from his mother to make Haley sit straighter in her seat.

“You know perfectly well that Dylan is catching up on paperwork at the office after his conference, and Logan had to help a friend move into her new apartment.”

“Did you say ‘her'?” He looked at her over the frames
of his glasses, and then he lifted a shoulder and lowered it. “As I said…any excuse.”

“I hope we don't miss seeing them completely,” Jenna said to no one in particular as she held a pizza slice suspended in front of her mouth. “Caroline and I fly out on Sunday.”

“Oh, can't you stay longer?” Amy asked.

Though it couldn't have been clearer that she was interested in extending the stay of just one of the Scott sisters, Caroline answered for them both. “Not if we plan to keep our jobs.”

Sunday probably wouldn't be soon enough for Caroline, who'd sworn off relationships only to have her mother turn a deaf ear on her pronouncement. Even though Haley wasn't feeling pressure from good-intentioned meddlers, she could understand the urge to put some space between herself and Matthew Warren.

What she'd ever seen in the guy all those years ago, she had a hard time remembering now. Matthew could give curmudgeon lessons in his spare time. In fact, if it weren't for her promise to watch Elizabeth and the fact that Haley had nowhere else to go, she would have been catching her own jet plane along with her sisters.

Next to Matthew, Elizabeth continued to sit with her elbows planted on the table, her slice of pizza untouched on the plate in front of her.

Matthew cleared his throat and made some sort of signal to her with a tilt of his head. His daughter removed her elbows, but her scowl remained firmly in place. Matthew's jaw tightened, his gaze trained on Haley rather than his child. Elizabeth looked as morose as her father did, and the child's mood was Haley's fault because she hadn't respected Matthew's rules.

Apprehension filled her gut. She could hope for the best, perhaps a shorter than average dinner, but she suspected this night wouldn't end well.

“What kind of books do you like to read, Matthew?”

He turned back to Haley's mother, caught off guard by her remark, especially when he was too busy grumbling at Haley to stay on his toes for the next round in the matchmaking game.

“I don't get to read for pleasure often these days. I read a lot of law books and hymnals, though.”

Haley was ready to give him points for a smooth sidestep, but her mother wasn't having any of it. “I didn't ask what you
do
read. I asked what you
like
to read.”

Poor guy, he didn't stand a chance. Haley knew perfectly well that Matthew had never been able to resist the classics. Even when they were children, while his brothers were in video-game trances, trying to get to the next tasty level of “Alien Fighter Jelly Beans” or some such, Matthew could always be found on the couch, kicking back with Dickens or Hemingway. The situation had been the same in the Scott household, with Caroline as the reader, except for the “Alien Fighter Jelly Beans” part.

The funny thing was that Mom knew all this perfectly well, too. If she was already counting on a tentative merger between Caroline and Matthew based a common enjoyment of pepperoni and black olives, then she surely expected their shared love of
Beowulf
and
To Kill a Mockingbird
to seal the deal.

“The classics are probably my favorite,” he told her.

“Of course. Now I remember.” Trina could have earned herself a Tony Award nomination for that over-the-top stage version of surprise. “Did you know that Caroline is a fan of the classics, too?”

“I do remember that,” he answered blandly.

Haley hoped her mother wasn't trying to be sly with this interrogation because she was about as subtle as a steam-roller taking down a rubber duck. If she really wanted to know something new about Matthew, she could ask him why he hadn't spoken to his child's sitter all night or why he kept tossing sour looks her way. But clearly Trina was on a mission, and that mission didn't involve intervening between Haley and her boss.

“Do you enjoy classical music, as well, because Caroline—”

Haley didn't know whether to be horrified or relieved when Elizabeth interrupted the next round of the sales pitch by letting out a shriek that made the globed oil lamp on their table vibrate.

“I don't want any dumb pizza!”

“Elizabeth.”

Matthew's warning voice would have silenced Haley, but Elizabeth must have taken it as encouragement because her voice became a wail.

“No pizza! No pizza!” Bracing both hands on the edge of the table, Elizabeth pushed back her chair, at the end of the booth, sending it teetering backward.

Matthew leaped to his feet, deftly nabbing the back of the chair with one hand and his daughter's pint-size form with the other. His arm slipped around her waist, allowing her limbs to dangle downward. Though Elizabeth wailed, her flailing arms and legs occasionally connecting with his thigh or side, he didn't even look at her.

His glare was for Haley alone.

“Well, we've had about enough fun for one evening.” He turned to his mother and her best friend. “Forgive us, but we have to call it a night.”

From the hooks adorning the booth, he retrieved coats, shoved them under his free arm and then strode to the door. As Matthew moved aside for the host to open the heavy wooden door for him, Haley watched, waiting for him to glance her way before he crossed through the doorway. They'd come together after all. He didn't look back even once.

As the door swung closed, it appeared to Haley that more than a man and his overtired child were slipping away through that sliver of remaining light. She couldn't let him leave. Not without at least another apology.

She turned back to the other women watching their exit as she had been. “I'm sorry. I have to go, too.”

“But all this pizza.” Her mother was frowning, probably more for the loss of Matthew's company than hers.

“Just package it up. I love it cold.” Haley put an arm into her coat sleeve. “It reminds me of college.”

With that, she hurried across the room and out the door. She was responsible for this outburst, so she owed it to him to help now if she could. She caught up to him outside, just as the parking lot lights switched on. Busy wrestling someone from the thirty-five-pound weight class into the shoulder strap of her car booster seat, he didn't notice Haley's approach.

“Now hold still, silly. Let me get this done so I can get you to bed.”

“I don't want bed.” Instead of a shriek, this time her words came out with a sniffling moan.

“I know you don't, but you're tired. You'll feel better in the morning.”

“I'm not sleepy,” she whined.

Finally, Matthew must have had her buckled the way he liked because he closed the back door and pulled open
the driver's-side door. His shoulders stiffened the moment he saw Haley standing a few steps away.

“What are you doing out here?”

Haley pulled her coat closed over her neck. “We rode together, remember?”

“I need to get her home.” He gestured to the child already dozing and unaffected by the dome light. “I'm sure one of the others will give you a ride home.”

“My car's at your house.”

“Oh. Right.”

Haley could almost see the wheels turning in his mind as he thought of a way to avoid sharing oxygen with her for another minute. And because Markston wasn't so big, he could make the point that his house would not have been out of the way for the others.

Still, his practicality must have won out because he crossed to the passenger side and opened the door for her. He acknowledged her thanks with a nod, but the cold in his eyes trumped even the wind blowing in before he closed it. The music of Bach or Mozart or some other dead guy filtered into the car when he started the engine, but he flipped it off with a click. The kind of silence that would have made a librarian proud settled around them, making the five-minute drive feel like an interstate trek.

Finally, he turned into his driveway and hit the garage-door opener on his visor, but instead of pulling in, he shut off the engine in the driveway. Sensor-activated lights on either side of the two garage doors flicked on, illuminating the car's interior.

As if they'd timed it, both turned back to check on Elizabeth at the same time. She slept heavily now, nothing in her repose hinting that she could feel the chill inside the car. Haley couldn't help smiling when she looked at her.
So sweet. Innocent. Completely trusting in a world where real trust was rare.

When Haley finally turned her head and shoulder back toward the front seat, Matthew was staring right at her. Through her was more like it. Haley held her breath. As much as she hated silence, she sensed that what was to follow it this time wouldn't be better.