Sherryl Woods - Moonlight Cove

“It’s not as if we’re double-or triple-dating, for goodness’ sakes,” Jess protested. “You two can do whatever you want to do. I’m out.”

“A promise is a promise,” Laila persisted.

Jess sighed and caved. “Okay, fine. I’ll give it a little longer.”

But despite Laila’s optimism and Connie’s reluctant agreement, no one was going to persuade Jess that it wasn’t a big old waste of time and energy.

Will’s client, a single woman who’d despaired of ever finding the right man, arrived for her appointment with a man in tow.

“This is Carl Mason,” Kathy Pierson told Will, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “I hope you don’t mind, but I asked him to sit in on our session today. We met through Lunch by the Bay, and we’re getting married.”

Will saw the blush on her cheeks and the adoration in Carl Mason’s eyes and realized this was exactly what he’d hoped for when he launched the company. Unfortunately, though, he also knew that Kathy had a way of rushing into things without giving them sufficient thought. What if this was one of those occasions? They couldn’t possibly have had more than a handful of dates. He was pretty sure he’d arranged the match less than two weeks ago.

“When something’s right, it’s right,” Carl told him, obviously picking up on Will’s lack of enthusiasm for the news. “I know it must seem fast to you, but the minute I met Kathy, something clicked.”

“I’m happy for you both. I truly am,” Will assured them. “But marriage is a huge step. Shouldn’t you spend a little more time together before you make that kind of commitment?”

Kathy frowned at him. “I’m forty-six years old. I’ve waited my whole life to meet a man like Carl. I’ve already lost my chance to have children, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late for love. You’re the one who’s been telling me that for months now. I’ve finally found it, and I don’t want to wait. We don’t want to wait.”

“You’re both telling me how right this is,” Will said, treading cautiously. “Won’t it be just as right a few weeks from now, or even a few months from now? Then you’ll know for certain.”

“And we’ll have wasted weeks or months of our lives,” Kathy said.

“They won’t be wasted,” Will insisted. “I’m not suggesting you can’t be together during that time, just that you not jump into marriage. You’ll be getting to know each other, making sure that you’re as compatible as you think you are.”

“I don’t understand why you can’t just be happy for us,” Kathy said. “I mean, we’re practically the poster couple for Lunch by the Bay. We’re a success story! You should be gloating about the fact that your computer program made a successful match, not trying to bring us down.”

“I’m not trying to bring you down,” Will assured her. “In fact, if this works out, I’ll be the first to stand up and offer a toast at your wedding. I’m just worried that you’ve put a little too much faith in a computer program and not trusted your own judgment. It takes time to get to know another person. The computer is a tool that can cut that process down somewhat, but it’s not infallible.”

Kathy stood up. “Well, aren’t you Mr. Doom and Gloom all of a sudden. I’d hoped you’d come to the wedding, but I can see that’s a terrible idea. I don’t want any bad vibes ruining the happiest day of my life. Let’s go, Carl.”

Carl followed her to the door. “To be honest, I thought the whole computer thing was a crazy idea, but once I met Kathy, I became a believer. This is going to be okay, Doc. You don’t have to worry about us.”

Will appreciated the effort to reassure him, but he stared after them with a feeling of dread in his stomach. Client confidentiality required that he not tell Carl that Kathy had a long history of lightning-quick enthusiasms that faded all too rapidly. It was one thing to embrace a hobby and drop it practically overnight. It was quite another to do that with a husband.

He was trying to figure out if there was anything else he could do to slow down this impulsive wedding they were planning when his cell phone rang. Relieved by the distraction, he answered on the second ring.

“Is this Will Lincoln?” a woman asked hesitantly.

“It is.”

“Your name turned up as a prospective match from Lunch by the Bay,” she said. “I was wondering if you might be available for lunch one day this week. I probably should have waited for you to call, but I was afraid if I did, I’d lose my nerve altogether. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

Will bit back a sigh. How could he turn her down? He was the one who’d founded the company in part so he could meet people himself. It would pretty much destroy the company’s reputation if its own founder started rejecting the matches it kicked out.

“I’d love to have lunch with you,” he said, trying to inject a note of enthusiasm into his voice. “How about Friday?”

He chatted a little longer, then hung up. Merry Landry had sounded sweet. And from the information he’d managed to pull from the computer, on the surface it seemed they had at least a few interests in common. She was well-educated, had her own business and had the kind of large family he’d always envied. A family like the O’Briens.

Of course, there was only one huge drawback over which Merry obviously had no control. She wasn’t Jess.

On Friday at noon, Jess got a call from Heather, Connor’s wife. Heather owned a quilt shop on Shore Road, right next door to the art gallery Jess’s mother had opened.

“You busy?” Heather asked.

“It’s Friday, so we’re expecting a packed house for the weekend, but most of them won’t be showing up for a couple of hours. Why?”

Jess thought she heard a whispered exchange in the background, but it might have been customers talking.

Eventually Heather said, “I was hoping you could meet me for a quick bite. Connor, too. We’ve missed you.”

Something in her voice sounded off to Jess, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “Is Connor there now?”

“Nope,” Heather said hurriedly. “He just left to claim a table for us at Panini Bistro. Can you get there?”

“Do you two have news?” Jess asked, wondering if Heather was pregnant. They already had a son who’d been born before they’d married.

Heather laughed. “If you stopped asking questions and drove over here, you’d have your answers in less time.”

Jess sighed. “Fine. Give me ten minutes. Order a ham and cheese panini with lettuce and tomato for me.”

“Will do,” Heather promised.

Jess checked in with Gail, assured herself that Ronnie was at work in the kitchen again with the reservation line forwarded in there, then drove into town. It took several minutes to find a parking spot, then a few more to walk back to the restaurant. She immediately spotted her brother and his wife. Then, at another table way too nearby to be a coincidence, she saw Will and some attractive blonde woman who seemed to be regarding him with an adoring expression.

Though the chair Connor and Heather had left for Jess had a clear view of Will and his date, Jess grabbed the chair and shoved it between the happy newlyweds so her back was to Will.

“Please tell me that is not why you got me down here,” she said under her breath, shrugging a shoulder in Will’s direction.

Connor regarded her innocently. “Are you talking about Will? I think he’s on one of those Lunch by the Bay dates of his. Pretty woman, don’t you think?”

Jess’s temper flared. “I do not give two hoots if she’s more gorgeous than Marilyn Monroe. Why would you do this? Just to make me crazy?”

Heather started to laugh, then covered her mouth, but there was no hiding the merriment in her eyes. “Then seeing Will with another woman does make you crazy?” she inquired. Though she went for an innocent tone, there was too much amusement threading through her voice to pull it off. “Why is that?”