A Perfectly Imperfect Match (Matchmaking Mamas) (11 page)

“Hold it, back up,” he told her. “
What
change of plans?” Nobody had said anything to that effect. Just what was she talking about anyway?

Why was he making her jump through these hoops when she was just trying to make it easy on him? “About hiring a band and having live music at your parents’ anniversary party.”

“Did I miss something here?” he asked, allowing his complete confusion to come through. “We’re still throwing my parents a surprise thirty-fifth anniversary party and that party still needs live music. Wait,” he said as he suddenly realized that maybe he was focusing on this from the wrong end. “Are you telling me that you’re backing out?”

“No!” Elizabeth denied emphatically. “I’m not backing out. I’m just trying to make this easy on you.”

“Make
what
easy on me?” he wanted to know. “Just how does confusing me make things easier?”

And where the hell had she gotten that idea in the first place? He certainly hadn’t mentioned anything to her, certainly nothing to give her an inkling of what Megan thought of his lone contribution to the party.

“Look, I’m pretty much an uncomplicated guy,” he told her. “What you see is what you get. If I change my mind about something and that something involves you, you’ll know about it.”

God knew—going along with his declaration—she would have been more than happy to grab what she saw and run for the high ground, but there were laws against that, she thought with a momentary pang.

Leave it, Liz. Focus on the practical matter. Those musicians could all use the money.

“So,” she began brightly, “you still want live music at the party?”

Jared nodded. “I still want music at the party,” he confirmed.

“To show your sister that you won’t be bossed around?” she guessed, smiling to herself.

He could have sworn he heard a smile in her voice. “To show my sister that she can be wrong at times,” he corrected. “
And
to show her that I can be right once in a while.”

Jared grinned, thinking of the woman he’d been getting together with. Because of her, he’d found himself looking forward to his evenings instead of staying late at the office and then coming home, drained and exhausted. She was like a second wind for him. A welcomed second wind.

“
Really
right,” he emphasized.

Elizabeth didn’t even try to ignore the strong, electrical jolt that insisted on shimmying up and down her spine in response to the warmth she heard in his voice. She decided—just this once—to just enjoy it.

She knew it wouldn’t last.

Chapter Eight

“S
o who are these other musicians that you have in mind?” he asked Elizabeth, getting back to the business at hand.

“All very talented people who would round out the ensemble you had in mind rather nicely,” she promised.

He knew that to appease Megan, he was going to have to audition these musicians, just as he had, in a way, Elizabeth audition for him.

“Would they be available to meet with me after hours?” he asked, then thought that maybe an explanation might be in order. “My time’s a little limited from nine to five. I have this campaign due—”

“Campaign?” she repeated. What sort of a campaign? she wondered.

Political?

Or—?

It occurred to her that the only thing she knew about Jared Winterset was that he made her pulse quicken when he looked at her a certain way and that he was apparently a good son and brother. And, hopefully, since he hadn’t mentioned a wife, he wasn’t married.

But, other than the fact that he was incredibly good-looking and kept making her mind wander into regions she didn’t normally occupy, she knew nothing about what he did for a living—or anything personal for that matter. Maybe she should.

“Are you a politician?” she asked him suddenly.

“What?” For a second, he thought he’d misheard her. And then it dawned on him why she might think that. Because of the particular word he’d used. “Oh God, no.” He laughed, unable to think of anything he would have disliked being more than that. “I’m in advertising. I was referring to an ad campaign I’m working on that’s coming due. It’s one of those things that requires burning the midnight oil and giving up a pint of blood along the way,” he cracked.

“I see...” she said, feeling a bit silly.

“Anyway, are these musicians you mentioned available to meet with me after, say, six o’clock?” he asked tactfully, switching the subject.

She was about to say that they weren’t available because they were working, then thought against it. What better opportunity for Jared to make up his mind if he liked what he heard than to
hear
them, just the way that he had heard her?

“As a matter of fact, this might just work out even better for everyone all around.”

He wasn’t sure what she was referring to, but he figured if he gave her enough time, she’d get around to explaining. “I’m listening.”

“The people I thought of for your ensemble all happen to be playing with me tomorrow night in that production of
Fiddler on the Roof
at the Bedford playhouse. You know...the musical I mentioned to you the other evening? The one I’m leaving you a ticket for at the box office.”

His brain felt so crowded with details lately, it took him a minute to remember what she was referring to. “Oh, right, you did mention that. Sorry, life’s been a little crazy lately.”

“No need to apologize, I know what it can be like. I have to write down all my different engagements or I’m liable to go to the wrong one—or forget to go altogether. So,” she continued, “I’ll be sure to leave that ticket in your name with the cashier at the box office. The performance starts at seven.”

“I’ll be there,” he promised. And then a thought hit him. This would be a perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. He couldn’t have arranged this better if he’d tried. “Could you leave two tickets instead of one?” he asked. “I’ll be more than happy to pay for both if there’s a problem.”

Two? The request for a second ticket left her feeling numb. That meant that there
was
someone, a wife, a girlfriend, someone who mattered in his life.

Elizabeth could feel her heart plummeting all the way down to her toes.

Idiot!

Well, what did she expect? A guy like Jared Winterset—successful, handsome, charming—wasn’t exactly someone destined to die on the vine unnoticed. Hell, he probably had to sleep with a baseball bat next to him in order to beat back waves of women looking to find a man of substance.

“Sure. Two tickets. Done,” she said, doing her best to retain the cheerful note in her voice.

But it was far from easy. All she could think of was that it was happening again. She was going to be providing the background music for someone else’s romance. This time for a person she knew.

“And there’s no need to pay for them. My invitation, my treat.” The words were stuck in her throat and she didn’t know how she was managing to get them out. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get ready for rehearsal,” she informed him crisply.

The line went dead before Jared got a chance to say goodbye.

* * *

Having preperformance jitters was nothing new for Elizabeth. She experienced it every single time she was slated to pick up her violin and play before an audience, no matter how large or small that audience was.

But this was something more.

This time she wasn’t just having the typical jitters that quickly vanished the moment she struck the first chord. She was downright throwing-up-her-dinner nervous and it all had to do with the two empty, side-by-side seats in the third row. The ones located just off the aisle.

Those were the two seats corresponding to the two tickets she’d left with the cashier at the box office. The two tickets that were set aside for Jared and whoever it was who was accompanying him to the show tonight. Probably his girlfriend.

Oh c’mon, Liz. Get a grip.

She was making a mountain out of less than a molehill, she told herself. Just because Jared had asked for a second ticket didn’t automatically mean he was bringing a significant other with him. Maybe he was the type who didn’t like doing things alone and he was bringing a friend with him. A guy friend.

Or maybe his sister had returned from the cruise and he wanted her to hear for herself what the violinist he’d picked to play at their parents’ party sounded like. Could she have really felt that there was
this
much chemistry going on between them if Jared was actually involved with another woman?

She didn’t know.

Maybe he wasn’t coming at all, she thought as she continued to look at the seats, which remained conspicuously empty.

She supposed that not having Jared come to the performance was better than seeing him come in with a female companion on his arm.

“Liz,” Amanda Baker hissed from her seat in the pit, “why are you standing there like a lighthouse beacon, staring off into the theater? Sit down...it’s almost time to start the overture.”

Feeling self-conscious, Elizabeth glanced down at her friend. “Right.”

Elizabeth sank down into her seat and then glanced over her shoulder for one last look at the audience before the houselights went down.

That was when she saw him.

Saw
them.

Jared wasn’t alone. He’d brought someone with him to fill the other seat.

A female someone.

An
unpregnant
female someone, Elizabeth realized, feeling a definite sharp prick in her heart that all but immobilized.

“Liz? Liz?
Elizabeth,
” Amanda finally whispered urgently, resorting to her formal name in an attempt to get her attention. “What
is
it with you tonight?” she asked, concerned as well as just a little irritated.

She and Elizabeth had become practically inseparable over time and whatever was going on with Elizabeth, her friend was leaving her out of it. Amanda didn’t like being kept in the dark.

Especially not by her best friend.

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” Elizabeth all but snapped back. She turned around to face her sheet music. “Just a few more preperformance jitters than usual, that’s all, Mandy.”

“I don’t believe you,” Amanda retorted stubbornly. She shifted in her seat to look at the audience and was just in time to see the same couple that had brought on Elizabeth’s deep, sad frown taking their seats. “Wow, now there’s someone I’d definitely let ring my chimes.” The moment she said that, enlightenment suddenly dawned on her. “You know him.” It was more of a statement than a question.

If she lied, Amanda would eventually find out that she had, especially since she’d already mentioned to her and some of the others that Jared was looking for musicians to play at his parents’ anniversary party and that in all likelihood, he would be attending the performance.

So, albeit very reluctantly, Elizabeth admitted to knowing him.

“Yes. He’s the man I told you about, the one who’s here to hear you, Nathan, Jack and Albert play so he can decide if he’s going to hire you.”

“Who’s the chicklet with him?” Amanda wanted to know. Her dark eyes narrowed as she continued looking at the woman beside Jared.

Elizabeth managed to suppress the sigh that automatically rose up from her chest. “I have no idea.”

Amanda read between the lines. “So then maybe it’s not serious,” she surmised. Her smile turned into a full-fledged grin. “Which means that that hunk is essentially free.” She slanted a look at her friend as the houselights began to darken. “You’re not interested in him, are you?”

“Me? No. Absolutely not,” she denied a little too emphatically.

Amanda looked at her, a knowing smile spreading across her generous mouth. “Sorry, Liz, my mistake. I’m backing off.”

“I said I wasn’t interested in him,” Elizabeth whispered harshly.

“Right.”
As the music swelled, her whisper grew just a tad louder. “You know...there’s no shame in saying you’re interested in the guy. Your heart would have to be made out of rocks not to be into a guy who looks like that. But if you decide to throw him over someday, don’t forget who your best friend is.” Amanda fluttered her lashes at her in an exaggerated fashion. “I’m not too proud to accept your leftovers.”

“He’s not my leftover,” Elizabeth insisted. “He’s not my anything.”

And he never will be.

Which was just as well, Elizabeth silently reminded herself. Love never turned out well anyway. Her parents had loved each other dearly. When her mother died suddenly, her father was utterly devastated. She could remember seeing the sadness in his eyes even though she’d been so young at the time.

If she didn’t fall in love, she’d never have to endure the pain that came with loving someone.

“Denial doesn’t become you,” Amanda mouthed just as the music tempo began to increase.

The music, Liz, the music. Concentrate on the music. Nothing else matters except for the music.
Elizabeth focused on her fingering and the sounds that emerged as she and her violin became one.

That was the only thing that really made sense. Music provided both order and solace in her life. It was what kept her grounded, no matter what. When her mother died, when the romance she thought she had disintegrated on her, it was music that had held her together and helped her deal with the pain of being left behind.

It was what she could always count on.

Music and her family.

Served her right for letting her imagination run away with her, she silently lectured as the overture began to wind down.

What on earth had she been thinking?

That was just the problem, Elizabeth realized. She hadn’t been thinking, only reacting.

Well, she knew exactly where that sort of thing led, she thought.

Nowhere.

A beat later, she realized that the overture was over. Suppressing another sigh, she relaxed her hold on her violin and let the instrument rest.

Unlike her.

But for now, that was going to have to do.