A Perfectly Imperfect Match (Matchmaking Mamas) (12 page)

“You played like you were on fire,” Amanda whispered in complete awe. “Whatever you were channeling, keep it up.”

She gave her best friend a spasmodic smile in response, then mentally retreated into a holding zone, waiting for the next number to come up, grateful for the low lighting that hid her flushed complexion.

* * *

Driven by a desire to block everything else out, Elizabeth threw herself into every number, playing her heart out and willing herself not to think of anything but the next notes that were coming up.

Mercifully, she managed to keep a very tight rein on herself.

And then it was over. The songs, the music, the play, it was all finished for the evening. And for the musical’s run.

The cast, their hands linked together, forming a long human chain, took their bows a total of seven times as applause burst out over and over again, urging the performers to bow yet one more time.

Finally, the lead actor held up his hand to temporarily hold back the audience’s applause. When he finally succeeded, he gestured toward the pit, indicating that the people who were seated there, comprising the orchestra, should all rise and take a well-deserved bow as well.

When everyone stood up around her, turning to face the audience now that the houselights were up, Elizabeth had no choice but to stand up as well. If she didn’t, she knew that she’d be too conspicuous and draw the very attention she was trying to avoid.

This way, she hoped she would be able to merge with the other musicians.

But the moment she turned around, Elizabeth couldn’t help looking in Jared’s direction. Part of her couldn’t help wondering if he was even still there, or if he’d decided to leave and find someplace more private for himself and the redhead he’d brought with him.

He was still there, in the seat she’d gotten for him.

What was more, he was actually making eye contact with her. When he saw her looking his way, he grinned and gave her a thumbs-up, just before he started clapping again.

After a couple of minutes and one final curtain call, the cast began to disperse. The moment they started to move off the stage, the members of the orchestra began to file out of the pit as well.

And then, to her horror, she saw Jared making his way toward the front—toward her. The woman he’d brought to the performance was right behind him. He was holding her hand so they wouldn’t get separated.

Terrific, he was bringing up his girlfriend for her to meet.

Bracing herself, Elizabeth put on her best professional-violinist smile and inclined her head in a silent greeting.

“You were fantastic!” Jared burst out the moment he was close enough for her to be able to hear him.

Elizabeth politely murmured, “Thank you.”

Jared looked at her, puzzled at her lack of exuberance, wondering if he’d said something wrong, or had unwittingly crossed some line—literally—that he wasn’t supposed to.

“You really were,” the woman beside him said with feeling. “It was wonderful. Magical,” she corrected. “It was so professional sounding.”

“Well, it’s not as if this was our first time,” Elizabeth answered.

The moment the words were out, it hit her that she was sounding a bit catty. She softened her initial statement by adding, “Most of us play as much as we can manage. This theater group alone does several different musicals a year and a lot of us get called back for all of them.”

“Well, I was just in heaven the entire time,” the woman told her, completely uninhibited and obviously thrilled to have had this evening out. She turned toward Jared and formally issued her thanks. “I’m glad you didn’t listen to me and forced me into coming with you.”

“I always told you I know best,” Jared responded with a smile that was far too familiar for Elizabeth to bear seeing.

She turned abruptly away. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to pack up—”

Had he misunderstood her when they’d talked yesterday?

“Wait, didn’t you say that you wanted me to meet some of the musicians?” he reminded her.

“I did, but it can wait until another time.” Her mouth as well as her cheeks were beginning to ache as she continued to maintain the smile on her lips. A smile that only went down as far as her facial muscles. She certainly didn’t
feel
like smiling. “After all, you don’t want your date to get bored, meeting a bunch of musicians,” she pointed out.

“Date?” Jared echoed, staring at her and completely confused as to what she was referring to. “You think this is my
date?
”

And then, as he realized the mistake, he laughed. Really laughed. Hard.

The redhead beside him looked as if she was somewhat offended by his reaction. “It’s not
that
funny, Jared,” she protested.

“Oh, yes, it is,” he contradicted, despite the fact that there was obvious affection in his voice.

The grin spreading out on his face made him appear even more boyish than he already looked. And then, as his laughter subsided, he realized that he was to blame for the apparent misunderstanding. Caught up in the moment and thoroughly enjoying himself tonight, he’d forgotten to do one important thing.

This time his expression was a bit sheepish as he looked at Elizabeth.

“I didn’t introduce the two of you to each other, did I?”

“No, you didn’t,” both Elizabeth and the woman standing beside him said at the exact same moment.

Chapter Nine

“N
o time like the present,” Jared said, then quickly tried to remedy the situation by making the heretofore overlooked introductions. “Elizabeth Stephens, I’d like you to meet Julie Lyle—my cousin,” he tacked on.

“Your
cousin,
” Elizabeth repeated, torn between feeling like an idiot and wanting to do a little dance in the orchestra pit. She managed to block the former and refrain from the latter, but she couldn’t suppress the wide smile of relief that rose to her lips.

“My cousin,” he confirmed, then turning toward his female companion, he brought the introduction full circle. “Julie, this is Elizabeth, the woman who’s going to bring music into my parents’ lives by playing at their anniversary celebration.”

“Hi. I have a confession to make.” Julie’s expression was genuine and warm as she shook Elizabeth’s hand. “When Jared invited me to come listen to you, my first reaction was to beg off. I’m not what you might call a big musical buff and things haven’t exactly been going well lately. All I wanted to do was stay home and feel sorry for myself. But Jared refused to take no for an answer.” She flashed him an appreciative grin. “He’s as much of a pain in the neck now as he was when we were growing up. Never took no for an answer then, either.”

Jared addressed his defense to Elizabeth rather than answering his cousin directly. “I prefer thinking of myself as being persuasive.”

Julie hooked her arms through one of his. “Well, whatever you want to call it, I’m glad you bullied me into coming because I
thoroughly
enjoyed myself tonight,” she said enthusiastically, looking at Elizabeth as she declared the last part, then confided, “It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to say that.”

Although that had decidedly aroused her curiosity, Elizabeth held her tongue. She didn’t know Jared’s cousin well enough to ask
why
she hadn’t been able to enjoy herself for a long time.

As if reading her mind, Jared answered her silent question. “Julie’s husband is in the National Guard and he was called up two months ago. For the last month, he’s been deployed overseas.”

“Which has officially been the longest month of my life,” the redhead lamented. Her words were accompanied by a long, deep sigh. “But thanks to Jared’s pestering, I forgot to be worried for a couple of hours. I know you probably hear this all the time, but you play beautifully.”

Elizabeth knew that there was no way the woman could have distinguished her playing from that of the rest of the orchestra, or, at the very least, from the other violinists, but she accepted the enthusiastic compliment graciously.

“I never grow tired of hearing kind words about my playing.” Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she smiled at the other woman. “I’m very glad that you enjoyed the performance.”

Jared looked on as the two women talked. He was feeling rather proud of himself. It had been no easy feat getting Julie out of her house and away from the darker thoughts that insisted on preying upon her mind, but he’d managed to accomplish his mission.

With any luck, Derek, Julie’s husband, would return to the States unharmed. Even if for some awful reason, he didn’t, having Julie worry herself sick was not going to change the ultimate outcome one iota, or help her get through it.

By getting her to accompany him to the play, he’d not only done a good deed, but he also had gotten himself a second opinion about Elizabeth. He had to admit he wasn’t exactly all that impartial when it came to Elizabeth’s playing. His heart had been in his throat when he’d watched the stunning blonde with the gifted fingers and beautiful blue eyes perform onstage. Truth was, his reaction to this woman was getting in the way of his reaction to her music. He was a fair enough man to know that he needed a second opinion to fall back on, and in case Megan gave him a hard time about choosing Elizabeth, one to support his own.

He knew for a fact that Megan would ask to interview Elizabeth herself the moment her cruise ship docked. It was always good to be one jump ahead of his sister when it came to something like this.

“So, about these people you wanted me to meet...” Jared prodded, awaiting a response from Elizabeth.

It amazed Elizabeth to no end just how buoyed she could feel after being so incredibly low just a couple of minutes ago. She tried not to think about what that actually meant in the long run and focused exclusively on the question that Jared had just asked. She needed to have him meet the musicians she thought would round out the ensemble.

“They’re close by,” she told him brightly. “I told them about the kind of music that was going to be played, as well as the time and date for the celebration. They’re all free that evening and they’ve all been playing professionally for years,” she informed him.

With each word she uttered, she was feeling more and more energized, as if she’d just gotten a fresh shot of adrenaline—and, in a way, she had.

“As a matter of fact, I can have them play a sample number for you right now if you’d like so you can hear for yourself what the program you put together for the celebration would sound like.”

“The program
we
put together,” Jared corrected, but even that wasn’t entirely accurate. For the most part, the program was actually largely
her
doing. He’d merely nodded his head whenever she made a suggestion, finding that she had very good instincts when it came to setting up the musical playlist. Each song she’d mentioned turned out to be another song he recalled one or both of his parents favoring when he was growing up.

When she made her suggestion about listening to a sample repertoire, he was about to say that he thought that was why she’d invited him to attend the play in the first place—so he could hear the ensemble perform together. But he was beginning to discover that with Elizabeth, there was no such thing as taking a breath before answering. In the time it took to draw that breath, she was already moving on. In this case, she was already beckoning over several musicians who were hanging back on the far side of the orchestra pit. It was obvious that they were waiting to be introduced.

As they crossed over to her, Elizabeth rattled off their names, saying them so quickly that Jared found he’d missed most of them. Before he could ask to have their names repeated, the players were already taking their places.

And then they began to perform a short rock-and-roll medley Elizabeth had prepared ahead of time. Jared caught himself tapping his foot in time to the beat. If this was a preview of things to come, his parents were going to love it.

Stepping back to stand next to his cousin, Jared saw by the expression on Julie’s face that she agreed with his assessment.

Elizabeth and the ensemble she’d selected wound up playing for ten minutes, incorporating among other songs a ballad and a number that brought to mind everything that the words
rock and roll
stood for.

When they finished, Julie broke into enthusiastic applause. Prompted by the sound of her clapping, Jared joined in, nodding his head in hearty approval. This was going to turn out to be even better than he had initially hoped for.

“Fantastic,” he pronounced. He was rather amazed that these folks hadn’t forged singular professional careers for themselves, the kind of careers that brought accolades as well as substantial monetary rewards with them. “You’ve certainly convinced me,” he said, his eyes sweeping over the entire group.

Amanda was the first to speak, looking from Jared to Elizabeth. “So we’re hired?” She evidently wanted to hear one of them say the actual words.

“You’re definitely hired,” Jared told her, then nodded at the others in the ensemble.

Julie, ever practical, tugged on his arm to get his attention. When Jared looked in her direction, raising a questioning brow, she said in a lower voice, “Shouldn’t you discuss their fees with them first?”

“I left all that to Elizabeth,” he answered, looking over Julie’s head to the other woman. Actually, he and Elizabeth had come to an agreement in their negotiations. The fee she’d asked for had been somewhat lower than he’d expected so he readily agreed to pay it. “Right?” he asked the beautiful blonde.

On the surface, there was nothing remotely intimate about the exchange, yet she felt this warm tingle when he looked in her direction for confirmation. For just that second, it was as if there were only the two of them engaged in a private conversation.

“Right.” She turned toward the others, incredibly pleased with the way everything had ultimately turned out. “I’ll be in touch with all the sheet music you’ll need,” she promised. “And I’ll let you know when we’re getting together for rehearsals.”