Lori and her sister-in-law had once been competitors in the matchmaking business but were now partners, thanks to her meddling brother, Nick. It had been the best thing her bossy baby brother had ever done for her.
The café was Lori’s favorite place to hang out during the day to work on her classes and matchmaking business because she was always surrounded by her two favorite things: coffee and sugar. Even though the café wasn’t open again yet, Jo always provided extraordinary baked goods each day for the workers. Actually, the baked goods were probably for Shelby and her pregnancy cravings, but either way, Lori benefited too.
At home, too many things stared at her and begged for her attention. Why she’d ever thought buying an older home with sturdy bones to fix up was a good idea was beyond her. She used to love to refinish wood, paint, and lay flooring. She’d remodeled two houses with her husband. They’d made some decent money flipping them, but on her own, it just wasn’t nearly as fun. Instead, it’d become a little overwhelming, just like the rest of her life lately.
As she pulled her laptop from its case and shrugged out of her coat, thoughts of blond-haired, big-shouldered Deek Cooper filled her mind again. The way he’d helped Emily with the glue stick had been oddly endearing. And since when had a simple handshake been sexy? There had only been one other man she’d ever been so instantly, physically affected by—her husband, Joe. It was disconcerting. And a little bit thrilling. Deek had awakened deep desires within her she’d worried might be gone for good after her husband died.
But Deek was on a mission to get his ex back, so she needed to put her lust-starved thoughts aside. Not easy to do when it’d been so long since she’d slept with a man. Maybe it was time to use her matchmaking skills on herself, as Shanan had suggested. But first, she needed to get her economics homework done. She hated that class, with all the terms she had to memorize. Especially when her brain was still tired from her lack of sleep the night before spent thinking about touching Deek’s hand.
A few minutes later, Shelby flopped down across from Lori, saving her from production functions and isoquants. Shelby was short, blonde, and as cute as a button—even more so pregnant.
Shelby leaned closer to be heard over the drilling noise. “How’s my favorite sister-in-law today?”
“Seeing as I’m your only sister-in-law, I know you’re just buttering me up for something. How are you feeling, by the way?” Even at four and a half months along, Shelby still battled morning sickness.
“Like a queasy cow.” Shelby grinned. “Did you see we got two new applications last night? One of them is perfect for you.”
“Ah. There it is.” Yesterday, Lori would have blown that statement off. Maybe she’d have a look. She pulled up their web page toolbar and found the applications. “Which one is it?”
“It’ll be obvious. I’m going to go see what Jo made for us today.” Shelby rose to check out the brownies and banana bread Jo had left on the counter. Lori had been tempted but decided she’d skip breakfast and wait to make that her lunch. Calories were calories no matter if they came from a sandwich or something yummy. She’d substitute the good stuff and go light on dinner. Keeping her figure was a full-time compromise.
Thinking of food reminded her that she’d had a craving for Chinese takeout for days. Maybe she and Em could splurge on that later.
Ignoring her empty stomach, she paged through the applications. The first guy was handsome but fifty-five, so she skipped to the next one. Bingo. The guy was thirty-six, tall, dark, and very good-looking. He had a big smile and was fit. Movie-star handsome, really.
She read his bio. Jason’s family owned car dealerships, he adored kids, liked to hike, sail, Jet Ski, was a foodie and loved to read. He preferred women with fun personalities and who enjoyed eating. The last part was Lori to a T. She adored food. She just hated all the exercise and meals she had to miss because of it.
Jason might be a good segue back into the game.
Shelby returned with two brownies and two slices of banana bread.
Lori held up her hand. “Thanks, but I’m waiting for lunch.”
With a brownie halfway to her mouth, Shelby said, “This is all for me. So? What do you think? Jason is hot, am I right?”
“Yes. Very.” Lori saved both applications and filed them away. “But we don’t know what his type is yet. Maybe he prefers short blondes.”
“Nope.” Shelby stuffed banana bread into her mouth next. “After I spotted his application last night, I knew you’d like him, so I sent him your picture. I wanted you to have first shot before we added him to the database. He’s busy this Friday, but he’d like to have dinner with you the next Friday night.”