ENCORE PERFORMANCE (THE MATCHMAKER TRILOGY) (8 page)

Thomas woke in a cold sweat. He sat straight up in
bed. His heart was pounding in his chest and his breath
unsteady.

He ran his fingers through his wet hair and took a few
deep cleansing breaths. The sun was peeking through the
drawn curtains. The throbbing in his head felt like he’d
indulged all night with a bottle of whisky, but he hadn’t. It
took him a moment to remember he’d shared a beautiful
evening with a beautiful woman, and how chaotic the night
had become.

He rested his aching head in his hands. The night
hadn’t quite ended as he’d thought it would have, even if
he’d promised himself it wouldn’t have. How had he gone
from a wonderful evening with Carissa to feeling her up
like a teenager in a car to holding her baby sister all night?

The emotional shifts had him uneasy; he was tired and
run down, and that had brought on the dreams.
He swallowed hard as he lay back on his pillow. His
throat was sore. That meant he’d been yelling in his sleep.
Thank God, Carissa had stayed at her parents’ house.
He pressed his fingers to his eyes. It was still so vivid
in his head. Screaming, pain, dark places he’d hidden. His
mother’s yelling, his father’s yelling, and his sister’s
sudden silence made him nauseous. He kicked his feet over
the side of the bed and headed to the bathroom to run water
over his face. He needed coffee.
The throbbing in his head began to dull and it was then
he could hear the noises that filled the house. Carissa was
home. She was playing her cello. From the sound of the
music, she was in a miserable mood.
Thomas gave his teeth a quick brush, pulled on his
pants, threw on a sweatshirt, and headed down the stairs.
Barefooted he stood just outside the study door. It was open
and her back was to him. She wore a pair of lounge pants
and a tank top. Her hair was wet. How long had she been
home? When had he had the worst of his nightmare? He
ran his fingers through his hair again. It didn’t feel the same
as it had for months when he’d needed a haircut. He
realized everything in his life was changing, right down to
his hair. He stood silently and listened to her play.
She wasn’t playing something soft and warm, no, she
was playing the song he’d come to despise even as he’d
helped write the notes down on the paper. She was using
the music to relieve the stress. He’d done it himself many
times. Her body moved into the instrument. Her fingers
pinched the strings and her hand gripped tight to the bow.
He slipped into the room and headed to the piano. His
hands were still itching to play. He started in the middle of
the piece, where she was playing, blending his notes with
hers.
Her head shot up. Obviously she hadn’t heard him
come into the room. He caught her eye but never took his
fingers off the keys. She put her bow back to the strings
and played.
Carissa’s music was before her, but he knew she didn’t
need it to play. Thomas would never need the music for the
piece. Not only had he helped write it, he’d played it so
many times he probably hummed it in his sleep. He hated
it, though it was a beautiful piece and the people of the
world seemed to embrace it. Even alone in the room with
Carissa and their instruments he could hear Pablo DiAngelo
belt out the words in Italian.
When the piece had ended he didn’t turn from the keys
right away. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes
because he could feel hers on him.
“We play well together,” she said.
“You’re an amazing, amazing woman, Carissa.” He
turned to see her standing still, holding the neck of the cello
in one hand and her bow in the other.
Her eyes were open wide. She tucked her lips between
her teeth and looked at the floor. “I play that when I’m
trying to cool down. I played it for first chair my senior
year. I got it. Sophia helped me with it.”
“She’s an amazing woman too.” He backed up against
the piano and crossed his arms over his chest.
Carissa nodded. She turned and set the cello in the case
that lay across the large oak desk in the corner. “They’re
going to have to put Katie in an assisted living home, you
know.” Her voice had hitched and he knew tears were soon
going to spill over.
“She’s ninety-two-years-old, Carissa. She needs more
than what you can offer her. She’ll be fine.”
Carissa nodded in agreement. “I wanted to stay, but
she kicked me out.” The slightest laugh escaped. “Called
me a spoiled brat and told me to go home to my man.” He
heard what he assumed was supposed to be humor, but she
had swallowed back the chuckle with a sob.
Thomas walked up behind her and rested his hands on
her shoulders. He felt her tremble. “You went home with
your father,” he reminded her as he breathed in the scent of
her shampoo.
“I was afraid to come back here.” She turned to face
him. “She said go home to my man. She meant you. She––“
What time was there to think before his mouth had
come down on hers? He parted her welcoming lips with his
and his tongue sought out hers as his hands slipped around
her waist and pulled her closer to him. There was heat, just
like the interrupted kiss the night before. He nipped at her
lower lip with his teeth then skimmed over her jaw and
neck. She tossed her head back to give him access to her
throat as he pushed his body harder to hers.
His hands filled with her. Christ, what he wanted to do
to her at that very moment. His head was still spinning and
he was pushing thoughts from it. He
would not
begin to
take her in that very room like his head and body wanted to
do. Hell no, she deserved more. Then again, she deserved
more than him.
The sweet taste of her sent him back to her mouth, his
fingers wrapped up in her long, dark, wet hair.

Carissa couldn’t still her hands. She ran them under his
sweatshirt and up the smooth skin of his back. God, why
didn’t he begin feeling his way over her body? She wanted
him, right then, and right there. When he pulled from her
and rested his forehead to hers, she sighed. The sound was
an angry one.

The phone began ringing, and with Katie in the
hospital, she couldn’t ignore it.
She pulled away from him and stepped into the
hallway to pick up the phone on the table.
She spoke to her mother, aware that Thomas was
leaning up against the door listening. With a cleansing
breath, she turned around to see him watching her, and her
heart flipped in her chest. Oh, God, she couldn’t believe he
was there. So fresh from sleep, so fair, so desperately trying
to talk himself out of loving her. She could see it in his
eyes. She’d seen it before.
She stood a moment longer and watched him watching
her as she hung up the phone. He wanted her. There had
been no mistaking that feeling when he pushed up against
her. She feared he wanted more and wouldn’t give it. The
expression in his eyes matched that of her birth mother,
though she assumed Thomas had a different inward battle
brewing. He didn’t want to love her and hurt her. Her birth
mother just hadn’t wanted to love her.
“They’re coming for me in a few minutes and heading
to the hospital.” She fidgeted with her hair, pulling it back
with her hands and letting it fall down her back. “We’re
having dinner at my parents’ house tonight,” she added.
“I remember.”
“I’d better get dressed.” She stumbled past him and up
the stairs.
“Carissa, leave me directions to the hospital and I’ll
meet up with you when I get showered and shaved. I’d like
to see her too, if you don’t mind.”
She turned toward him and smiled at him, pleased that
the man who seemed to be fighting a personal battle of
compassion had found some for her grandmother, whom
she adored. “I think she’d really appreciate that.”

With coffee brewed, Katie’s room number, and
directions to the hospital in his hand, Thomas wandered
upstairs, showered, and shaved. He pulled out his beige
slacks and a crisp white shirt. He was sure there would be
somewhere he could pick up some flowers for Katie on the
way to the hospital.

He bought her a beautiful bouquet of red roses at a
grocery store he passed. He knew they’d bring a smile to
her lips. For Carissa he purchased a single pink bud, hoping
to elicit the same response from her.

Carissa’s directions were not as clear as those her
mother had shelled out at the mall to get him around town,
but with a U-turn and a slight detour he found the hospital.

A man and a child climbed onto the elevator with him.
The boy, he figured, was about three. He held a bear in one
arm and a strangled flower in the other. The man looked
tired as though he’d had no sleep for days. He too carried
flowers in the crook of his arm.

The little boy looked up at Thomas. “Are you taking
those to a mommy too?”
“No, to a grandma.”
“I’m going to see my mommy. She had a baby. I have
a sister. She’s ugly, but Mommy says she’ll get prettier.
But I don’t know.”
“Little girls do get prettier, I promise,” Thomas added
and the father gave him a thankful smile for the boost to the
boy.
“Her name is Simone.”
“That’s pretty.”
“What would you name a little girl?”
“Thomas, that’s enough,” his father said to him.
With a whisper, Thomas looked down at the little
Thomas. “My name is Thomas too.” “Just like the train,
huh?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” The doors opened and Simone’s
big brother, Thomas, walked out with his father’s hand on
his back.
The exchange tugged at Thomas’ heart. He once was
big brother Thomas to a little baby girl. She’d turned out to
be pretty, just like he’d promised little Thomas his sister
would.
He was a bit uneasy as he strode toward Katie’s room.
When he got there, he found he was alone with her and she
was sleeping. He found a slip of paper, wrote a little note,
and laid it next to the flowers. When he turned back around
Katie was sitting up looking at him and she smiled. The
flowers had done their job, he decided.
“I thought you were asleep.”
“I’m getting plenty of that around here.”
“How are you?”
“Oh, hell, I’m fine. They just like to fuss over me like
my granddaughters do.”
“They love you.” Thomas gathered the flowers and
walked to her bedside. “I got these for you.”
“They sure are lovely.” She reached out and touched a
petal. “Sophia brought a vase and tucked it in the closet.
She must have known a handsome man would bring
flowers today. Just put them in there.”
He nodded and looked for the vase.
“Grandma, I got the magazine you wanted.” Carissa
fluttered into the room. “I talked to the nurse and she’s
going to bring you . . .” she stopped when she noticed
Katie’s eyes shift toward Thomas, who watched her in the
mirror over the sink. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“Just got in. Brought this beautiful woman some
beautiful flowers,” he said as he turned with the roses
shoved into the vase.
“They’re lovely.” Carissa’s cheeks flushed the color of
the roses and a sliver of a smile crossed her beautiful lips.

Katie watched the two of them make small talk to her
as if they didn’t want to talk to each other. As if they didn’t
want her to know there were feelings between them. But
Katie was no fool. She was an expert when it came to
seeing what others didn’t.

“You know, I’m tired again. Why don’t the two of you
get out of here.” She adjusted herself on the bed.
“Are you okay?” Carissa’s voice quivered as the nurse
entered the room.
“Hell, I’m fine. Just want you all to leave me be. Tell
your mama to go home too. Just go have some fun.”
“Okay, I’ll go find them in the cafeteria.” Carissa
planted a kiss on Katie’s cheek. “I have my . . .”
“You have that silly phone and I’ll call you if I need
you. Shoo!”
Carissa gathered her purse and started out the door.
“Take care, Katie.” Thomas took her hand and kissed it
then pulled back to follow Carissa, but Katie caught his
sleeve and pulled him back down.
“Take care of her,” she said with a wink.
“I will.” Thomas sealed his promise with a smile and
followed Carissa out of the room.
“That’s my granddaughter,” Katie held out her arm for
the nurse to lace a blood pressure cuff around it.
“She’s beautiful.”
“She is, isn’t she?” Katie relaxed. “They’re getting
married soon.”
“That’s wonderful. How long have they been
engaged?”
“Oh, they’re not. They don’t know they’re in love yet,
but soon. Very soon.”

Carissa called Sophia to give her Katie’s instructions.
She smiled as she could hear Sophia give a hushed curse.
“I’m leaving with Thomas. We’ll see you tonight.” She
tucked her phone back into her purse and touched his arm,
enjoying the way his breath caught. “It was nice of you to
come by and see her.”
“I feel like she’s this legend and I finally got to know
her. I’m starstruck.”
“She’s everything to my mother and to me.”
“I know.” He took her hand and interlocked their
fingers. She looked up at him and smiled.
“What do you say we head over to the school and
pound some nails? I really feel like that would lift my
mood right now.”
Thomas laughed. He really needed to remember to
pack those extra clothes for spur of the moment manual
labor.
“Sure.” He opened the door for her to climb in behind
the wheel and she stopped.
“What’s this?” She lifted the single wrapped rose from
the seat.
“It’s for you.”
“Thank you.” She lifted the bud to her nose. “You’re
full of surprises, aren’t you?”
Thomas rocked back on his heels and shoved his hands
into his pockets.
“C’mon, let’s go.”
A simple comment and he had suddenly become
uneasy. What surprises did Thomas still have? As much as
he was taking over her every thought, she knew so little
about him.
“Just a second.” She laid the rose on the dash and
turned to him. “I want to thank you properly.”
Carissa raised her arms around his neck and pulled
herself up to him. She skimmed her lips over his as his
hands slipped down her sides and settled on her hips.
The kiss wasn’t long but its meaning went far. She bit
at her lip as she pulled away and Thomas lowered his
forehead to hers and rested it there.