Matchmakers Box Set: Matchmakers, Encore, Finding Hope (3 page)

“What kind of man is this Pablo anyway? What kind of man wouldn’t let his best cellist come home once in a while?” Katie asked.

Sophia felt the sting of guilt wash over her. She’d always told her grandmother it was Pablo’s schedule that kept her from returning. In truth, she simply couldn’t face David or the place they’d called home.

If it hadn’t been for Pablo deciding to take three months off to make some decisions on his next career path, she’d have forgone the party her grandmother had wanted to have and sent her a card. She was quickly realizing that the grudge she carried against David consumed her.

“Grandma, you know he’s sweet man. We’ve been blessed to have had so many dates offered to us,” she said, and Katie nodded. “You do know I met the Queen?”

“You wrote and said as much.” Katie sipped her coffee, obviously unimpressed by the news.

“Well,” she began, waving her hand as though clearing the subject away, “what about this birthday party for you and Millie?”

“It is going to be wonderful.” The smile returned to her grandmother’s face and, likewise, to her own. “You know, the only time Millie and I didn’t celebrate our birthdays together was when she lived in Germany while her husband was in the service.”

“I’m sure you wrote each other though.”

“Damn straight. How many best friends can say they were in the nursery together? I used to gloat because I was three hours and forty-two minutes older than her. I can tell you that’s no prize anymore. Eighty-four.” She let out a sigh. “Who would have thought it would pass so fast?”

Sophia felt the tug of long ago times and people as her grandmother spoke of her life.

“Why do you do that?” Her grandmother nodded her head to draw attention to Sophia’s hands.

“Why do I do what?” She realized she’d been fidgeting with the lapel of her robe.

“The scarves. The clothes. Your robe. Why do you feel you have to hide yourself? Why do you work so hard to hide your scars?”

With a trembling hand, Sophia reached her hand beneath the robe and felt for the most obvious scar. Instead, she felt the Saint Nicholas medal that hung around her neck. Her mother had given it to her, promising the patron saint of children would keep her safe. It had worked. The only time it had left her skin was while she was in the hospital after the accident that killed her parents but only injured her.

Saint Nicholas hid under the high collars of shirts and scarves, tied just so to hide her scar. No one knew he lay against her chest and kept her safe. No one knew—except Katie and David.

She adjusted her robe again. “I didn’t realize I did it anymore.”

Katie pushed up from her chair and walked to her granddaughter. She took the lapel of her robe in her hands and laid it open. “It’s part of you. An amazing part of you. Be proud.” She kissed her cheek and walked back into the house.

Sophia raised her hand to her neck where the scar stood raised against her skin on her throat. There had been a trachea tube there for a month, and it had left its mark just as all the other surgeries and needles had, up and down her body.

“I always thought it was one of the most beautiful things about you.”

David. Sophia pulled her robe together as he joined her, sitting in the chair Katie had just occupied.

“I agree with your grandmother. You shouldn’t hide your scars.” He took a sip of his coffee. “You never hid them from me before.”

“I showed too much of myself to you physically
and
emotionally,” she bit back angrily.

“That’s what people do when they are in love.”

“I’m not in love with you.”

“But you were.” He leaned back in the chair and crossed his ankles. “Are you sure some of those feelings still don’t exist?”

The air had become less appealing. She wished she were back in Italy with Pablo.

Keeping her robe pulled tight, Sophia stood. She let out a curse as she hurried past him into the house. “David Kendal, you have no idea of the feelings I have for you. The good Lord would send me to hell for them.”

Sophia tried to make her way up the stairs without anyone seeing her. She needed time alone, and her hands longed for the comfort of caressing music from her cello.

She made it as far as the staircase before Millie called her name. Hesitantly, she turned back toward the kitchen where Millie and her grandmother sat at the table.

“I guess you know we already started planning the party,” Millie admitted.

“David said something about that.” She gave her grandmother a pointed look.

“I knew you wouldn’t come home unless I was making you plan.” Katie smirked as she cut through her blueberry pancakes.

Sophia sat down next to the older women and set her coffee mug on the table. She was mindful not to adjust her robe.

“What’s left to do?”

“We have the church’s community room booked, and Carissa wrote out the invitations for us,” Millie answered enthusiastically.

“So, you need food and music and decorations?” Sophia stood and walked to the drawer that had always contained pens and paper and pulled out one of each. “Should we do a buffet or a sit-down meal? We could cut costs if we prepare the meal ourselves, but then what’s the fun in doing
all
the work? And what kind of cake do you want?”

Katie patted her hand.

“I knew you’d take care of everything. You’ll do a great job. Now, David is at your disposal, and he’ll drive you wherever you need to go.”

Sophia’s stomach clenched.

“But I could just drive your car.” There certainly was no reason to involve David.

“Oh, darling, I sold that car four years ago.” Katie began clearing the table.

“I didn’t know.” She felt lost again. “How do you get around?”

“David and Carissa. They’ve been a delight to have here.” Katie patted her granddaughter’s shoulders. “Why don’t you head up and get ready. I’ll tell David you’ll be down shortly to go to the bakery to pick out our cake.” Her grandmother had turned to leave before she could protest his participation.

“Millie.” Sophia leaned in closer to Katie’s best friend. “You knew he would be flying that plane, didn’t you?” she demanded in a whisper.

When Millie dropped her head, wouldn’t look up, and never answered, Sophia had her answer. She shook her head and kissed Millie on the top of her head. Once again, she was in the hands of the matchmaking duo, but this time she wasn’t a willing participant.

Sophia hurried up the stairs for the second time that morning. Fourteen days. That’s all she’d agreed to. In fourteen days, she’d be back in her small, dingy apartment overlooking the Space Needle in Seattle. Back to her corner of the world where she didn’t have a physical reminder of why she’d walked away from David or the guilt that she’d never returned to her grandmother.

She showered in the bathroom attached to her bedroom. Her bedroom in her grandmother’s house was almost as big as the neglectfully furnished apartment she dreaded returning to.

When she had managed to apply her makeup and tame her curls, she dressed in a soft cotton dress and slipped on a pair of sandals she’d purchased in Italy during her tour at Easter. After one last look in the mirror, she adjusted the necklace with her Saint Nicholas medal around her neck and reached for her light, silky scarf. She tied the scarf with precision that made her look sophisticated and hid her scars.

The moment she opened her door and stepped from her room, she ran headlong into the teenager she’d briefly seen that morning with earphones in her ears and an iPod in her hand.

Carissa threw back her head, tossing her hair from her face, and narrowed her eyes at Sophia.

“I’m so sorry.” Sophia had her hand to her chest to calm the rapid beat of her heart.

The girl before her said nothing. Her double-layered tank tops and jeans, which had seen better days, radiated her youth. Her eyes were heavily lined and hid behind the long, straight hair that fell well past her shoulders.

Sophia straightened. “Carissa, right? I’m Sophia. Sophia Burkhalter. My grandmother is Katie.” She smiled, but the sneer on Carissa’s face made it difficult. “It’s nice to meet you,” she continued, but Carissa walked past her, down the stairs, and out the front door.

The silence made her feel as though she didn’t belong.

She found David in the hallway fixing a piece of molding that, much like Carissa’s jeans, had seen better days. She watched as he put the piece of wood against the wall and tapped it into place with a finishing nail and hammer. She’d forgotten how handy he was.

They had bought a house on Cherry Street two years before she left. It needed major repairs, and they put two years of blood, sweat, and tears into it. Together they had picked out paint, flooring, window covers, and lighting fixtures. It was going to be the home they would share forever.

Then she found out what he’d been hiding from her.

She signed the house over to him and walked away from the life they had built. For ten years, she’d been unable to forgive him. She still didn’t know if she could.

“You look nice,” he said, lifting his head once the molding was secure.

“Thank you.” Daring herself, she took a step closer to him as he stood and wiped his hands his jeans. “I’ve been instructed that you’ll be driving me around today.”

“What a coincidence. That’s what I was told, too.”

“I can just give you a list…”

“No.” He set the hammer on the table in the hallway. “You’re here, and we’re going to give them one hell of a party. Let me wash my hands, and we’ll get going.”

Sophia nodded and went to tell her grandmother she was leaving.

When she entered the kitchen, Millie and Katie scuttled back from the doorway.

Sophia opened the cupboard, took down a glass, and filled it at the sink. She purposely looked out the window to divert her attention from her scheming grandmother and her friend.

Their planning and matchmaking had once filled Sophia’s life with joy. She’d fallen in love with David Kendal then, and that’s what the two women wanted now. But there were too many obstacles. She had a life and a career far away from Kansas City, and David had his daughter.

Carissa sat on the front steps, her iPod still in her hand and her head bobbing to the music that played in her ears. Sophia hurried to the car before the teenager noticed them, but just as she shut her door, Carissa’s head shot up.

“Hey, did you still want a ride?” David yelled from his side of the car.

Carissa pulled the earphones from her ears and glared at her father, much as she had at Sophia earlier. “I want to meet Emily at the mall.”

“C’mon, I’ll give you a ride.”

She didn’t move.

Sophia rested her hands in her lap and bit her lip.

“Can I sit up front?” Carissa slowly walked across the grass.

“Sophie is already sitting there,” he pointed out. “Lots of room in the back. How will you get home from the mall?”

The teen yanked open the rear door on David’s side of the car and flopped into the backseat.

“Do you care?”

Sophia noticed him watching her in the mirror as he backed out of the driveway. She wanted desperately to ask him about Carissa, but she kept her hands in her lap, her eyes forward, and her mouth shut.

When David stopped the car at the curb in front of the mall, Carissa was quick to jump out, but so did he. He closed the door.

“I am not pleased with your behavior,” he scolded in a hushed tone, but Sophia heard him.

“Why is she here?”

“She’s Katie’s granddaughter. You will treat her with the same respect you show to Miss Katie.”

“I don’t like her.”

“You don’t know her.”

“I don’t care.” Carissa turned up the volume on her iPod.

He tugged at her earphones. Her eyes widened as they dropped to the ground.

“I will not have it, Carissa. I will not have you treat Sophia like this. You straighten up, or things are going to get tough.”

She replaced the earphones without another word.

He opened his car door. “I’ll pick you up in three hours.”

“Fine.”

He sat back down behind the wheel as they watched his daughter trudge through the doors of the mall. He puffed out a breath and raked his fingers through his hair.

“Well, that couldn’t have been more awkward.” He pulled away from the curb, gripping the steering wheel like he wanted to strangle it.

Sophia bit her lip. “I really didn’t mean to cause any problems. Why don’t you go by the rental car place, and I’ll get a car. This is ridiculous.”

“Forget it. She’s bound to throw more than one temper tantrum in the two weeks you’re here. She’s a teenager. She’ll be fine. She’s really a good kid.”

The words didn’t fit the girl she’d met, but then again, she seemed to have a personal vendetta against Sophia, and who would blame her?

“Why are you living at my grandmother’s house?”

“We’re having a house built. It was your grandmother’s idea for us to stay there while it was being built. It’s helped us out a lot.”

“A house for the two of you?” The question sounded dumb. Why not for the two of them? Heat prickled up her neck.

“Yep. It was fun picking everything out together. It reminded me of our house.”

An ache erupted in her chest, and she had to look out the side window.

“When did you sell it?” Her voice carried a raw edge.

“As soon as you signed over your half of it.” He slid his glance toward her. “You didn’t know?”

She shook her head.

David guided the car through an intersection.

“It was
ours
. I felt lonely there without you.”

“I assumed you would stay there with your daughter and her mother.” The words, hidden in her soul for so many years, were free, and they were bitter.

“I think you assumed a lot of things.” She could hear the anger surface in his tone.

“You have no idea—”

“You made sure of it.” He pulled into the parking lot and shut off the engine, but he didn’t move and neither did she. “I have no idea what was going through your head. All I knew is my daughter needed me. And I needed you, and you were gone. I never thought you were a selfish person, but I tell you what, my mind changed when I came home, your closet was empty, and your ring was
in
the sink.” He scrubbed his hands over his face and let out a breath before opening his door and stepping out.