Page 19 of Failure to Match

In my defense, she’d asked.

Vivian had died a thousand deaths over the last hour, and that last comment pulled a tortured little noise out of her. Inherprofessional opinion, I was a waste of salary and benefits, and any employer who hired me after this was an idiot.

It didn’t matter that I’d had a perfect streak before Jackson’s file hit my desk. It didn’t matter that she’d deemed me to be a “promising candidate” for the next available senior consultant position beforehehappened. It didn’t matter that I’d received nothing but praise from my previous clients or that I’d been pushed to the point of burnout.

To her, none of that mattered.

Minerva’s lips twitched, amused. “You think he’s that dire? He needs a full-time babysitter and dating coach?”

“To be honest, he probably needs two.”

She laughed, Jackson ground his teeth like he was dead set on cracking at least three molars before this meeting had concluded, and Vivian was undoubtedly making a silent vow that my great-great-great grandchildren would pay for the sins my big mouth had committed in this room today.

Minerva tapped a slim finger on her armrest. “Why do you think that’s a better approach than simply having him sit down and participate in your assessments himself?”

Oh, that was easy. “Because I’m not sure Jackson actually knows what he wants. His team has relayed to us what hethinkshe wants, but every time we’ve handed him exactly that, he’s turned it down. Not once, not twice, but sixty-seven times.”

“Makes sense,” she said. “It’s settled then. We’ll take the package.”

Jackson turned to her, thick brows slamming together. “Absolutely not. This is where I draw the line, Minerva. I won’thave a stranger move into my home and follow me around like an imprinted fucking duckling for an entire month just so I have to sit through more of these ridiculous dates. We had a deal.”

“Past tense,” she snapped back at him, her tone sharp. “And it’s no longer on the table. I asked you totry, Jackson.”

His jaw tightened. “I have tried. I’ve provided almost every data point asked of me, attended every date on time, and sat through hours upon mindless hours of utterly insufferable conversation. If you only knew?—”

“I’m not an idiot and I don’t appreciate being treated like one. Your version of trying would not include asking the woman you’re on a date with if she’s hard of hearing. If it is—if that’s what you truly consider appropriate behavior—then you don’t deserve what you already have, let alone anything more.”

His mouth shut with an audible snap. It would have been amusing if their back and forth wasn’t so intense.

“You’ll agree to the coaching, and you’ll put actual effort in this time around. We’ll speak about striking a new deal later, with significantly tighter terms.”

Every muscle in Jackson’s body was coiled into knots. He looked ready to explode.

“Minerva, if I may,” Vivian interjected.

“You may not. We have had two meetings per month for the better part of a year and not oncehad you thought to mention any of this. You led me to believe that everything was running smoothly and justified the prolonged process by claiming that Jackson was simply ‘a little picky, and rightfully so.’ Had this been brought to my attention sooner, it would have been dealt with sooner. I told you on day one that I wanted transparency.”

Vivian kept her chin up. “I apologize if you don’t believe I’ve been transparent with you. However, Jackson does not need coaching. Revisiting some of his assessments should be enough, especially if he’d agree to just… loosen up some of his criteria.”

“How would you know?” Minerva shot back. “From the sounds of it, you haven’t touched his file since it landed on your desk along with the big fat check covering your overpriced fee.”

“I—Minerva, I assure you I’ve been working just as diligently as the rest of the team to find your nephew a suitable match.”

I’m sorry, WHAT?!

My mouth fell open before my brain could stop it. Everyone saw.

“We’ve tried doing things your way, Vivian, and it’s yielded less than desirable results.”

I could almost hear Vivian’s blood boiling behind her perfectly polite smile. “Fine,” she finally agreed. “I’ll see which senior consultants are available. Even better, I’ll do it myself.”

“No need.” Minerva waved her hand. “Jamie will handle it.”

Jackson shot Minerva a you-can’t-possibly-be-serious look, and I agreed. Because she couldn’t possibly be serious.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Vivian said. “Jamie lacks both the experience and the expertise to perform the required assessments, and she’s nowhere near qualified to do the coaching.”

“Agreed,” Jackson said, as though he knew exactly what he was talking about. Asshat. “And I hardly think it would be appropriate given what happened last night.”

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