Page 40 of The Matchmaker and the Marine

He stood up. “Thanks, Stacey. I’ll let you know after I confirm with Beth. It’s tentatively at two.”

“Hey, give the process a chance and let Melinda work her magic. She really is one in a million.”

The image of her face made him smile inside. “Yes, she is.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s just that when you talk about Melinda, you seem to smile a lot more. Is there something going on between the two of you?” Stacey sat up in her chair.

“We’re just friends.” Adam felt like he was a kid fibbing about a girl at school he had a crush on. Oh jeez, did he have a crush on Mel? “I need to go upstairs and check on Skye.”

“Be careful, Adam. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”

“Not to worry.” Adam gave her a smile while his heart gave a quick thud in his chest. “Catch you later.”

Mel continued to enjoy sitting on her patio. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander to Adam. Spending time with him made her think and feel things that she had considered long dormant. Images in her mind invariably turned to John. Loving and living with him for all those years were a gift. He had been her best friend, confidante and biggest cheerleader. When she’d struggled with her dissertation, he had made pots of coffee and read every page. When she had received her doctorate, he took her to the swankiest restaurant in Philadelphia and they spent the night at the Ritz. She remembered he had been so proud of her. He told everyone who would listen from the waiter to the front desk clerk to other guests what they were celebrating.

“Melinda?”

Her eyes flew up and she sat straight up. Her heart pounded in her chest. “Stacey, hi.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle you. I hope you don’t mind me just dropping by.” She held up a bottle of wine and two paper cups. “I was looking for some girl time.”

“Sure, join me.” Stacey handed her a cup and Mel looked her in the eye. “Seriously, if we’re drinking wine at lunch, we can’t drink out of paper. I’ll be right back.”

Melinda hurried into the house, her steps light with relief. It seemed like perfect timing as she was starting to drift down memory lane and that always ended with tears.

She took two clear wine glasses from the shelf and returned to where Stacey was sitting. She seemed to be taking in every detail of the pergola. “Adam is doing an amazing job.”

Mel beamed. “It’s coming out perfect. From the first time I looked at this house I thought it cried out for something exactly like this.” She held out the glasses for Stacey to pour the wine. “It’s as if Adam saw my vision, and then created it.”

Stacey nodded, accepting a glass. “That’s what I think Will does a lot too. It’s like we communicate without words.”

Melinda took her seat again and sipped the cool white wine. Over the rim of the glass she studied Stacey. “This is good.”

“It’s from a winery in Rhode Island. We got a case as a wedding present.” She held up her glass and took a sip. “At first I thought, who’d give wine as a gift? But after the first taste I was like, this is a great idea.”

Melinda went straight to the point. “Stacey, what’s on your mind?”

She feigned innocence. “What do you mean?” Her shoulders moved up and down as she held back a laugh. “All right, you got me. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and I’m wondering why you don’t date.”

It was a good thing Melinda was sitting down as that was not what she expected Stacey to blurt out. What could she say to explain her decision? She looked off toward the hummingbird feeder hanging from the maple tree.

Her voice was soft. “John was the love of my life. He was generous, quick-tempered but the kind to get over it. He was a man you could count on. We were together for more than a decade. We were best friends as well as lovers. There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by that I didn’t feel lucky to have ben his wife.”

Stacey swirled the wine in her glass. “Do you think he would want you to be alone?”

Mel slowly shook her head. “Probably not. We never talked about the what ifs of life. You know, like the danger of his job. I’ve told myself you only get one great love in a lifetime. But lately I’ve been wondering am I really just protecting myself from getting hurt.”

“What’s made you change your mind?”

Melinda drank a little more wine. She needed time before she answered Stacey.

She shrugged as an image of Adam popped into her brain.

Stacey set her glass on the round, glass-topped table. “Have you considered plunging into the dating pool again?”

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