An Engagement For Two

Nikki took a breath, then blurted it out. “That you arranged to bring Lucas and me together.”

Maizie smiled. She was surprised that it had taken Nikki so long to come to this conclusion. “I see. Well, those were just the circumstances that arranged themselves, dear.”

“That you took advantage of,” Nikki said, knowing the way her mother operated.

Maizie tried to understand what her daughter was getting at. “You’re not telling me that, after all these years of marital bliss, you’re going to get upset with me for meddling in your life, are you?”

Untangling her fingers, Nikki gripped the chair’s armrests to keep her hands apart. “No, I’m not.”

“Well, I’m glad we cleared that up.” Maizie smiled at her. “Anything else?”

Nikki still hadn’t gotten to the reason she was here. “Yes, um...”

“Go ahead, dear,” Maizie urged patiently.

“I need you to meddle again, Mom.”

“You’re looking for another husband?” Maizie asked wryly.

Nikki’s eyes widened. For a moment, she didn’t realize that her mother was kidding. “No!”

“Good, because I really do like Lucas.” Still smiling, Maizie became serious. “Talk to me, Nikki,” she encouraged. “It never used to be this hard for us to talk. What’s on your mind?”

Nikki decided to choose a roundabout approach instead of being direct. “Do you remember my friend Michelle McKenna?”

“Mikki? Of course I remember her. Lovely girl. Not the best parents,” Maizie recalled, “but a lovely girl. She was over at the house a lot when you were younger and you two went to medical school together,” she said to prove that she really did remember the girl. “What about her?”

“I want you to do for her what you did for me,” Nikki said.

Ah, now it was all beginning to make sense, Maizie thought. “Does she know you’re asking me to...matchmake?” Maizie asked tactfully.

“Oh, no, no, and I don’t want her to know,” Nikki said with feeling. “She’d never agree to it.”

Maizie was well acquainted with that sort of reaction. “Why would you want me to do it, then?”

“Because she’s a wonderful person, Mom,” Nikki cried. “And she deserves to be happy. But I’m worried she’s going to wind up alone. She’s so afraid of making her mother’s mistakes, she won’t even think about going out with anyone.”

Maizie looked at her daughter thoughtfully. She was well aware of the other young woman’s situation. Mikki’s parents had fought constantly and then went through a vicious divorce when she was a preteen. Her mother went on to marry—and divorce—three more times. She had no idea how many times Mikki’s father had gone that route. The man had dropped out of sight, from what she gathered.

What she did know was that all this had taken a heavy toll on the young woman. She’d had Mikki stay over for sleepovers as often as she could to spare her daughter’s friend from witnessing the acrimony manifested by her parents.

“Will you do it, Mom? Will you work your magic for Mikki?” Nikki asked her.

Maizie was more than happy to help. “Yes, of course I will. On one condition, though,” she added, eyeing her daughter.

“What?” Nikki asked.

“You tell me how you found out that I had a hand in bringing you and Lucas together.”

Nikki laughed, relieved. “You mean other than the fact that I’m brilliant, like my mother?”

Maizie smiled. “Yes, other than that.”

“Jewel figured it out and told me,” Nikki answered. Jewel was Cilia’s daughter and she, like Theresa’s two offspring, was Nikki’s friend.

“I see.” She nodded, accepting the explanation at face value. “All right then, I’m going to need some current information about Mikki—it’s been a while since I’ve seen her,” Maizie told her daughter. And then she smiled. “Don’t worry, this’ll be painless, and Mikki will never know that you came to me—unless you want her to know,” she qualified.

“Heaven forbid,” Nikki cried. Then, in a more subdued voice, she asked, “Will you let me know who you pick out?”

Maizie smiled mysteriously. She knew it would be for the best if her daughter remained in the dark until the proper meeting was arranged and pulled off.

“Oh, darling, a magician never reveals her secrets,” Maizie told her daughter with a wink.

Chapter One (#ud9ad6dfc-c045-5e53-bf8c-312562824536)

“There’s someone to see you, Mrs. Manetti.”

Melinda Jacobsen’s announcement as she peered into Theresa’s back office was accompanied by a giggle best suited to the teenager she’d been eight years ago when she had first come to work for Theresa’s catering company in an apprentice capacity.

Theresa jotted down a last-minute thought about a menu she was creating in her notebook and then looked up.

“Bring her in, Melinda,” Theresa told the young woman whom she’d eventually placed in charge of baked goods.

Hearing Melinda giggle again, Theresa wondered what had come over her. Melinda was usually very levelheaded.

“It’s a he.” This time the giggle came before the words, further arousing Theresa’s curiosity.

In less than ten seconds, her curiosity was laid to rest. Jeff Sabatino stepped around Melinda and entered the small, crowded office where she took her calls and created the menus that made her catering business such a prosperous success.

As if reading her mind, the young woman reluctantly left the room before Theresa could ask her to leave.

The tall, broad-shouldered man with thick, slightly unruly dark hair smiled at his former boss. “Hello, Mrs. Manetti. I hope you don’t mind my stopping by without calling first.”

Jeff had gotten his start with Theresa’s catering business before branching out and opening his own restaurant a handful of years ago. Theresa had been one of his first customers and was proud of his success. She had always thought of him as a protégé.

“Of course I don’t mind. And Jeff, you own your own restaurant, and I saw that you’ve been getting some really stunning reviews lately. I think you can call me Theresa now,” she told him warmly. Theresa gestured toward the two chairs that were facing her desk, the ones where clients usually sat when they came to engage her services. “Please, sit.”

“That’s all right,” Jeff told her. “I’m not staying long.”

“Looking to buy me out?” Theresa asked with a trace of amusement. She knew that wasn’t the case, but Jeff appeared way too serious for this to be strictly a social call. “Or are you here because you need help—because your restaurant is doing so well, you find that you just can’t keep up with the demand?”

“Neither,” Jeff answered, “although I’ll never forget the debt I owe you. I would have been nothing more than a short-order cook if it hadn’t been for what you taught me.”

Theresa thought back to when he’d first walked into her establishment, a very handsome, very nervous young man with a great deal of promise. The memory warmed her heart and made her smile.

“Ah, but you had the potential to do so much more than that, and you wanted to learn. Desire is something I can’t teach, Jeff. Everything else, I can.” She assessed him more closely as she stood. She saw worry in his light green eyes. “This isn’t a social call, is it, Jeff?”

“Not exactly,” Jeff confessed.