Cupid's Christmas (Serendipity #3)(33)

“I’m impressed with your sensitivity over this dog.” He smiled at her and she blushed. “I’m serious,” he said earnestly, “I think you’d be great with all kinds of animals.”

“I’ve never really—” Lindsay was going to explain that it was just this one dog but, before she had the chance, he interrupted.

“I was thinking maybe you’d like to learn to work with me,” he said, “…as an assistant. You could do some easy things to get started, and I’d be right there beside you to help out.” he smiled, but it was a smile that told her this was already much more than a job.

“That sounds great,” she said enthusiastically. She wanted him to know how pleased she was without giving away the secret of what she was feeling—what she’d been feeling for the past week. The truth was, Lindsay more than liked the idea of being close to him. She wanted his hand to touch hers, his shoulder to brush against hers, and she wanted to breathe in his musky scent then turn to find him so close she could again see the green flecks in his eyes. Yes, she wanted all those things, but there was always that terrible fear—love came at such a high price, you gave your heart to a man you trusted and then discovered the ugly truth. It was an irony of life that she’d learned the hard way—men who seemed too wonderful to be true, usually weren’t.

That evening after dinner Lindsay remained in the kitchen to supposedly help Eleanor with the dishes, that’s when she again brought up the subject of Matthew and his history with women. “Has he had a thousand different girlfriends?” she asked.

“Not to my knowledge,” Eleanor replied.

“Is he trustworthy?”

“As far as I know he is, I’ve never had reason to think otherwise.”

“Was he ever engaged?”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

Eleanor nodded. “It was shortly after he’d opened his practice. He was engaged to a lovely girl from Cherry Hill. I think her name was Brianna. She wanted to be a reporter, and when she got an offer from the Seattle Inquirer, she moved out there.”

“Did he ask her not to go?”

“Whether he did or didn’t, I don’t know,” Eleanor shrugged. “I never asked. A situation like that is too close to the bone. If Matthew wanted to keep it to himself, I felt I should respect his wishes.”

Even though Lindsay couldn’t argue with what Eleanor said, she also couldn’t help but wonder if Matthew still had thoughts of Brianna.

Eleanor had moved on to slicing peaches for tomorrow’s garden club luncheon when Lindsay turned back and asked, “What did she look like?”

“What did who look like?”

“Brianna. What did she look like?”

Eleanor laughed out loud. “Good gracious Lindsay, if that’s what you’re worrying about you can quit worrying. Brianna was eight years ago and Matthew’s dated a dozen different girls since then. He’s not thinking about—”

“But, what did she look like? Did she look like me?”

Eleanor shook her head. “Not at all.” She turned back to the peaches then added, “Brianna was six inches shorter than you and nowhere near as pretty.”

Lindsay came up behind Eleanor and hugged her.

The following Saturday night Lindsay and Matthew had their first date. She wore a black dress that was a bit snug in some spots and a smidgen low in others. He noticed immediately.

“Wow!” he exclaimed. “A lot different than the lab coat.” He didn’t have to say anything more—the look in his eyes said it for him.

“I hope that means what I think it means,” Lindsay looked square into his eyes and this time she didn’t look away when the thirty seconds were up. That’s the rule—thirty seconds of eye-to-eye contact is flirtatious, anything more is an invitation—and that’s exactly what she intended it to be.

“I know you like Italian,” Matthew said nervously, “but there’s this wonderful little French Place in downtown Philly and I was thinking—”

Before he could finish the thought, she said, “I like French even better.”

On the drive to Philadelphia they spoke of many things—music, books, food, travel, childhood memories and mutual friends, but the topic of conversation that never surfaced was Matthew’s moved-to-Seattle-fiancé. Hopefully she was the past and this was an evening for new beginnings.

Bistrot La Minette was everything Lindsay could wish for—cozy, intimate and full of charm. “It’s beautiful,” she sighed.

“I thought you’d like it,” Matthew said, “I do too. It reminds me of Paris. Have you ever been there?”

Lindsay answered no and then asked if he had.

“Yes, twice,” he said.

Her tongue itched to ask who he’d been there with, but she bit back the words. Lindsay had always thought of Paris as a place for lovers and she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d taken Brianna there. Before those thoughts could blossom, he spoke again…

“I spent the summer of my junior year in France. It was Mike Trent, two guys he knew from Duke and me. We backpacked from Provencal to Paris then stayed there for five days.”

“I’m so jealous,” she said jokingly, “I’ve always wanted to see Paris.”