Cupid's Christmas (13 page)

I
can honestly say this is the first glimmer of hope I’ve seen in the Eleanor-Lindsay relationship. Oddly enough this turn of events was not of my making, but looking at the future, I can see it might be advantageous.

You, like most humans, probably think every person has a single perfect match—not so. Unlike Life Management events, perfect matches are something I control and if circumstances change I’m open to suggestion. A job change often means a new match pool, so if I see a better alternative, I’ll go with it. Of course I’ve got to get The Boss’s okay, but He pretty much knows what’s gonna happen before I think to ask. Since Lindsay hasn’t picked up on any of the matches I’ve offered, her love life is in a holding pattern.

Eleanor and John are another story. They’re already committed. There is no potential of a different match for either of them, so before I give Lindsay the go-ahead on anything, I’ve got to take care of them. They don’t know it yet, but there are a lot of problems ahead. Right now Eleanor thinks Lindsay is the major stumbling block, but she’s wrong. Ray is.

The night Eleanor told him about her relationship with John, he was like a wild man. Eleanor chalked it up to Ray having his father’s hot-headedness, but it’s a whole lot more. That young man is a pot ready to boil over. I saw what was in his heart at that Labor Day cookout and, let me tell you, it was ugly.

I was hoping when Ray saw the Gray’s house, he’d realize John doesn’t need his mother’s money. Regretfully, that was not the case. Every now and then, I come across a human with a mind so closed up that not even I can look inside. Ted Bundy was like that. And on occasion, Eleanor’s son can be the same way. All along I’ve believed with Ray there was hope, but that hope is looking slimmer and slimmer. I’ve got to find a way to get inside Ray’s head and change his way of thinking. If I don’t, Eleanor and John are in a very precarious position. Young or old, no couple can withstand the weight of such family pressures.

Three weeks from now, Ray is going to have a knock-down-drag-out argument with his mother and he’ll tell her that if she marries John, she’s as good as dead to him. I can’t let that happen. Parent-child love is not really my responsibility, but if I’m to save this match I have to do something.

It’s beginning to look like I’ve got a handle on the Lindsay situation, but when it comes to Ray, I’m stumped. I’m tempted to turn him over to Life Management, and I would if I thought I could get away with it. Unfortunately, they’d just kick him back. Not his time, they’d say, deal with it yourself.

Eleanor and John have the kind of love I’ve built my reputation on. If it wasn’t so perfect, I’d give up on it because there are way too many complications. I’m one entity with seventy-eight-thousand, four-hundred and sixty-three matches to do this year alone. How can The Boss expect me to give every falling-in-love-human my undivided attention? The truth is I could use a vacation. If I asked for one, you know what He’d say—Love never takes a vacation.  That might be true, but I’m thinking maybe a day off…

A
s far as Lindsay is concerned, the situation is starting to take a turn for the better. For weeks she’s been avoiding Eleanor, squirreling herself away in her room sleeping late, looking at magazines or playing on her laptop. Even when her stomach was grumbling for food, she skipped breakfast because it meant sitting opposite Eleanor. This morning was different. She was awake before the six-thirty alarm buzzed, and by seven-fifteen she was dressed and ready to go. When she walked into the kitchen, Eleanor was making coffee.

“Mmm, smells good,” Lindsay said. She poured herself a cup of coffee and purposely sat in the chair alongside Eleanor. They talked for almost twenty minutes, but not one word of the conversation was about John, nor was it edged with that all too familiar cynicism. Had I not seen that it was Eleanor sitting next to Lindsay, I could have easily believed the girl was talking to Amanda or one of her other friends. Eleanor told Lindsay everything she knew about Matthew and The Kindness Animal Clinic, and Lindsay, in turn, told Eleanor about the dog she’s been searching for. 

“I just know I am meant to have that dog,” Lindsay said.

“I felt the exact same when I found Canner,” Eleanor replied. “I named him Canner because that’s where I found him, behind a bunch of garbage cans out back of the school.”

“How long did you have Canner?” Lindsay asked.

“Well now, let’s see. When I found him I was eleven years old and when he died I was seventeen, but I’ve got no way of knowing how old he was when I found him.”

“Wow, six years. I’ll bet you really loved him, didn’t you?”

“Goodness gracious, yes. When Canner died I cried for months on end,” Eleanor sighed. “My stepdad was real nice and he offered to buy me a new dog, but I told him no dog could ever replace Canner. That was like trying to replace a member of the family.”

Hanging onto every word, Lindsay said, “Did you have any sisters or brothers?”

Eleanor shook her head, “No, but I sure did wish I had. Being an only child is pretty darn lonely…”

“It was the same for me! I had this two foot tall doll I pretended was my sister. I wouldn’t eat dinner if Mom and Dad didn’t let Genevieve sit at the table. I hung onto that doll for years and took it with me when I went off to college.”

“Do you still have it?”

“No,” Lindsay sighed. “One night we had a big party at the sorority house and the next morning Genevieve was gone.”  Lindsay was about to explain how she’d posted reward notices for Genevieve’s return, but the clock chimed eight, and she had to get going.

Eleanor walked to the door with her, “You have the directions, right?”

“Uh-huh,” Lindsay nodded then she climbed into her car and drove off.

As Lindsay drove, she found herself thinking about Eleanor—not the Eleanor who was constantly clinging to her father’s arm, but a young girl who was lonely and sad, a girl whose real father had been replaced by a stepdad.
At least he was nice
, Lindsay sighed, and then she began wondering what had happened to Eleanor’s real dad. Caught up in those thoughts, she saw the clinic’s sign as she passed the driveway, so she drove four blocks further, circled around three blocks, came back on the other side of the road and pulled into the parking lot.

Kindness Animal Clinic, the name alone caused Lindsay to conjure up the image of someone her father’s age, a man with silver hair, soft hands and a Santa Claus stomach. She was wrong on all but one count—he did have soft hands.

Matthew Mead had dark eyes, dark hair and broad shoulders. He looked like the type of man she’d meet at the gym. She mentally removed his white lab coat and pictured him in a skin tight tee and jeans. He was definitely the type. In days gone past, Lindsay knew she would have fallen head over heels in love with just such a man, but not now. Contrary to what people thought, bad memories didn’t bury themselves. They continued to bleed into every waking moment like a gash that refuses to heal regardless of how much Neosporin is slathered onto it.

She dredged up her interview smile and extended her hand, “Lindsay Gray,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

His smile mirrored hers—friendly, pleasant enough, but definitely not an invitation to something more. He didn’t lead Lindsay back to his private office, but motioned for her to have a seat right there in the reception area. He sat across from her and leaned forward with his forearms resting on his knees. “So,” he said. “Tell me a little about yourself.”

Lindsay fumbled through her purse, pulled out a copy of her resume and handed it to him. “There’s not much to tell,” she said nervously. “I’ve had two years experience dealing with customers in the bookstore, and although I’m interested in animals—dogs in particular—I’ve never worked with them before.”

“You don’t need veterinary experience for this job,” he said. “It’s basically sitting behind the counter, greeting customers, and entering their information into the computer.”

“Oh, I have computer skills,” Lindsay said.

“Good,” he replied. “Then you’ve got the job.”

Lindsay looked at him with a wide-eyed expression, “That’s it? You’re not going to interview other people or check my references?”

He laughed and it was a warm laugh, the kind she might expect from her father. “Aunt Eleanor’s word is enough for me,” he said, “If she says you’re good, you’re good.”

Lindsay was near speechless. “Great,” she stammered for want of something better.

“If you want you can start today,” he motioned to the empty reception desk. “As you can see I’m without a receptionist.”

This was more than she’d hoped for. Lindsay tucked her handbag in the cubby beneath the reception desk and followed Matthew through the hallway for a tour of the building. There were three examination rooms with steel tables in the center, jars of dog treats on the counters, and various posters on disease prevention. There was also a surgical operating room, which Lindsay hoped to never again enter, and in the far back of the building there was a long room with stacks of cages along one wall. Some of the cages were large, some were small, but only three had an animal in them—two dogs, one cat. As soon as they’d walked into the room, both dogs jumped up and began barking, the cat seemed oblivious to it all. Lindsay looked at the dogs, neither one was the dog she’d been looking for. “Are these the only dogs you have?” she asked.

Matthew nodded, “Right now,” he said. “In addition to veterinary services, we board animals for our regular customers. Sophie,” he pointed to the Yorkie, “is going home Friday. Butch will be with us until the end of next week. Another two dogs are coming in on Thursday plus three dogs and a cat on Friday.” He went on to explain that part of Lindsay’s job was to take each of the dogs for a walk twice a day. He reached into the closet and pulled out a freshly ironed lab coat—a match to what he was wearing. “You might want to wear this instead of your suit jacket,” he said. “There’s a lot of animal hair around here.”

Lindsay donned the lab coat and hung her jacket in the closet.

They returned to the reception room, Matthew booted up the computer then stepped aside and relinquished the chair. “You’ll catch on faster, if I let you do it,” he said. Once Lindsay was seated, he began a step by step tutorial of how to access each pet’s file and what information she had to enter for new visits or appointments. It wasn’t terribly different from the computer program Lindsay used at the bookstore, but catching a whiff of musky aftershave when Matthew leaned in to guide her to some new reference point, was definitely different. Howard hadn’t taught Lindsay the Big Book Barn system, she’d taught him. And, no matter how close Howard came, he’d never had anything more than the scent of dust and forgotten words.

After they’d gone over most everything, Matthew looked at his watch. “Perfect timing,” he said, “Max Cohen is coming in for a checkup at eleven, go ahead and pull his file.”

Step by step, Lindsay went through the process and after she’d entered the date and the reason for visit she turned to ask if what she’d done was right. She hadn’t realized that Matthew had squatted down in back of her so he could watch the screen as she worked and when she turned they were nose to nose. Close up she could see tiny green specs in his eyes, something she hadn’t noticed right off. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t realize—”

“No, no,” he answered, “I shouldn’t have been looking over your shoulder that way.”

At that very moment, the bell over the door tinkled and a woman with a large German Sheppard walked through the door.

“Hi there Max,” Matthew said, he came from behind the counter and bent to scruff the dog’s head.

Cupid…Pauses & Posters

S
ubtlety, I’m a master at it. Of course I’ve had centuries of dealing with women like Lindsay, so I’ve learned how to handle them. Attractive women come with a built-in problem. They can’t tell lust from love. A man with lust is not necessarily a man in love. This is something a woman like Lindsay finds difficult to understand. Instead of waiting for her perfect match, she picks up the gauntlet and makes mistake after mistake. Unfortunately, the result is always the same.

According to plan, Lindsay’s where she needs to be, but it’s too soon for anything else. That’s why Eloise Cohen got into a heated argument with her mother-in-law and stomped out of the house five minutes early. If I hadn’t stepped in, that over the shoulder glance would have led to something more, something that Lindsay is not ready for just yet. Soon maybe, but not right now.

Until she quits thinking about Phillip and all her other mistakes, she’s better off with a harmless flirtation.