The Mutt and the Matchmaker: A Matchmaker Mystery Novella (10 page)

Ruby looked back and forth between them like their conversation was a bouncing ping pong ball.

Not understanding why Jane wasn’t happier, Tom said stubbornly, “You solved the case.”

“Which will probably result in the mother of four children being left fatherless and motherless now that their mom will go to jail.” Jane got to her feet.

“Jane, I’m sorry I screwed up.”

She fixed him with a hard work. “Fool me once,” she recited coolly, “shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

“It’s not like that,” Tom argued.

Jane dipped her chin toward his aunt. “Thank you for the tea, Ruby.”

Without sparing him a look, Jane, head held high, marched away.

“You’re an idiot, Thomas,” Ruby chastised gently.

“I know,” he said, rushing to the window to watch the woman he loved walk out of his life.

The corners of Jane’s mouth ached from keeping her smile pinned in place for so many hours.

To keep her mind occupied with something other than Tom, Jane had thrown herself into the last-minute preparation for the adoption fair.

So far the day was a major success with a big turnout, quite a bit of money raised in cash donations, and the successful pairings of many pets and their new fur-ever homes. She now found herself sitting on an uncomfortable folding chair in the adoption ring, a large circle lined with haystacks that smelled like manure, smiling at every stranger who peered inside to look at the remaining dogs. At the opposite side of the ring, fellow volunteer, Donna, introduced a black lab mix to a family with a young son.

She looked down at Calamity, who was huddled beneath another folding chair. The mutt looked almost as miserable as Jane felt.

She’d been miserable from the moment she’d found out Tom had lied to her, and since she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him, she’d been miserable ever since.

Alyssa had told her she was better off, that most men, and all P.I.’s, couldn’t be trusted. When Jane had asked her friend why she hated private investigators so much, she muttered something about “personal experience” and changed the subject.

Jane was so miserable that she imagined she saw Tom’s face in the crowd of potential adopters. She blinked, but the mirage didn’t go away.

She blinked harder, but he was still there.

Her heartbeat sped up. She got to her feet as he swung open the door and entered the ring.

He strode toward her purposefully. “Jane, I—”

Jane barely saw the blur of brown that tripped him, and since he made no effort to save himself, she assumed Tom didn’t see it at all. One moment he was walking toward her, the next he fell head-over-heels, landing with a dull thud flat on his back on the ground.

“Are you okay?” Jane asked, hurrying over.

Before he could answer, Calamity leapt onto his chest and began excitedly licking his chest.

Since Tom laughed at her ministrations, Jane decided he couldn’t be too badly hurt.

“That’s him,” Donna whispered in her ear. “The perfect match. You have to make sure he takes her home.”

Jane nodded, realizing the other volunteer was right. Tom was the perfect match for Calamity, the dog no one else could get near.

She smiled ruefully as she realized that Armani’s matchmaking prediction had, in its own way, been right. Just not in the way anyone could have predicted.

As Tom got up and dusted himself off, Jane tried not to notice how good he looked in his jeans and polo shirt. He wasn’t the one for her. He was the one for her dog.

“Now I understand why she got her name,” Tom joked, scooping up the tail-wagging dog and cradling her against his cheek.

Jane smiled weakly, hoping he couldn’t see how miserable she was. “She growls at everyone else.”

“So you keep telling me.”

“You should take her home. The two of you are meant to be together.” Her voice cracked at the end and she looked away.

He put the dog back on the ground. “Stay,” he ordered sternly.

She sat immediately.

“Good girl.”

She beat her tail against the ground.

“So what do you say?” Jane asked. “Will you adopt her?”

“I’ve got a check and everything.” He pulled out a folded check to her. “I fell in love with her the first time I saw her.”

Jane nodded her approval. “I’m glad.”

“I fell in love with you outside of The Pudding Place.”

Jane blinked, speechless.

“And it scared me.” He stared at her intently as though hoping she’d see the truth of his words in his eyes. “That’s why I didn’t tell you what I really do for a living. You scared the crap out of me.”

“But why?”

“Because you made me feel alive for the first time in a long time and I was afraid of trusting that. Of trusting you.”

“Well now I don’t trust you,” she parried, desperate to protect her heart even though every instinct she had was screaming for her to throw herself into his arms.

“Look at the check, Jane.” He waved the paper at her.

She took it with trembling fingers. As she unfolded it, she realized it was two pieces of paper. The first was made out to the shelter in the amount of the standard adoption fee. The second was a cashier’s check made out to her in the amount of $34,567.

The exact amount her Gerald had stolen from her.

She looked up at Tom, who was watching her carefully.

“How?” she asked.

“I figured out who your ex was and tracked him down.”

Jane felt tears prickle the back of her eyes.

“And he just handed this over?”

Tom shrugged eloquently. “I convinced him you deserved the chance to make your dream come true.”

Her chest swelled with gratitude. It was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. “Thank you.”

“I believe in you, Jane. I always believed in you, even when you were my prime suspect.”

“How could you think—?”

Simultaneously they both said, “Dianne.”

Tom hung his head apologetically. “Sorry.”

“Me too.”

“Kiss him, you idiot,” a voice called from outside the ring.

Jane looked over at Armani, who was making a kissy face at them.

“Did you bring her?” Jane asked.

Tom shook his head.

“Kiss. Kiss,” another voice chimed in. Ruby stepped closer to the ring. “Don’t be an idiot, nephew. You know the girl is special.”

“Kiss,” the Schroders, proud new owners of a Beagle-Schnauzer mix yelled out.

“You can spend the rest of your lives making up,” Astrid added.

“Kiss. Kiss,” Armani urged.

“Kiss. Kiss. Kiss. Kiss.” The nearby crowd chanted, following the matchmaker’s lead.

“Woof! Woof!” Calamity barked, echoing the sentiments of everyone.

Embarrassed by all the attention, Jane looked to Tom for help.

“Even the dog agrees,” he said, an amused twinkle in his eye.

“Your dog,” Jane corrected.

Tom cupped her cheeks in his hands. “Why don’t we make her our dog?”

Before she could answer, he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed away any doubts she might have had. As his lips and tongue worked their magic, Jane forgot about  being embarrassed. She forgot about the crowd watching them. She forgot to breathe.

Less than a year later, a room full of their family and friends chanted the request to kiss again at Tom and Jane’s wedding reception.

Enveloped in her new husband’s loving embrace, Jane decided it was the happiest moment of her life. “You never told me,” she whispered in his ear.

“Told you what?”

“What Armani called me. She called you Tarzan. What did she call me?”

Tom grinned. “You want me to tell you here? In front of everyone?”

“Whisper it to me.”

“She said you were luscious fruit, ripe to eat.” He bit her earlobe. “She was right.”

Tom indulged the crowd by laying a big, fat, sexy kiss on her for everyone to see.

The crowd clapped and cheered. Even Calamity, who’d in the past year become the most well-adjusted dog imaginable, and even served as their ring bearer, joined in with a couple of enthusiastic yips.

When they finally came up for air, Jane scanned the wedding guests for the woman who was responsible for her happiness, but she couldn’t get her attention.

Armani Vasquez was watching a certain blonde, very, very carefully.

The end

Find out who Armani fixes up next in The Matchmaker Mysteries, Book 2.