Page 28 of Perfectly Matched: Harbor Falls Romance Collection

If there was one thing Mary Lou Picketts knew for certain, she was not the popular girl on the block. She’d learned that early in life, when she didn’t get picked for sports teams in Physical Education class, or that one year when she tried out for cheerleader—at her mother’s urging—and didn’t even make the first cut. Of course, it didn’t help that her classmates were the voters, even though she had the best cartwheel of all.

In middle school, she ate lunch alone because she spent most of that time with her nose wedged in a book. She didn’t keep her nose in a book because she lacked friends—she read because she was addicted to reading. Socializing at lunch wasn’t her thing. Her few friends sort of understood but eventually they found other lunch mates. It was okay.

Her time reading at home was limited because of homework and helping her mother around the house. Disabled due to Multiple Sclerosis, her mother was appreciative. Plus, back then her father was a truck driver and often gone. She read at bedtime and early mornings when she could sneak it in.

High school wasn’t much different, although she did manage a date to her senior prom, going with a friend of a friend. College helped her to break out of her shell a bit more, but she had to admit, she was probably the only girl in her dorm to turn down a date because she was in the middle of an epic novel. After college, she realized, finally, that being introverted, and a loner was actually an okay thing. It was safe. She was in control of her life. And she didn’t have to deal with a lot of drama from others. She preferred her drama between the pages, or on the movie screen.

Mary Lou loved books. Books took her to places she knew she would never see and let her experience things she knew she would never experience. She loved story and she loved the written word. Books and reading were pretty much her life. That’s why she turned down the teaching job at Harbor Falls Middle School after graduation, and instead, took her English degree and turned it into a way to make a decent living working at home editing fiction and doing a little book doctoring.

Fiction, fantasy, make believe worlds in her head…well, it was sort of her thing. She supposed that’s why she periodically indulged in fantasy of the love-struck variety, especially when it came to the likes of one country music star, Nash Rhodes. He was a fantasy she found difficult to get out of her head.

She knew it was childish and adolescent. Heck, she was twenty-nine years old. And lately, with Nash coming to town, her heart and brain were working overtime in the daydream and fantasy department when it came to the possibility of see Nash in person—on stage, that is, and from a safe distance.

That was why when Suzie Hart made her the offer yesterday—insisting she come to dinner this weekend to meet Nash—Mary Lou’s stomach knotted, and her tongue went dry, but she found the words to turn Suzie down flat. Suzie appeared surprised but Mary Lou had to follow her gut. Fantasizing about Nash Rhodes was one thing. Meeting him in person was quite another.

It was not going to happen.

Fantasy worlds and real worlds do not collide. Happily-ever-afters only happen in books.

The thing about fantasies was that they don’t materialize in front of you in real life—and meeting Nash face-to-face was something she never expected to happen. Emotionally, that was just over-the-top and too much to deal with.

Hitching her bag over her shoulder, Mary Lou pushed the heavy wooden door and stepped into Sugar High on Main, a local Harbor Falls icon and bakery. She was a semi-regular here, generally arriving after the first wave of coffee drinkers about eight o’clock in the morning.

By eight-thirty, she had secured her table in the corner, fired up her laptop, and had fortified herself with a piping hot cup of coffee du jour—Sydney Hart, Suzie’s cousin and owner of Sugar High, featured flavored coffees every day—and an orange marmalade scone. Mary Lou did have a bit of a sweet tooth and she made no excuses for it.

Usually, she worked through the quiet hours of the morning there, pouring herself into her work. Occasionally, she’d glance up when someone new popped in or a conversation on the other side of the bakery grew louder. Sometimes a few officers from the Harbor Falls police department gathered there before or after a shift and they could get a little rowdy. She didn’t mind, really. Her eyes needed a break from the screen and what better scene than a few young officers? She might be an introvert and a book nerd, but that didn’t mean she was dead. Ogling a well-built guy in uniform never hurt anything, did it?

Luckily, she gawked from afar. People mostly left her alone. The regulars knew she was working, and she was fine with that.

This morning, there seemed to be a little activity with the officers as they watched Katie Long, the new librarian in town, walk from the parking lot and through the front doors of the library. She’d noticed recently that this appeared to be a routine activity. Katie was quite attractive and was a topic of interest to the men. Sometimes in the afternoon, Mary Lou headed across to the library if she needed to do some research, and was enjoying getting to know Katie, herself.

She smiled at the officers as they leaned toward the window spellbound while the new-in-town librarian made her trek, and then sighed and sat back in their seats when she was inside the doors of the building.

Mary Lou was proud of putting herself out in the world at Sugar High. It got her out of the house and gave her mother some space too. She made no excuses for being introverted and a loner, though—she liked it. Seeing people and an occasional conversation with others was good for her socially, maybe even emotionally—but was also good for her work. She loved listening to sidebar conversations and tucking those away in her brain for future use. Sometimes those conversations would come back when she was working on a book. She often felt that a few of her client’s books could use a good dose of real-life flavor.

“Another scone, Mary Lou?”

Glancing up from her computer, she smiled at Sydney.

“No, but I was about to mosey over for another cup of coffee.”

Sydney smiled back.

“No need to mosey. Got a pot right here. Freshly brewed. You had the almond brew today, didn’t you?”

Mary Lou nodded.

“I did and I love it. Thank you. It went perfectly with the scone.”

She watched Sydney top off her almost empty cup. Sydney occasionally stopped by to see if she needed a refill and for small talk. Mary Lou was appreciative of that—Sydney and all the Hart family had always been friendly toward her.

“I’m working on that scone recipe for the Southern’s Best magazine contest. Did you like it? Would you change anything?”

Sydney leaned in, listening.

“I mean, you sample my wares often. Is it up to speed with my regular offerings?”

Mary Lou picked at the last crumb on her plate.

“You can see that I devoured it. It was lovely, Sydney. I think you have a winner here. When is the contest?”

Setting the coffee pot on the table, Sydney said.

“Not for a few months. I have time but I want it perfect. You think the almond coffee is a good complement?”

“It’s perfect.”

A shadow crossed the table.

“What’s perfect?”

Mary Lou glanced to her right and caught eyes with Suzie. Uh-oh.

“Oh, hi. We were just talking about Sydney’s scones,” she said.

Sydney turned.

“Suzie! Oh yes, Mary Lou was just giving me a quick critique. She says the almond coffee pairs perfectly with the orange marmalade scone.”

“Oh, is that right now?”

Suzie arched a brow and paused for a moment, studying Mary Lou. It almost made her a tad uncomfortable. What was going on in that head of hers?

Suzie continued.

“Mary Lou, my new cookbook is all about food pairings, or what goes good with what. I’m calling it Perfectly Matched. Looks like you’re a natural. I need your help.”

“Me?”

“Yes!”

Sydney interjected.

“And you know she knows books, right?”

Mary Lou watched Suzie’s brows knit as she glanced to her cousin.

“No. What?”

“She edits books and stuff. Right Mary Lou?”

Mary Lou cleared her throat.

“I… I do work with books but mostly fiction. I know nothing about cookbooks, sorry to say.”

Suzie suddenly became more animated.

“That’s okay. It’s perfect! I knew there was a reason I needed to pop in here this morning.”

She took a deep breath, sighed, and stared at Mary Lou.

“Look, I have to run now but be at my house Friday—let’s say ten o’clock in the morning. I’ll call you later with details. Okay?”

Suzie gave a little jump and wiggle, smiled broadly, and then took two steps toward the front entrance. She stopped, turned back, her face animated, and jumped again.

“I’m so excited!”

But Mary Lou didn’t want to leave this hanging. She stood, watching Suzie exit.

“Oh, Suzie, no! I mean, I don’t think I can do this. My time is…”

But Suzie was gone. She looked to Sydney.

“What just happened here?”

Sydney shrugged and grinned.

“You just got Suzie-suckered.”

“Excuse me?”

Laughing, she added.

“It’s a thing we see often in our family. Suzie doesn’t take no for an answer and before you know it, you’re suckered deep into doing something you don’t remember having agreed to do. Suzie-suckered.”

With a deep sigh, Mary Lou sat again. “Oh.”

Sydney patted her hand and smiled, meeting her gaze.

“No worries. She means well. It will be fine.”

Mary Lou stared at the bakery exit door. She wasn’t entirely certain about that.

****

Nash Rhodes stared out the window of his rolling home on wheels, his eyelids heavy and his body weary. Four cities in four days, and that was just the most recent run. They were traveling along an interstate in some southern state, somewhere between Alabama and Tennessee, he guessed, headed for North Carolina. One. City. At. A. Time.

He and his band had been on the road for six months straight now with very little downtime and as soon as they finished this upcoming gig in Asheville Thursday night, they were all headed for some R Suzie knew there was very little time for action. In her heart of hearts, Mary Lou Picketts was not in love with Barry Phillips. She was getting older. He was convenient. She was settling.

Settling was never a good thing.

She just had to convince Mary Lou of that, and fast. The Nash Rhodes hospital benefit concert was Saturday night.