Met Her Match Read online

  “None taken. Weren’t you originally supposed to meet Kit’s son?”

  “Yes.” Stacy got down from the ladder and held out the staple gun to Terri. “I think you’re better at this than I am. Would you mind?”

  “Not at all.” Terri climbed up and Stacy handed her the fabric. “Tell me about him.”

  “Rowan is a beautiful man. Tall and slender and graceful. I would imagine that he’s an excellent dancer.”

  “Didn’t you meet him and Nate at the same time?”

  “Yes. And...” Stacy paused, a long blue cloth in her hands. It was intricately embroidered in silver thread. “This is terrible to say but everyone has a physical type they like, and Rowan was... Well, he was...”

  “Your type?”

  Stacy gave a little laugh. “I shouldn’t say that since I’m going to marry Nate, but yes. Nate is really... Well, you know. Larger.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Terri thought of Nate just back from the gym, muscles bulging, sweat dripping off him.

  “I’m not complaining because Nate is a wonderful lover. Very thoughtful and...” Stacy smiled. “Long-lasting, if you know what I mean.”

  All Terri could do was nod.

  “But the size of him is a bit off-putting. I’ve suggested he try yoga and I do believe I’m making progress. Anyway, Rowan...” Stacy grimaced. “Beautiful or not, he was a jerk! I don’t know what his father had told him about me, but Rowan acted like I was a girl who couldn’t get a date. He seemed to think I was pursuing him. He made some remarks that were so cutting that I wanted to dump my wine over his head.”

  “But Nate stepped in and calmed you both down?”

  “Yes, he did. Did you know that Nate was a diplomat?”

  “I did,” Terri said. “So you and Nate moved in together right away?”

  “Not instantly. Actually, it was never official. I just sort of stayed. But then my parents were going crazy about Bob and me getting back together. I needed to tell them that there was someone else.”

  “How did your parents like Nate?”

  Stacy groaned as she began pulling picture frames out of a box. “They were awful! My father said Nate looked like a guy who pulled up the anchor on a ship. Dad said Nate could never be the—” She broke off with a sideways look at Terri. “I talk too much.”

  “Nate could never be the mayor of Summer Hill?”

  “Right.” With a sigh, Stacy plopped down on the wicker sofa. “It’s been awful between my parents and Nate. They don’t like each other at all. Mother keeps locking up her Lladró figures for fear Nate will break them, and Dad...” She shrugged.

  Terri didn’t dare sit on the white fabric so she threw a green scarf over the seat.

  “I don’t know what to do. I love Nate. He’s so interesting and we like exactly the same things and...” Stacy looked at Terri. “At least I thought so. I’m not sure he likes his office or the Stanton house.”

  “Did you ask him?”

  “Of course, but he just says he has so much work to do that he can’t talk about it now. He seems to love the lake. In DC he never once said that he wanted to be near water. And I modeled his office after the apartment we were in. I thought he liked it. But now I’m not sure he even likes his job. Last night I tried to talk to him about his future clients and when his uncles could help him open the office. But he wouldn’t talk about it. He just said he had to go.”

  “Go where?”

  “He’s staying with Dr. Jamie and his wife. I told Nate we could camp out in the Stanton house, so we could be alone. But he said his cousin needed him and...” Stacy threw up her hands. “I don’t know what’s going on with him. I was only gone for a few weeks, but it’s as though everything has changed. It’s like he doesn’t even want to be with me.”

  “I think you two need to sit down and talk,” Terri said. “You should be honest about what you want out of life and honest about yourselves.”

  Stacy turned toward Terri. “I’ve never been dishonest with Nate. Do you know something that I don’t?”

  “Just that he’s been quite grubby around here and he seems to enjoy the physical labor. He hasn’t been like the man you described.”

  “Yeah, well, men like to watch football. They all have that part of themselves.”

  “Rugby.”

  “What?”

  “Nate likes rugby.”

  Stacy was quiet for a moment. “He hasn’t been, you know, having...?”

  “An affair? No,” Terri said. “Not even a hint of sex. I never saw him going after any of the females here, even the ones who let him know they were willing.”

  Stacy gave a sigh of relief. “We just need time. Tomorrow I’m making a picnic for Nate and me. It’s to be at six, after everything is set up. I thought we’d go to Moonlight Beach. Would you join us?”

  “I’m not sure—”

  “Please?” Stacy asked. “Nate seems so at home here. Maybe you can get him to relax, to open up, to talk. If he’d just tell me what’s wrong, maybe I could fix it. Maybe—”

  “Okay.” Terri stood up. “I need to go. Other people...”

  “Sure. I can do the rest of this.” Stacy smiled. “I’m sorry you and I missed out on a lifetime of friendship. You’ve been great today.”

  “Uh... Yeah, me too.” Terri said as she practically ran back to the road.

  * * *

  Terri was in the kitchen going through the cabinets trying to find a blue pan that she’d seen Nate use. It was oval and had a rough coating inside. He’d said it was perfect for fish and that’s what she had. Mr. Allen had given her a big striped bass in thanks for figuring out how his tent was to be put up. He’d held the poles while she screwed them together. This was his first Widiwick and he was very excited.

  When the doorbell rang, Terri grimaced. It was nearly 9:00 p.m., she was hungry and she did not want to have to solve even one more problem.

  She wiped her hands on a towel, took the frown off her face and went to the door. When she saw Nate through the glass, she smiled so wide her skin nearly cracked. She flung open the door. “Why didn’t you use your key?” It wasn’t easy to keep from throwing her arms around his neck. It seemed like years since she’d seen him.

  He stepped inside and he started to say something, but then he glanced at the kitchen and saw the long white package on the counter. “Is that a fish?”

  “Mr. Allen gave it to me. I was going to cook it but I can’t find that big blue pan.”

  Nate went into the kitchen, opened an overhead cabinet and pulled the pan from the top shelf. “I was going to hang it on the wall, but it’s so heavy that I’d have to use a grappling hook.”

  Terri laughed, glad to again feel the easy, light camaraderie between them. She leaned on the counter and watched him season the fish. How often she’d watched him cook!

  Nate put oil in the heavy pan, then set it on the stove and turned on the burner.

  “Did the Turner Twins help you today?” Terri asked.

  “Those two pretty boys don’t know which end of a hammer to use.” As he got a potato out of the pantry and began to peel it, he smiled at her. “Why did they call Jamie this morning?”

  “Mr. Arnold thought he was having a heart attack, but it was just anxiety. Mrs. Mellerson was there in one of her low-cut tops. Besides him, Jamie had to deal with two smashed thumbs, four splinters, a twisted ankle and a sprained wrist.”

  Nate put potato slices in the hot pan. “I know that later he had to deal with an allergic reaction to a bee sting. He sent the boy to the hospital.”

  Terri was watching him. For all his small talk about the day, she could see that he had something more serious he wanted to say, but it looked like he needed time. “How’s Hallie?” she asked.

  “Big. Tired. She hates Jamie. He thought for sure that it was twins as they run in our