His heart filled with hope. Maybe there was a chance with her after all. She was at least opening a door for him to approach. Now if he just knocked loud enough she’d have no choice but to let him in. He was going to start working on making that happen right away.
Tanner picked up the phone. When the man on the other end answered Tanner said, “Hey, Charlie, I need a favor.”
“What’s that?”
Tanner wasted no time in saying, “I need you to hire a matchmaker.”
“I don’t think my wife would like that.” Charlie chuckled.
“No, I need you to pretend you need a matchmaker. I’ll go in your place.” Tanner couldn’t afford for this to go wrong.
“You’re not making any sense. Why can’t you just do it?”
Tanner explained he wasn’t sure that Whitney would meet him if he didn’t surprise her. That he needed to get her to a public place so she was more likely to hear him out. “You do this for me and I’ll take your calls for a month.”
“Wow, you want this pretty bad.”
“I do.”
“Then it’s a deal. What’s the number?”
A few days later Charlie called back with a date and time at Café Lombard. “Good luck, man. She must be pretty special to go to this kind of trouble.”
“She is. Thanks.”
Three days later Malcolm stopped him in the hallway outside the CICU. “Tanner, can I have a word with you?”
“I’ve only got a second.” He was due to meet Whitney in two hours and he wouldn’t be late. Tanner was anxious and hoped Malcolm wouldn’t be long-winded.
Malcolm smiled. “I wanted to give you a heads-up on this. The board met last night. You got the directorship.”
Tanner should have been super excited but all he could think about was meeting Whitney. The directorship paled in comparison to winning Whitney back. He took a few steps backward, anxious to leave. “Thanks for letting me know.”
Malcolm gave him a quizzical look. “Maybe you and Whitney would like to have dinner with us to celebrate.”
“I’ll let you know,” Tanner called over his shoulder as he headed down the hall.
Two hours later Tanner sat at a table in the patio area of the café where he and Whitney had met his prospective matches. What would her reaction be when she saw him? Would she turn and walk away? Would she listen to him?
His pulse jumped. There she was. His heart swelled. She looked beautiful. He’d missed her so much that it had almost become a tangible thing he carried.
Wearing a sky blue dress that fit her torso then flared gently around her legs, Whitney looked nothing like the dowdy shopkeeper of old. There was a spring in her step that was new. A sick feeling came over him. What had put that there? Had she found someone new? Maybe she wasn’t missing him as much as he was her.
Tanner saw the second her step faltered as she crossed the street. She’d seen him. Their gazes met. He held his apprehension in check by sheer will. Standing, he never took his eyes off her. She continued toward him at a slower pace.
When she reached him he said, “Will you join me?”
“I have—” she cleared her throat “—to meet a client.”
“I’m the client.”
“What?” She looked as if she might run.
He quickly said, “I wasn’t sure you’d meet me so I asked a friend to pretend to need a match.”
She sighed and her shoulders slumped. “Tanner, I don’t have time to waste with games.”
“I’m not playing a game.” It was his life they were talking about here. He pulled out a chair. “Please, join me for just a minute.”
For a second he feared she was going to say no but she reluctantly sat, her hands clutching her purse. “What’s this all about?”
“I was wondering if you could help me find someone to love and who will love me?”
* * *
Me. Me. Me. Whitney wanted to shout.
Did he mean it? Could she trust that she had heard him right? He had said love. Something he’d said he wouldn’t give. Did she dare hope? She watched him closely. “What’re you talking about? I thought we settled this weeks ago. I’m not the right matchmaker for you.”
“You’re usually not this slow to catch on,” Tanner said with a smile.
“To what?” Now he was starting to irritate her.
“You’re my perfect match. I’m telling you I love you. I hope you still feel the same about me.”
Whitney’s hands trembled. She could hardly breathe. She’d never thought she’d hear him say that. Could her dreams be coming true?
Tanner was looking at her with anticipation and a touch of uncertainty. Was he afraid she might turn him away? With his experience with love he might think it was something that came and went easily. Hers lasted forever.
She jumped to her feet and flung herself into his arms. His hands went to her waist, giving her a furious hug. Her arms circled his neck and her mouth found his. His kiss was all about acceptance and pleasure. But more than that—love.
As Tanner began deepening the kiss someone behind them said, “Excuse me.”
They broke apart. Heat ran into Whitney’s face. She looked at Tanner and he had a bashful look on his as well. They had both forgotten they were in a public place. Whitney eased back into her chair.
“Sorry,” Tanner said to the young waitress. “She can’t keep her hands off me.”
“Tanner!”
He smiled and gave her an innocent look. “It’s true. Would you like something?”
Whitney glanced at the waitress then said to Tanner, “What I’d really like to do is go home.”
He asked, “I’m invited?”
Whitney smiled brightly. “You are. We need to talk.”
“I agree.” Tanner stood and dug in his pocket, pulling out a bill. After giving it to the surprised waitress, he offered a hand to Whitney.
Grinning and feeling like the sun was shining just for her, Whitney slipped her hand into Tanner’s larger secure one. They made their way around a few tables and out to the sidewalk. Tanner led her down the street toward where his car was parked.
“Where’s your car?”
“I took a streetcar and walked,” she said.
They continued down the hill and Tanner said, “Thank you for your letter.”
“It was the least I could do. I was pretty ugly to you.” She’d spend the rest of her life making that up to him.
Opening the car door for her, Tanner said, “That you were.”
She gave him a teasing swat on the arm. “But you deserved it.”
“We’ll discuss that more when we get to your house.” He pulled out of his parking space and headed up the street. When he had moved into the rhythm of the traffic he took her hand and placed it on his thigh under his. She’d come home. It felt so good to have his touch again. But they still had things to discuss.
It didn’t take long until Tanner slid the car to a stop in front of her house. She climbed out as he did and met him on the sidewalk. “Would you rather walk awhile or go inside to talk?”
“I think we’d better walk.” Tanner took her hand again. “If I get you behind a closed door my mind is going to be on other things besides talking.”
Tanner’s raspy voice sent a shiver down her spine. “Walk it is.”
They started up the sidewalk along the grassy knoll across the street from her home.
“Whitney, I’m sorry I’ve been such an idiot. The truth is I’ve been in love with you since you came to my rescue in the balloon. I just didn’t want to admit it. My parents and what I saw in their marriage screwed me up.”
“No more than the insecurities I carry around with me because I was once fat.”
“Yeah, but my
issues weren’t even based on facts. It turns out that my father loved my mother. She was just so jealous that she killed it.”
Whitney stopped and looked at him. “How did you find that out?”
“I went to see my father the other weekend. We had lunch together. He didn’t much want to answer my questions but he did. Turns out he’s been protecting my mother all along.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He let my brother and me believe he was the bad guy so that we wouldn’t blame my mother. He wanted us to love her.” There was acceptance in his voice she’d not heard when he’d spoken of his parents before.
“It takes a special person to sacrifice themselves for another.” She started up the sidewalk again.
“I hadn’t thought about it like that. It figures a woman with a big heart herself would see it that way.” Tanner squeezed her hand.
Whitney gave him a sympathetic look. “But she wasn’t all that bighearted when she sent you out the door, blaming you for all the things she didn’t like about herself.”
He smiled at her. “I don’t remember you doing that.”
Could she ever say sorry enough? “Well, I do. That’s what it boiled down to. I was finding a way out so I wouldn’t have to face situations I wasn’t comfortable in.”
“We all dodge those.”