Chapter 6
“Dating is like cooking. You have to break a few eggs to create the perfect omelet!”
— MATCHMAKING MAMAS
Jamie
My doorbell rang as I pulled open my oven door to check on the batch of biscuits crisping up on my baking sheet. There were already a dozen cooling on a wire rack I’d laid out on my kitchen bar.
Was I stress baking? Maybe.
I’d been trying to shrug off the date that didn’t happen with Hank, but that was easier said than done.
My heart had skipped twice when I’d seen him at the park, looking good enough to eat. I’d thought for a brief second that the dating gods were finally shining on me and I’d gotten my Prince Charming at last.
What a joke. They were clearly having a good laugh at my expense instead. I mean, what were the odds the Matchmaking Mamas would mix me up with another Jamie and set me up with a straight guy?
On second thought, it was kind of on-brand for them. They were a bunch of old ladies playing cupid. What did I really expect?
The biscuits weren’t done, so I left them and went to answer the front door. Maverick was standing on my porch, Silas beside him.
“Hey, babe.” Silas held up a bottle of wine. “Can we come in?”
I’d texted them both in a moment of weakness. Hank had given me the out to tell them the date had gone okay—it wouldn’t have even been a lie, because it was the best bad date I’d ever had—but I was a terrible liar. It took them two seconds to suss out that something had gone wrong.
“I’m sorry for spiraling. You didn’t have to come over.”
“Eh, Damon’s just watching the Thurston College football game anyway,” Maverick said with a casual shrug. “You know I don’t care about sports.”
He acted unbothered, but he was in the honeymoon phase of his relationship. He should be enjoying his new love life, not worrying about my lack of one.
Silas grinned. “And I finally got a Saturday without a wedding. That calls for a drink.”
Tramp nosed forward, tail wagging. Lady was snoozing, totally pooped out after all the playing they’d done with Bruno, and later a couple of other dogs, while Hank and I ate a spread of sausage, cheese, and crackers that he’d brought to the park.
Surprisingly, it hadn’t been that awkward once we got past the not a real date part.
Hank had chatted about his grooming job at BowWow, and I’d finally shared my goals to open a dog treat bakery. He’d been excited about the idea, and that excitement had carried me all the way home.
All the way through prepping ingredients and starting my first batch of dog biscuits.
Somewhere halfway through, the disappointment had hit hard, though.
Hank had been perfect. Gorgeous and sexy, yes, but also genuinely nice.
He’d made jokes to put me at ease, encouraged my far-fetched dream, and doted on his dog in a way that made my insides melt.
And he was totally, one hundred percent off-limits.
Despite all that time at the park, Tramp still found the energy to jump up on Silas as he and Maverick stepped inside. His paws wrinkled my friend’s designer shirt. He always dressed so stylishly for our little town.
“Tramp!” I snapped. “Get down.”
Tramp ignored me utterly. Silas chuckled and patted his head before grasping his legs and easing him to the floor. “You’re just too big, aren’t you? But I see you. Don’t you worry.”
“I’m working,” I said, “so we need to take this party to the kitchen.”
“I thought something smelled good.” Maverick sniffed at the air. “Ooh, are you making cookies?”
“Not for you.” I started back to the kitchen. “I decided to make some samples to take over to the dog park next week. I’m going to try to set up an online shop for gourmet dog treats.”
When my matchmaking attempt failed so miserably, I’d figured I might as well focus my energy on getting my business life on track. Plus, it made for a good distraction.
“Oh, that’s awesome!” Maverick said. “Right, Silas?”
“Yeah. Totally. The next time I book a doggie wedding, I’ll hire you to cater.”
I grabbed two oven mitts from the drawer beside my stove. “Is that a thing?”
Silas chuckled. “No, but it totally should be.”
Maverick grinned. “I bet I could put together some bouquets that were safe for pets to consume.”
“Decorations and food,” Silas said, “can’t beat that deal!”
I grinned over my shoulder as I reached into the oven to retrieve my dog biscuits. Two minutes in, and Maverick and Silas were already making me feel better.
“I’d pay good money to see that.”
“Hey, in this town, crazier things have happened,” Silas said.
“Too true.”
I pulled out the cookie sheet and surveyed my biscuits. I’d done them in the shape of a banana to be cute. The ingredients included banana, yogurt, and a variety of oats. The beefy treats were cooling in the shape of little bones.
I had a ton more ideas I wanted to try, like sandwich cookies filled with vanilla and peanut butter and paw-print wafers decorated with dog-friendly icing.
All the biscuits were healthier than anything you’d find in the grocery store, sourced with fresh ingredients and oven-baked.
I loved how healthy they were, but more than that, I enjoyed watching owners pamper their pets and show them they were treasured.
Of all the world’s creatures, I thought that a dog’s love was the purest.
“These look so good,” Maverick said, picking up one of the bone biscuits. “Do you think a person could eat it?”
I laughed. “Maybe technically? I don’t advise it, unless the idea of a beef biscuit appeals to you.”
Silas rattled through drawers until he found the corkscrew. “How about I feed you wine instead?”
“Good idea,” Maverick said as he plopped onto a barstool. “Though those banana ones are adorbs.”
I slid one onto a little plate and put it in front of him. “Knock yourself out.”
“There’s no…I don’t know, horse meat or something weird?”
I glared at him. “Of course not. I wouldn’t feed that to my dogs.”
“Hey, you were the one warning me not to eat those other ones,” Maverick said with a teasing smile.
He took a nibble, tilting his head in thought. He smacked his lips. “Hm. Little dry.”
I rolled my eyes. “Everyone’s a critic.”
“Here.” Silas placed a wineglass in front of him. “Drink up.”
Tramp came around the corner, giving us his best begging eyes as Silas handed a second glass of wine to me.
“Well, this guy sure isn’t complaining,” Maverick said. “Can I?”
“Sure, but that’s your last one until dinner, Tramp!” I said sternly. “You can’t eat all the merchandise.”
Tramp looked at me, panting happily. Yeah, I wasn’t much of a pack leader. He walked all over me, but he was cute doing it.
Maverick bent to feed a biscuit to Tramp, which naturally meant he had to give one to Lady when she peeked into the kitchen, drawn from her doggy bed by the promise of yummies.
“So, enough small talk,” Silas said. “Tell us more about this dating disaster.”
I groaned. “Can’t we just drink wine and make fun of how disgusting Maverick and Damon are together?”
“Hey!” Maverick grinned. “We’re not that bad. Although, Damon did something so cute this morning. I woke up to find these post-it notes all over my body.”
“That’s not creepy at all,” Silas muttered.
“They said stuff like, Best heart ever, and um, prettiest smile…”
“He put these on you while you were sleeping?” I asked.
“Yeah, pretty clever, huh?”
I exchanged a look with Silas. “Creepy,” we both said at the same time.
“No!” Maverick exclaimed. “You know we prank each other. It used to be kinda mean, but now it’s all these sweet things. Every time he does it, my heart melts.”
“Because you’re sickening,” Silas deadpanned, “as was previously established.”
Maverick pouted and took a gulp of his wine. “I guess you had to be there.”
“Either way, it’s not really helping Jamie feel better, is it?”
Maverick winced. “Sorry.”
I sighed. “It’s fine. The wine will help. Lots and lots of wine.”
“I’m just confused,” Silas said. “I’m not into this matchmaker stuff, but it sounded like you guys hit it off. You said you were texting and he was really sweet. So, what went wrong?”
“Well, for one thing, he turned out to be straight.”
“Shut up!” Maverick exclaimed.
Silas raised his eyebrows. “How the hell did that happen?”
I waved my hands. “The whole thing was a big, mortifying mix-up. He told me Iola set him up with a woman, so I can only assume he got my number by mistake or something.”
“That sucks so hard,” Silas said, while Maverick nodded in solidarity.
“Yep.” I gulped my wine, downing half the glass. “Maybe it’s a sign I should just give up on a love life.” I shrugged. “If I want to launch a new business, I don’t have time to date anyway, right?”
“You can’t give up just because of one bad experience,” Maverick said.
I gave him a flat look over the rim of my wineglass. “What makes you think this is my only bad experience?”
My last attempt at dating had been a pushy guy who got angry that I didn’t want to fuck on a first date. The one before that had wanted a casual hookup situation only, which had been fine at first, but…
Well, I wasn’t getting any younger. I could get sex when I needed it. I wanted something more than that, though. I wanted a partner—someone to come to at night, to take to dinner at my family’s place, to wake up beside in the morning.
Ridiculously, Hank’s image flashed behind my eyes. Well, that wasn’t going to happen, no matter how much I liked the guy. And truthfully, I barely knew him. He was probably hiding a dozen red flags anyway, right?
“Come on, Jamie, you know you want that fairy tale ending,” Silas teased gently.
I scoffed. “And you’re the one who always tells me it’s wishful thinking.”
“Maybe, but only because I want to protect you from shit like this.” He sighed. “But you wouldn’t be you if you gave up on love entirely.”
“Maybe not,” I murmured. “But maybe I’m tired of being me.”
Maverick hopped off the stool and wrapped his arms around me. “It’s going to get better. It is. If you need to take a break from matchmaking, fine. But there’s someone out there for you. I know it.”
I closed my eyes, soaking in the warmth of his embrace.
“Okay, enough,” I said, shrugging him off. “I need to start another batch of biscuits.”
Maverick looked around. “Seriously? Two dozen seems like plenty.”
I shrugged. “Baking is my happy place.”
Silas lifted his glass then. “Well, then, cheers to baking. Feel free to throw in a few human cookies while you’re at it.”
I went to my pantry and pulled out a package of Oreos. “Here. Have at it.”
Maverick’s eyes lit up, and Silas tore into the wrapper like he’d been starving all night.
I held out my glass to Maverick. “Top me.”
He smirked. “Sorry, I’m taken. Maybe you and Silas can make a pact to get together if you’re still single when you’re fifty.”
I picked up a banana biscuit and threw it at his face. “Fifty? Just put me out of my misery if we’re having pity parties at that age.”
Silas laughed. “I’ll drink to that.”