Chapter 21
BILLIE
When I walked into Ever After Matchmaking’s sunlit office, the first thing that hit me was a cloud of Trevor’s signature cologne—a blend of sandalwood, bergamot, and subtle, mysterious undertones that he claimed made men and women alike “want to inhale me like a pastry.” The second thing that hit me was Trevor himself, six-foot-three, arms outstretched in a grand, swooping hug.
“Good morning, beautiful!” he declared, scooping me in with the same gusto he reserved for extra dirty martinis.
I returned the hug, laughing. “Why can’t you be straight?
” I asked a question I’d volleyed back and forth countless times over the years.
“You are gorgeous, smart, funny, and you give better hugs than anyone I’ve ever met.
And I don’t even like hugs. Also, you don’t even get on my nerves. It’s just rude.”
Before he could reply, Olivia’s cool, precise voice cut through the construction noise from outside and the hiss of the espresso machine.
“If he were, I would have put a ring on it long before you met him,” she called from her desk, not even looking up from her double monitor setup.
Today, her nails were a pale pink, clicking against the keyboard, while the gleam of her wedding band caught the sunlight with every movement.
“He rejected my lavender marriage proposal on more than one occasion.”
“And I was right!” Trevor seized her left hand and held it aloft as if presenting his evidence. “But look at you now! All wifed up, mother of twins, and still the baddest boss bitch west of the Mississippi.”
If there was one person who gave me hope that I might find love it was Olivia “Man-eater” Bradshaw. It still blew my mind that the divorce attorney was not only married but also a mom to twins.
Bailey’s bestie was a typical type-A, career-oriented, perfectionist. For over a decade she was a high-profile divorce attorney. Her entire life had been built around making partner at her firm before she walked away from it all to run Ever After Matchmaking and now be a mom.
I’d thought Olivia and I were two peas in a pod, but now she had two peas in a pod and did seem a lot happier than I ever remember seeing her when she was spending eighty-plus hours a week dissolving people’s marriages.
Would I ever find that sort of happily ever after? I closed my eyes, and my mind went back to Adam kissing me in bed last night. His hands on my—
“Can I get you something to drink?” Trevor asked, interrupting my instant replay of last night’s activities.
“No. I’m good.”
“Let’s get started.” Trevor motioned for me to sit at Olivia’s desk, and he lowered himself down beside me.
I glanced between the two of them. I’d almost canceled this morning. This weekend was very…eventful. But witnessing Genesis call Adam last night when he dropped me off was a wakeup call.
“Do you both meet with all of your clients?” I hated being the center of attention, even if it was only in a group of three.
“Only the VIP ones.” Olivia grinned.
“The difficult ones,” I translated.
“There’s nothing wrong with being selective.” Trevor smiled, showing off his perfect, straight, white teeth. “You’ve already told us a lot of what you are looking for.”
“On the survey.” I’d filled it out right after I agreed to have them set me up at Carly’s birthday party.
Trevor lifted his hand, counting off on his fingers, repeating what I’d said about him. “Gorgeous. Smart. Funny. Someone who doesn’t get on your nerves and who gives great hugs.”
Adam Knight. He was all of those things. He also wasn’t an option for several reasons. Two of whom were five years old and called him “Dad.”
“And we looked over the questionnaire you filled out.” Trevor glanced down at his iPad as Liv stared at her computer screen.
My phone vibrated, and I saw that it was Bailey calling, but I ignored it.
“Do you need to take that?” Trevor asked.
“It’s Bailey. I’ll call her when we’re done.”
I put my phone on silent. I just wanted to get this over with. Rip off the Band-Aid.
“So as far as your dealbreakers, your list is…comprehensive,” Liv commented.
Since that wasn’t a question, I didn’t respond. Some people felt compelled to fill awkward silences, I did not.
“When you said no kids, what if they were older?” Trever qualified.
“Older?”
“Older. Like, what if the man had kids in high school, or they were in college and out of the house?”
I actually had to stop and think about that. It was the first time anyone had ever asked me to fine-tune my list of dealbreakers, as if my romantic prospects could be calibrated like a coffee order. “I would consider that.”
At least then, hopefully, procreating would be out of their systems.
“So, adult children, on the table.” Liv made a note in her computer, her fingers flying across the keyboard with the kind of efficiency that had made her such an effective, terrifying divorce attorney.
I realized then that Liv had already made a massive spreadsheet of my dating preferences, likely cross-referenced with half the city’s eligible bachelors and every other client they’d ever had.
I wondered if there was a tab marked “Unresolved Childhood Trauma,” where she’d highlighted my reluctance to open up and my tendency to channel every emotion into work or sarcasm.
Trevor leaned forward. “The only physical attribute you included was height, someone over six feet.”
“It’s not that I want to date a basketball team, I just like to wear heels. All the time. Men say they’re fine with it, but eventually they get this complex. I’d rather avoid that conversation entirely.”
At five foot seven, I wasn’t tall by any stretch of the imagination, but it was strange what men felt insecure about.
Liv looked up, brown eyes sharp. “You also left education and religion blank.”
“They’re not a priority for me.”
“It’s strange, you’ve managed to be simultaneously specific and very vague.” Trevor tapped his pen on his iPad as he studied me. “It’s almost as if you had someone in mind that you were describing, or the idea of someone.”
Shit. Had I? I filled it out at the BBQ, after I saw Adam. Was I imagining who he had become? Was I picturing him?
Liv’s phone vibrated, and she looked down. “It’s Bailey,” she announced, her business tone slipping as she picked up her personal cell. “I’m just gonna check to make sure everything’s okay.”
“Hey,” Liv said, voice warm but with an edge of concern as she tucked the phone under her chin and started typing again at her computer. The click-clack reminding me of hailstones on a windshield.
“Hey, is my sister there? Billie? Is she there? Is she okay?” Bailey was speaking so loudly that her voice sounded like it was coming from inside a wind tunnel, all panic and static, and about three octaves higher than usual, but you could hear her.
Even through the tiny phone speaker, I could tell the way her words quivered on the edge of tears.
“Yeah, she is,” Liv replied, her voice the oral equivalent of a weighted blanket. “She’s fine.”
“Can I talk to her?”
Liv handed me her phone.
I pushed it away and mouthed, “I’ll call her back.”
“No!” Bailey’s voice ricocheted through the office at a volume usually reserved for tornado sirens and WWE wrestlers addressing the crowd. “Don’t you dare!”
I took Liv’s phone, exhaled, and pressed it to my ear. “I’ll call you ba—”
“No!” Bailey shouted again. “I almost called the police.”
“The police?” I blinked. Bailey did lean towards the dramatic, but the police?
Now both Trevor and Liv were staring at me as if I’d just confessed to a double homicide live on Oprah. I could feel my face flush, a pulse of embarrassment pounding just under my eyes.
“Yes, the police.” Bailey’s voice was strangled and breathy. “My sister has a stalker. She doesn’t show up for work and isn’t answering her phone. Yes, I was about to call the police.”
“How did you know I was here?”
“The tracker I have on your phone.”
“If you knew where I was, why did you call Liv?”
“I needed to know you were safe.” Bailey’s voice dropped to a whisper, as if she were revealing a state secret.
I shifted in my seat, feeling the intense gaze of both matchmakers burning a hole in the side of my face. I lowered my voice, fully aware that they were listening intently to every word I spoke. “You thought the stalker stole my phone and came to Ever After to keep my appointment?”
“Shut up! You really scared me.”
I winced. Even through the bravado, I could hear the little eight-year-old girl, cowering under the covers while “monsters” rattled the windows. The girl who would wake up with night terrors and would come sleep in my bed. She was genuinely scared.
“I’m sorry,” I said, my voice tightened as my throat closed with regret.
“Are you coming straight here after your appointment?”
“You’ll be tracking me, so I guess you’ll find out.” I tried to lighten the mood.
“Billie.”
“Yes, I am. I’ll text you when I’m on my way,” I promised.
Bailey released a long, shuddering breath. “Thank you. Love you.”
“Love you.”
A thick silence stretched across the room, broken only by the soft hum of the HVAC unit and the clatter of Trevor’s nervous fingertip tap-dancing on his iPad. I watched a dust mote drift through a sunbeam, wishing I could do the same.
I knew what was coming next.
“Spill,” Liv said, her voice neither gentle nor harsh, just…neutral. Like a doctor asking what your symptoms are.
So, I told them. I told them about all of the events from the weekend, minus my hookup with Adam, even my matchmakers didn’t need to know about that.
“You really have no clue who it could be?” Liv questioned.
“No. The detective is looking into some of the guys from the apps.”
“Are you sure you want to do this today?” Trevor reached over and squeezed my hand. “We can reschedule?”
“No. I mean, yes. Yes, I want to do this today.” I was so tired of my life being hijacked.
First I felt that my childhood and teen years were stolen while I was raising my sisters.
Then my early twenties were spent getting both of my sisters through college, and I thought I could start my career, however, my grandparents both passed away and I had to help my sisters save Bliss Bridal and the house, both of which were not in great shape.
Now I wanted a relationship. Not marriage. Not children. But a relationship. I wanted something that was mine. I wanted to be selfish. I wasn’t going to let some freak who had some sort of unhealthy obsession with me ruin that.
The real question was, was I going to let Adam Knight ruin it?