Page 5 of The Matchmaker and the Marine

Adam frowned.

“It needs a bit more polishing before it’s friendly enough for me to take home.” Melinda blushed at her words and hoped Adam wouldn’t think she had said something rude.

“Ah, I get it now.” He bent over and picked up a piece, then handed it to her.

“Thanks.” Melinda noticed he was wearing fishing pants. “Are you going fishing later?”

“Huh?”

She pointed at his pants. “All those pockets are good for storing supplies.”

With a shake of his head, Adam said, “Nope, they’re just comfortable.”

She was mildly disappointed at his short responses. She surmised he wasn’t much of a conversationalist. She looked toward the tents. The grills were smoking.

“Lunch must be almost ready.” She turned inland. “Are you coming?”

“Yes.”

The pair walked in silence with only the sound of the waves crashing on the shore behind them. Melinda wondered about Adam’s story, but figured it was none of her business. Based on her past experience as a therapist, she guessed his brief answers might be a leftover of being in the military.

Blankets had been laid out over the sand as people filled their plates with burgers and salads. Melinda helped herself to a beer from her cooler. Adam was next to her. She held out a beer to him. “Would you like a cold one?”

“Thanks.” He accepted the beer and popped the cap, carefully tossing it back into the cooler.

Unsure what else was left to say, she brought her plate to sit with Molly and Tim—they were never short on conversation.

“I’ll see you around.” Adam called after her.

She smiled over her shoulder. “Sure thing.” Melinda plopped down next to Molly.

“Did I see you talking to Adam?” Molly asked.

“It was pretty one-sided. He doesn’t say much.” Melinda looked at Adam over her sunglasses.

“He’s a super nice guy. But from what I’ve heard, he had a tough time after he came home from his deployment in Iraq. Got hurt pretty bad and had to retire. He planned to be career Marine. Only a few years short of full retirement.”

Melinda set her bottle in the sand. “Sometimes it’s hard to heal after a traumatic event. Hopefully time surrounded by good friends will help him.”

Molly opened her mouth to say something else but closed it. Melinda was relieved. She wasn’t looking to hear any speculation on Adam. Molly was right, he did seem like a nice man. Maybe a little lonely, but at least he wasn’t alone. He was surrounded by an amazing group of people. After all, they had welcomed Melinda into the group, and rarely did she feel alone.

Adam wasn’t sure why he had been at a loss for words when he was walking on the beach with Melinda. He wanted to ask her if she’d work with him to find a date or two. It had been a couple of years since the breakup with Anita. It was time to get back in circulation. Will certainly had been pushing him hard enough to contact Melinda.

But what was it about the melancholy that hovered in her eyes? It was there when he met her at the wedding too. Adam was sure there was a story behind that and the slender ring on her finger. Where was her husband? Did he leave her, and matchmaking was her way of trying to heal a broken heart?

He kept an eye on her and watched as she laughed and chatted with Molly. There was something about her that he seemed to understand but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. One thing was for sure, sometime in the next few weeks he was planning on dropping by her office and get things rolling. He was tired of being one of the only single guys in their group. And if he got really lucky, he’d be walking around grinning like his buddy Will.

Who knows, maybe he’d find someone who would want to have a kid or two, and his kids could grow up with Will and Stacey’s. Wouldn’t that be a kick in the pants?

Chapter 3

It had been a long week since the beach picnic. Melinda jerked open a side drawer in her office desk and the bottom fell onto the floor. Annoyed, she tossed the drawer frame onto the small sofa and knelt down to push the paperclips into a pile. Her office door opened. Work boots were in her line of sight. Her eyes slid from the toes to a face. A man leaned over her. He extended his hand.

“Hello, Melinda.” An amused smile played over his face. “I didn’t expect to find you on the floor.”

She took his hand and stood up, tugging the hem of her purple print cotton dress and smoothing the skirt back down.

“Adam Bell.” He paused. “We met at Will and Stacey’s picnic a couple of weeks ago.”

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