Page 26 of The Matchmaker
“I wasn’t yelling,” Adam mutters, even though he kind of was. “But you shouldn’t have gotten into his face like that,” he says to me. “You realize he’s going to use this to rush the process?”
“That’s not what he said. He said he would give us a chance to prove ourselves.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. The guy could send a team down there tomorrow if he wanted to, and he probably will because you pissed him off. I figured I had another year at least to get everything in order, but now…” He shakes his head, looking ill.
“We could key his car,” Nush says from her seat beside me. “Or slash his tires. Or…” She pauses as the three of us turn to look at her. “Too far?”
Adam swings back to me. “Why did you have to do that?”
“Um, because it worked? I’m saving your business and you’re welcome?”
He looks like he wants to yell at me some more, but a throat clear from Gemma stops him. “I’ve got to get back to the pub,” he announces instead.
“The pub I just saved?”
“Katie—”
Noah appears in the kitchen doorway, cutting him off from whatever rant he was about to go on. “You’re being too loud. I can’t do my homework.” He looks to his mother. “Can I watch TV until they go?”
“Nice try,” Gemma says. “And no.”
“But I can’t concentrate.”
“Then go with Adam and do your work at Kelly’s.”
Adam shoots her a look, but Noah seems excited about the suggested change in scenery and runs out of the room before she can change her mind.
“Don’t want to be the guy that disappoints my child,” Gemma warns, when Adam goes to argue.
“I’m not minding him,” he says. “I’ve got enough to do.”
“He’ll be grand. Just don’t give him any hard liquor before five. He likes you.”
The last bit shuts Adam up, just as Gemma knew it would, but unfortunately, all that means is he returns his attention to me.
“I’ll see you later,” he says, back to boss mode. “You’re on wash-up tonight.”
“I was on wash-up yesterday,” I protest, but he ignores me, grabbing his jacket as he calls for Noah. A second later, I hear the kid’s footsteps on the stairs and the door slams shut.
“He seems tense,” Nush says, as Gemma programs the machine. The sound of running water fills the room, and she sits with a groan at the table, drawing her mug toward her.
“At least we know why he’s been in a mood for the last few weeks,” she says.
“He was in a mood?”
“He was moodier,” she corrects. “And now it’s only going to get worse. What the hell are we going to do?”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
“With the pub.”
Nush leans forward. “I still think targeting their cars sends a real message about the traffic issue.”
“I already told you what we’re going to do,” I say, confused. Adam and I had come straight here once Jack and his team left. I’d just spent the last twenty minutes explaining what happened while Adam fixed Gemma’s washing machine and grew more and more panicked.
“I mean seriously, Katie,” Gemma says now.
“I am being serious.” I spin the laptop around to show them what I’ve been looking at. “We’re going to revive the Ennisbawn Matchmaking Festival.”
