Page 52 of The Matchmaker
“You’re covered in mud.”
“So are you.”
Point taken. We clasp hands briefly as I’m still holding tight to a now restless Plankton, but Callum smiles like I’ve told him he’s just won the lottery.
I show him the way back to the house, bundling Plankton into my arms as we approach the tree line. I’m glad of it a second later as a car speeds past just as we emerge.
“Has no one heard of speed limits?” I mutter, glaring after the shiny black Jeep only for the thing to immediately stop.
Uh-oh.
“Did I accidentally yell that?” I ask, as it starts to reverse. Callum curses under his breath, and I know why a moment later, when the car eases to a halt right next to us and the window slides down.
Jack Doyle sits behind the wheel, dressed in a suit and tie. The three of us stare at each other as he slowly takes in our muddied clothes and then Plankton, who’s now squirming in my arms.
“What did you— no,” he says, when Callum opens his mouth. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to know.” His eyes flick to me, his expression souring.
“Miss Collins.”
“Mr. Doyle.” I smile sweetly. “Destroy any livelihoods lately?”
“No, but I did create another fifty. There’s good news about the proposal,” he says to Callum, who’s goneveryquiet beside me. “Get in. I want to catch Andy before he leaves and set up a call with Gerald. Let’s go,” he adds, when the man doesn’t move.
“Yeah, okay,” Callum says, sounding terse. “But remember what we talked about? About you being a little less you?”
I blink, surprised he’d talk to his boss like that. Though I guess I talk to Adam like that. But still.
Jack, however, doesn’t seem fazed by his tone. “I’ll take it under consideration,” he says. “Get moving.”
“Wait, what proposal?” I ask, and Jack reaches through the window, brandishing a piece of paper at me.
“Did you know there’s only one road in and out of the village?” he asks. “Not exactly great town planning.”
Plankton growls at the man as I step closer, and Jack eyes him warily as I examine the page.
It’s a map of Ennisbawn. I recognize it immediately, the curving street, the forest up ahead. Only in this one, one side of the village has been drawn over in red pen, drawing a completely new entry intersecting the original one.
Confusion clashes with horror as I realize what I’m looking at. “This will cut through the main street.”
“And connect you straight to the motorway.”
“But you’re going through at least three buildings!”
“Yeah. Empty ones,” he says, snatching the paper away when I go to take it. “Do you always have to look for the worst in everything?”
“Just because they’re empty now doesn’t mean they’ll always be.” The road was going to come in straight by Nush’s salon and looked like it was going to cut through John Joe’s garden entirely. “It completely changes the west side of the village.”
“I prefer the term improve.”
“But—”
“It’s just a proposal,” Callum says to me. “You’ll have plenty of time to launch an objection.”
“Callum.” Jack taps his watch. “Haste. Make it.”
Callum’s jaw tenses, and I almost think he’s about to snap at the man, when he turns to me instead. “Tell Maeve I’ll pop around again,” he says. “And sorry.” The last two words are low enough that only I can hear them, and he gives Plankton a rub on the head before rounding the car to the passenger side.
“Nice dog,” Jack says, before turning to Callum as he shuts the door with a little more force than necessary. “What?”
