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THE MATCHMAKER
Pendale, Texas
Wednesday Evening, 7:30 P.M.
“So, he just took off?”Maggie asked Raven.
They were standing in Maggie’s kitchen, nibbling on appetizers before the big barbecue. Raven had just finished telling her about Hank. It helped to talk about it with Maggie. There were very few people she could discuss it with, not without putting everyone she loved in danger.
“Yep, he just took off.”
Her friend shook her head. “He’s a piece of work, Raven. It’s hard to imagine how you turned out so normal.”
“I know, huh?” she said with a laugh.
She could see Ridge, Wes, and Flynn standing outside by the barbecue pit. They were having an animated discussion about something or other. Wes was in a great mood. Raven had always found him to be pleasant and fun, but tonight was different. There was an energy that buzzed around him and Maggie both. Raven loved seeing her friends so happy.
“Hey,” Maggie said suddenly, lowering her voice into a conspiratorial tone. “Did Ridge say if Corbett was going to make it tonight?
“He called him this afternoon. I’m pretty sure Corbett said they’d both be here.”
“I invited Naomi,” Maggie revealed. “I think Corbett would be her type.”
Raven tried to remember where she was supposed to know Naomi from. The name didn’t ring a bell.
When Maggie noticed Raven looking at her, confused, she said, “She’s new in town. I told you about her. I met her at the grocery store last week. I can’t believe that Cheryl hasn’t gone on about her to you. She usually makes it her primary mission to find out everything she can about newcomers around here, and then tell everyone else.”
“Oh, yeah.” Raven remembered now. Maggie had mentioned Naomi to her at lunch the other day. She said she was a lawyer or something… a public defender! Now she remembered. Cherylhadbeen going on about her. The woman was a public defender in San Antonio, but she just bought a house in Pendale. Cheryl had taken that to mean she was “husband hunting,” as she put it, “because everyone knows we grow ‘em better here.”
Raven still wasn’t sure why it was a secret. “So why are we whispering?”
“I invited her for Corbett,” Maggie said, frustrated that her friend was not getting it. “Now that I think about it, she and Corbett would be so cute together. I don’t know Corbett all that well, but he’s way too cute to be alone. He’s a nice guy, right?”
Raven laughed. “Yes, he’s a great guy. A little on the serious side, though. I guess when you’re a retired Navy SEAL and an active DEA agent, being serious probably comes naturally. Why are you so interested in other people’s love lives all of a sudden? Is motherhood making you suddenly want to match make?”
“All of a sudden?” Maggie asked with a laugh. “Why do you think Ridge was here the first time you met him?”
Raven found that quite amusing. “Well, we can only hope it works out as well for Corbett. Look how lucky Ridge got.”
Raven didn’t say so, but she would have never thought to call Corbett “cute.” He was definitely sexy, especially when he rolled up on that big old Harley he drove from time to time. But it was sexy in a dangerous, rough-looking sort of way. Ridge told her Corbett had to look like that for his job. Raven shuddered to think of the kinds of people Corbett probably had to associate with. The kind that were looking for her stupid brother, who was out there right now with no protection.
The doorbell rang, and while Maggie went to get it, Raven went out in the backyard to see what the men were talking about.
As she walked up, she heard Wes say, “Punched him right in the face.”
“Who got punched in the face?” she asked.
They turned to look at her, and Ridge put his hand on her lower back. “Mitch,” he told her.
“Who punched Mitch?”
“He got himself a little girlfriend, apparently. One of the girls he met at the last MMA match.”
“Yeah, she wanted Ridge, but it was the night you stepped in,” Flynn told her with a grin.
“I’m glad I worked fast then,” she said. “So, he met her and I’m assuming they were dating. How did he end up getting punched in the face?”
“Let Wes tell it,” Flynn said. “It sounds funnier.”
