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Thinking about her mother brought on a wave of guilt — not because of their disagreement, but because it had been over two weeks since she’d last called her. She revved her motor, tapped her speed dial button for her mother, and had her phone ringingover her bluetooth speaker system before she rolled out of the parking lot.
“Looks like I still have a daughter, after all.” Her mother’s voice rang sarcastically through the car.
“Hey, I called two weeks ago, and the phone rings in both directions.” For reasons she’d never understood, her mother usually waited for Prim to callher. Maybe it was because she stayed so busy running a successful Christian matchmaking app from her New York penthouse. It was an interesting choice of careers for a woman who’d been widowed early in her marriage and had not dated since.
“It was three weeks ago,” her mother corrected crisply.
“Yikes! Has it really been that long?” Prim felt awful that she’d lost track of time like that. Her mother deserved better than sporadic phone calls and equally sporadic proof of life texts from her workaholic only child.
“Technically, it’s been two weeks and three days.”
Prim’s shoulders relaxed at the realization it was still closer to two weeks than three weeks since her last phone call, but it didn’t seem prudent to point that out at the moment.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was rueful. “I’ve been putting in some really long hours at the clinic.”
“Uh-huh.” Her mother didn’t sound convinced. “What’s his name?”
Prim rolled her eyes and pressed down on the gas pedal as she reached the main stretch of highway. Shep and his uncle lived on the opposite side of town, so she drove as fast as she could without going over the posted limit. The busy downtown area faded into wide open space that stretched all the way to the Christmas mountains. Not that she was driving that far.
“That wasn’t a rhetorical question, sweetie.” Prim could picture her hippie mama tapping her bare toes against the hardwood floor in her office.
“Believe it or not, I have a lot of things going on in my life besides hunting for my next date.”
Her mother made a humming sound. “Because you’ve already found him, haven’t you?”
“Wow! You’re relentless!”
“And you’re not denying it.” Summer Midraven let out a musical chuckle. “All matchmaking attempts aside, I’m your mother, so I know you better than anyone else. You may as well just ‘fess up and get it over with.”
Ugh!Her mother was right, and she knew it, which meant she’d pick, poke, and prod until she wore Prim down.
“Fine. I’m sort of seeing someone.”
“I knew it.”
“You must’ve been born with a built-in crystal ball.” Prim didn’t know how, but her mother had an uncanny knack for sniffing out romance — even from hundreds of miles away.
“Did you tell him you’re on the rebound?”
“We broke up over a year ago, Mom.”
“You did the leaving, sweetie. He hasn’t been able to move on.”
“I don’t know why you’re telling me this.” Prim gripped the steering wheel tighter. She’d never told her mother the full story, since her ex-fiancé was the son of her mother’s best friend.
“Because he’s been asking about you. Just thought you might want to know.”
“I really don’t. It’s over, Mom.”It’s been over.The sooner she and her bestie quit trying to match their children, the better for everyone.
“Okay, sweetie. As long as you’re sure about this.”
“Very sure.”
“This new guy must be pretty amazing. What’s his name?”
“Can we talk about this later? I don’t want to be late for my first training session as a search and rescue volunteer.”She’d reached the rural outskirts of town. The fields on both sides of the road were dotted with barns and outbuildings. Here and there rose rambling farmhouses, cabins, and a few mobile homes.
Her mother gave a gasp of horror. “Please, please, please assure me you’re not dating a man in uniform!”
