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“I’m glad, Hutch,” she said with a huge, relieved smile.
“Aren’t you taking your books home with you?”
“No need.”
She laughed at that, the sound a little too high-pitched. He made most people nervous, though he’d never understood why. Smart must scare some adults—at least when it was a kid being smart.
“I guess not,” she said. “You probably have them all memorized anyway.”
“Most of them,” he agreed, heading for the door. “Goodbye, Mrs. Roon,” he added as an afterthought. He didn’t look at her again, his mind already busy listing what he’d have to accomplish over the next sixteen days to achieve his goal. It was a daunting agenda. But then, he always did love a good challenge. He closed the schoolroom door with a decisive click.
And finding his mom a husband would undoubtedly be the greatest challenge ofall.
Chapter One
Equipment/Items Required For Experiment:
1. Find perfect man—see ad and check Mom’s schedule.
2. Obtain contract/agreement for services.
3. Prepare list for “love” experiments.
Hutch stoppedin the middle of the sidewalk in front of the bright yellow house and stared up at it. Glancing at the newspaper ad, he double-checked the address. Unfortunately, it was correct. The numbers matched. Carefully refolding the ad, he returned it to his back pocket.
Jeez. Yellow Rose Matchmakers on Bluebonnet Drive. How corny could you get? Even the picket-fenced house looked silly, all yellow and white with a girly mailbox covered in painted roses. His mother would love it. He hated it. It left him feeling even more out of place than the first time he’d walked into the seventh grade and had everyone eye him as if he was some sort of freak.
Unlatching the white gate, he followed the walkway to the porch steps, stomping up the six wooden risers. Stomping eased his tension. It was a guy thing and doing guy things always helped when you were stuck in a “girl” kind of place. Adoor barred his entrance, frosted glass preventing him from seeing inside.
Taking a deep breath, he shoved open the door and stepped across the threshold. To his surprise, it didn’t seem much like an office at all, but like a real house. The overwhelming scent of flowers made him wrinkle his nose and he grimaced at the cause—ahuge floral arrangement perched on a nearby table.
Man, how did they stand it? They needed to get some dogs and cats in here to help cut the odor. He peered around, his attention snagged by a desk that occupied a room off the entranceway. Relief surged through him. Desks meant business.
He didn’t look left or right, just focused on his goal—the expanse of wood with a nameplate on it that read Receptionist. An old lady stood behind the desk, frowning at a computer printout. Not a good sign. Beside her hovered a man and woman, whispering to each other. The man held a camera while the woman clutched a notepad. They gave him a cursory, dismissive glance. That was okay. He’d gotten used to that sort of reaction.
Setting his jaw, he reached into his pocket and yanked out a fistful of crumpled bills, along with a handful of change. He slapped the money onto the glass-covered top. Aquarter rolled toward the old lady, stopping shy of the edge of the desk. It was a whole nine dollars and eighty-four cents. Apitiful amount, but it was his life’s savings and he’d worked darned hard to get even thatmuch.
“I want to buy as many dates as I can with this,” he announced loudly.
That got everyone’s attention. The man and woman stopped whispering and stared at him in sudden, predatory interest. The receptionist put down her computer printout to study him. Eyes as piercing blue as his own fixed on him and one fine white brow arched upward. “Kind of young, aren’t you, sonny?”
Warmth bled into his cheeks and he scowled. He didn’t like people making fun of him. He got enough of that at school. “It’s for my mom. She needs a man and I want the best one you have.”
Just like that, her eyes changed. The blue grew as warm and sunny as a hot San Antonio sky. “Do you now?” she murmured. Beside her, aflashbulb wentoff.
Poking a hand into his back pocket, he came up with the carefully folded ad. He spread it next to his money. He saw the Yellow Rose Matchmakers logo. As always, it cheered him. Yellow roses. It was a good sign. As good an omen as the huge bouquet of yellow roses decorating the old lady’s desk. It even made him more tolerant of the stink. “I’d like the San Antonio Fiesta Special. Please,” he added as an afterthought.
“Does your mom know you’re here?” the woman with the notepad questioned.
“No. It’s a birthday present. Asurprise birthday present.”
The receptionist inclined her head. “Oh, Idon’t doubt it’ll be that.” For a long moment, she continued to fix him with her intense blue gaze, weighing, examining, scrutinizing. He returned her look boldly. At long last, satisfaction eased her expression and a broad smile slipped across her mouth. She checked the hallway leading to the back of the agency. “Ty?” she called. “I could use your help.”
Hutch didn’t hear the man approach. One minute the doorway was empty and the next it was overflowing with a huge,broad male. “What’s up?” he asked in a voice that rumbled like a distant storm.
“He’s my grandson,” the old lady explained in an undertone. “He’ll take good care of you and your mom.”
It required every ounce of determination for Hutch to keep his sneakers planted on the oak floorboards instead of plowing at light speed in the direction of the nearest exit. He hadn’t anticipatedthis!
