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  “I’m sure you can do better than burnt toast. I’ll even help you if you need me to.”

  “Cooking together sounds good to me. Why don’t you teach me to make your tacos tomorrow night, and then we don’t need to worry about who wins?”

  “What’s the fun in that? I want to be able to lord it over you that I’m a better Scrabble player than you are.”

  He rolled his eyes. “You think you are. I’m truly the best.”

  “Put your cooking where your mouth is, mister.”

  “Fine. If I lose, I’ll cook tomorrow night.”

  “Now that makes things interesting,” she said with a grin.

  “Are you always this competitive?”

  “Is a penguin black and white?” How could he even ask her that? Didn’t he know her at all?

  When the game was finally over, she picked up the pieces. “In my family, whoever wins has to pick up, so they can’t gloat quite as much.”

  “You’re gloating anyway. I can see it on your face.”

  “You have wonderful observation skills!” She put the game back into the box and took it to the closet. “Another game? Or a show? Or bed early?”

  “How about a swim?” he asked. He knew there was a pool in the apartment complex, and he definitely liked pools.

  She shrugged. “I could go for a swim.” She hurried into her bedroom and changed into her bathing suit. They’d been in the water together a couple of times when they’d canoed and when they’d whitewater rafted. They had yet to be in a swimming pool together.

  They walked to the pool, and as soon as they got there, she dove in cleanly. “Wanna race?” she asked, grinning at him.

  “Does everything have to be a competition?” he asked. “Or can some things be just for fun.”

  “Oh, everything will definitely always be a competition. That’s how life works.” She shook her head as she started for the other side of the pool, not waiting for him to jump in. “All is fair in love and swimming!”

  “I don’t think that’s quite how the saying goes,” he said when they got to the other side. She’d beaten him by several feet, but only because she’d given herself a generous head start.

  “I won!”

  “You cheated!” He shook his head. “How did I end up married to a cheater?”

  “You just got lucky, I guess.” She was glad they were the only people in the pool, and she took advantage of that fact by moving close to him and kissing him in the water. “So lucky.”

  He laughed. “I think maybe you’re right.”

  “I know I am.” Sydney gave him a sassy look and then started swimming laps. She loved to swim.

  Jackson watched her swim for a moment before joining her, his long arms overtaking her quickly. “I would have beaten you if you hadn’t cheated,” he told her when they finally stopped.

  “So? I still won!”

  He sighed. “I think your head might be growing a little too big. First you beat me at Scrabble and then at the swim race. Someday, I’ll need a chance to win.”

  “You’ll have to earn it.” She got out of the pool and quickly dried off with one of the towels they’d brought with them. “This was nice. We need to swim more often. Perfect for a Saturday night.”

  “It is.” He grabbed his towel and wiped off his face. “Let’s head back.”

  “Are you going to admit I’m the winner?”

  “Fine, you won by cheating,” Jackson said, shaking his head at her.

  “But I won.” She needed to say nothing else. She was the winner.

  They spent Sunday doing laundry and catching up on all the household chores they’d gotten behind on during the week. “I need to keep up with laundry while I work,” Jackson told Sydney as she was folding the third load. “I could easily do a load a day, and then you don’t have to spend all day on one of your days off catching up.”

  “That would be nice if you could do it.”

  “It really shouldn’t be a problem.” He felt badly that all her spare time was being spent cleaning, when he could be taking care of it around work, which would be less of an inconvenience for him.

  Finally, he made supper, with her watching over him. She showed him how to cut vegetables for the toppings and how to season the meat properly. “For me, the key is to not use the seasoning packs. They make the flavor off. You want it to be more of a pure flavor with a few spices than all spices where you can’t taste the meat at all.”

  He watched carefully, even doing as much of the work as she would allow. “So now I can make tacos every day?” he asked as they put the shells in the oven to warm.

  “Well, at least every Tuesday. And maybe Thursday. Heck, every day that ends in Y works for me!”

  “I want your enchiladas on a regular basis too.”

  “And I want your empanadas.”

  “There are still a few in the freezer. We can just heat them up and eat.”

  “That sounds good, too.” She set the table, since she’d made him do the bulk of the cooking. Once the shells were ready, they sat down to eat.

  He took a bite of the canned refried beans he’d made. “They’re not as good as yours.”

  “That’s because I boil pinto beans and make mine from scratch. If you have to use the canned beans, add just a smidge of milk, and mix it through. It makes the beans come out tasting like mine did.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  After supper, she cleaned up. “Now you have a second meal you can make. Pretty soon, you’ll have to take burned toast off your rotation entirely.”

  “I’ll think about it.” He grinned, leaning down and brushing her lips with his. “Thanks for teaching me to cook another meal. Now I won’t feel quite so worthless in the kitchen.”

  “You shouldn’t ever feel worthless.” Her eyes met his, and hers were serious for a change. “You’re worth a lot to me.” She didn’t tell him she loved him again, because she didn’t want to embarrass him, but she was thinking it.

  He settled on the couch and pulled her down beside him. “I think it’s time for more Blue Bloods.”

  “Did you know that the girl who plays Erin used to date Tom Brady, and they have a kid together? His name is Jack. Maybe that’s why there are so many Jacks on the show.”

  “Are there a lot?” he asked. “I haven’t noticed.”

  “Sure, one of Danny’s kids, Erin’s ex, and there have been other random characters too. It’s just strange to me.”

  “That sounds awfully strange,” he said. “I wonder why I never noticed.”

  “Maybe you don’t like the name Jack.” She grinned at him.

  “My mother hates it for sure, but I’ve never minded.” He frowned at her. “I thought you were going to call me Jack, but you’ve mostly called me Jackson.”

  “I know. It’s how you were introduced, so that’s how I think of you.”

  “My mother will be pleased.”

  “Have you told her we’re married yet?”

  He made a face. “I wasn’t sure how to tell her. She’s so weird about things like that.”

  “Call her now. There’s no point in putting it off any longer. She’s going to be mad if you do.” Sydney knew her mother would be furious if she’d married and moved across the country without letting her know.

  “You make a good point.” He reached for his phone. “Are you sure you don’t mind if I do it now?”

  “That way she can talk to me if she wants to.”

  He took a deep breath and tapped his mother’s number on his phone. “Hey, Mom.”

  Sydney listened, but she couldn’t hear the other end of the call.

  “I wanted to let you know that I moved to Utah and got married.”

  His mother’s response was easily heard by Sydney. “You moved to Utah and got married? Are you kidding me? You only have one wife, right?”

  “Yes, Mother, I only have one wife.”

  Sydney covered her mouth and giggled hysterically.

  “Good. I don�
�t think I could deal with more than one daughter-in-law.”

  “I promise, there’s only one daughter-in-law. I’m not a polygamist.”

  “Well, when are you going to bring her to meet me? And more importantly, when are you giving me grandchildren?”

  “We’ve been married for two weeks. Give us time on the grandkids.” He shook his head at Sydney, who was still laughing.

  “Two weeks? You’ve been married for two weeks and you’re just now telling me? Why wasn’t I invited to the wedding? The wedding of my only son. How could you?”

  Jackson got to his feet and started pacing as he tried to explain. “It was a sudden wedding. Her parents weren’t there either.”

  Ten minutes later, he got off the phone and collapsed onto the couch beside her. “Well, I’m glad that’s over. She wants lots of grandbabies, and she wants us to fly to Texas next week so she can meet you, and she wants us to move back to Texas where we belong.”

  “She’s something else.” Sydney had thought her mother was strange about the marriage, but his took the cake.

  “Oh, well, now I don’t have to dread telling her anymore. How’s your mom doing with it all?”

  “She still wants me to text daily to let her know I haven’t been eaten by a bear and that my mass-murderer husband hasn’t killed me. One simple text every day will keep my father from having the heart attack he’s been on the verge of for the last twenty years.”

  “Has she always been that way?” he asked.

  Sydney shrugged. “She’s gotten worse over the years. When I was little, we would even take family vacations. Now, I don’t think she’s left the house in over ten years. She didn’t go to my high school or college graduations. My dad has to do all shopping unless it’s online. Even her doctor has started going to their house so she doesn’t have to get out.”

  “That’s really sad,” he said, shaking his head. “My mother is the opposite. She doesn’t do anything but shop and flit around with her friends.”

  “They would hate each other, wouldn’t they? If either gets on our nerves too much, we’ll lock them into a room together and make them fight it out.”

  “That’s a great idea. We’ll have to do that.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I’m so relieved that’s over. My dad will probably still call and tell me to be happy, but he won’t try to pressure me into moving back to Texas. He understands that I need to do what’s best for me and not cater to my mother every minute of my life.”

  “Sounds good to me.” Sydney got to her feet. “All the drama has exhausted me.”

  “Are you sure it wasn’t all the cleaning you did?” Jackson asked.

  “I’m sure that was a big part of it, if not all of it.” She stretched. “I’m going to bed if you want to come keep me company.”

  “Like I’d let you go to bed alone. Maybe when we’ve been married for fifty years, but certainly not yet.” He followed her into the bedroom and closed the door behind them.

  While Jackson was burning himself some toast the next morning, he asked Sydney if she’d talked to Dr. Lachele. “Did you ever ask her about her ability to grant wishes?”

  “I did! She wouldn’t confirm or deny. She just said that anything she does that has to do with the Guild of Godmothers doesn’t have anything to do with Matchrimony.” Sydney got a thought then and reached for her phone. “I’m going to look up the Guild of Godmothers!”

  “That’s a really good idea,” he said, watching her. “I want to know what it says.”

  Sydney’s eyes scanned the response. “The Guild of Godmothers seems to be a fictional group of women who live in Everland, Wyoming. They’re written about by romance author Caroline Lee in a series called Everland Ever After. How does that make any sense at all?”

  “It doesn’t to me. Maybe you should read one or two of her books and see if you can figure it out.”

  “I have a feeling that unless Dr. Lachele wants to spill the beans, I’ll never figure it out, but I’m going to read at least one anyway. Her covers are beautiful, and the stories look interesting. Why not?”

  As Sydney drove to work a few minutes later, she was still thinking about Dr. Lachele and her Guild of Godmothers. What on earth had the woman gotten herself into? People didn’t just gain the ability to grant wishes.

  After a few moments, she realized that it was Dr. Lachele. The woman was crazy, and everyone knew it. She was probably just being herself. She couldn’t let herself dwell on it for too long.

  If she spent too long trying to understand Dr. Lachele, her brain would start hurting, and she’d never be able to do her job. The woman was absolutely beyond comprehension.

  When she was stopped at the gate to the park, she dialed Alexis. “Have you talked to Dr. Lachele lately?”

  “No, why?” She could hear Alexis typing something. She must be at the office already.

  “She is involved in something called the Guild of Godmothers, and I asked her about it, and she wouldn’t say anything. She thinks that she has the ability to grant wishes now, and she won’t say how or why. I looked up the Guild of Godmothers, and it seems to be a fictional group written about in a romance series.”

  “Sounds like Dr. Lachele. She’s always kind of lived in her own fictional land.”

  “It’s bugging me. I’m not sure what to think about the whole thing.” Sydney parked in the employee lot. “Do you want to look into it?”

  “I think we need to stop worrying about it. We have other things that are more important than chasing Dr. Lachele’s purple unicorn rainbows.”

  Sydney laughed. “You’re right. I’m moving on with my life.”

  Chapter 10

  On her lunch break on Monday, Sydney texted Jackson to meet her at the picnic ground by the river there in the park. She decided to plan a special evening for the two of them. She didn’t get a response, but that didn’t surprise her. He stayed busy during the day, doing his own work. He’d read it and be there.

  She called ahead to the Chinese place and went to pick up the food. She got out of the park a little late, but she was there by five forty-five to pick up the food. She made it back to the picnic area right at six, worried she was going to keep him waiting.

  She got out of her truck and put a picnic cloth over the table. Then she carefully set it, looking around for him to arrive at all times. Finally, at six-fifteen, she sat down at the table and waited for him. Glancing at her phone every few minutes to check the time, she knew he’d be there at any time.

  At six-thirty, she started to worry, and tried to call him. It went straight to voicemail. Was his phone dead?

  At seven, she picked up everything, having lost her appetite. She’d planned to have a sweet romantic meal by the river, and maybe talk to him about just how much she cared. She didn’t want to wait any more. She knew he’d never return her feelings, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be vocal about how she felt. It was time to get it all off her chest and let him know everything.

  She was disappointed that he’d ignored her message and not shown up. Packing everything into the truck, she drove to the apartment, but instead of going up, she sat in her truck for more than thirty minutes, trying to decide how she was going to handle things when she did see him.

  Finally, she picked up the Chinese food bag and carried it up the stairs to find Jackson sitting on the couch, seemingly angry. “Where were you?” he asked. “I got Chinese for us, and I waited and waited, and you never showed.”

  Sydney was ready to blow up at him. She slammed the food down on the table. “I texted you at noon and asked you to meet me at the river. Noon! I asked you to meet me at six, and I sat there at the river until seven. I can’t believe you didn’t even bother to look at your phone when I was late.”

  “I shut it off before I started working, because my mother kept calling me to make sure I hadn’t been tricked into marry you with a fake baby or something. She called eight times with eight different ways you could have forced a marriage.�
� He shook his head. “So I’ve been sitting here worried half to death.”

  “If you’d had your phone on, you would have known what was going on. Why didn’t you at least look at it when I didn’t show up? You make no sense to me!”

  “I couldn’t find it. I shut it off and then I stuck it somewhere, and I still don’t remember where! I was mad at my mother and couldn’t even look at the blasted thing.”

  She put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “I can’t believe you left me hanging because you were mad at your mother.”

  “Well, it was a little more complicated than that. And why would you think I’d just show up when I didn’t even respond to the text?”

  “Why would I think you wouldn’t show up?” Sydney was ready to throw one of his egg rolls at his head.

  “Why did you want me to meet you by the river anyway?”

  She frowned. “I wanted to have a nice romantic meal and watch the waves. I had a nice tablecloth and everything. And you didn’t show up! You’re never going to love me, because you’re stuck on Paisley and always will be.”

  He took a step closer to her, wanting to shake her. “Paisley has nothing to do with me not having my phone! Why are you being such a pain?”

  “Why won’t you just this once realize you’re wrong?”

  He grabbed his car keys from the kitchen counter. “I’m going for a drive.”

  “You do that!” She started throwing the Chinese food she’d ordered into the refrigerator, ignoring the same boxes he’d brought. She couldn’t help but wonder how much they’d missed one another by at the Chinese place.

  She stormed into the bathroom and filled the tub. If he was going to be a butt, then she was going to just sit in the tub all night and soak away her anger. She grabbed her Kindle and stripped, getting into the tub and starting a new Janelle Daniels book. She needed a new mail-order bride book, and Janelle Daniels never disappointed.

  It was more than an hour before she heard Jackson come back into the apartment, but she continued to ignore him. If he couldn’t accept a romantic dinner invitation, then she didn’t need him.