A Match Made at Christmas - Courtney Walsh Page 0,6
the lower level of the cottage, Hayes and Pru sat on the couch, a fire flickering in the fireplace beside them.
He imagined from the outside, the cottage probably looked a bit idyllic, and maybe it was. Maybe some places were still safe.
“Well, that’s it for me.” Aunt Nellie stood. Arthur, who hardly ever spoke, followed suit, then retrieved his wife’s things from Hayes’s parents’ first-floor bedroom. He returned, wearing his coat and holding hers, then stood off to the side, clutching her purse like a nineteenth-century butler.
“Hayes.”
Hayes glanced up and found he had Nellie’s full attention. She narrowed her gaze, zeroing in on him, then beckoned him closer with the wag of her finger.
He rose from his place on the sofa and followed her over to where Arthur stood like a statue.
As she pulled her coat on, she looked up at Hayes. “Come visit me tomorrow. There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
Hayes frowned. What on earth could Aunt Nellie have to discuss with him?
“Is it about traveling because I can—”
“Oh no,” she said. “Well, sort of. Just show up around lunchtime, okay?” She squeezed his arm.
“Okay, Aunt Nellie.”
“Very good.” Another squeeze. “Oh, and Hayes, you darling boy, when are you going to find a nice girl and settle down?”
His throat went dry.
“Your father says you have no trouble finding dates, but your relationships have a way of ending before they really begin.”
“Aunt Nellie, I’m not sure why—”
She flicked her hand in the air. “All I’m saying is, you don’t want to wait too long.” She tossed a glance to the sofa where Pru sat, a strange look on her face. “If you do, all the good ones will be taken.”
“Thanks, Aunt Nellie.” He ushered her to the door.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He let her and his uncle out into the wild and turned to face his family, who all took that as an opportunity to chatter on and on about Hayes’s love life.
Prudence, he noticed, didn’t say a word.
Chapter 3
Matchmaking and Magic
When Aunt Nellie moved to Nantucket, she rented a room from an older woman whose name Hayes couldn’t remember.
After she met Arthur, they bought a sprawling cottage right on the ocean. Arthur had money—a lot of it—so now Nellie did too. He’d never understood their relationship, but who was he to judge? He obviously wasn’t an authority.
Nellie and Arthur had two children, both of whom visited the island every third year or so. And while Nellie would never say it, Hayes suspected she’d always favored him over her own two kids.
He stood on the steps of that sprawling cottage, which had been well maintained all these years, and waited for her to open the door. The cottage was decked out for Christmas already, white lights along the edge of the roof and a giant, white-lit wreath on the front door. Aunt Nellie was a pistol, but she knew how to make things look good.
The door opened and she gave him a wry smile. Her dyed red hair fell in waves to her shoulders, and she wore a flowy pair of pants that swished as she turned and walked away, motioning for him to follow.
He did—straight into her study, a spacious room with a fireplace, two sofas, a desk, and a whole wall of built-in bookshelves piled high with books he was certain Nellie had never read.
“What’s up?” he asked, wanting to put an end to his confusion.
She sat down on one sofa, then motioned for him to sit across from her on the other one. “Let’s chat.”
Hayes sat down, leaned back into the couch, and did his best to look unruffled. Nellie had a way of putting people on the spot. He vowed to be ready for her.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I asked you here,” she said.
“Especially since you haven’t offered me anything to eat.”
As if on cue, Marta, Nellie’s live-in housekeeper, appeared in the doorway. “Lunch is ready in the dining room, ma’am.”
Nellie didn’t look away but held Hayes’s gaze with a knowing smile.
“Well, what do you know?” he said, amused.
“Shall we?” She stood and sashayed in her swishy pants out of the room and into the dining room, which had a lovely view of the ocean.
“Seems we could’ve come out here in the first place, skipped the study altogether, but who am I to criticize?” Hayes sat down at the neatly set table, facing the water.
“Marta wasn’t ready,” Nellie said.
He nodded. “And it’s important that you impress me why?”
She laughed. “Well, it is, in