A Match for the Matchmaker by Michele Brouder

Author:Michele Brouder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: second chance romance, irish romance, holiday romance, holiday fiction, marriage of convenience, fake marriage
Publisher: Michele Brouder
Published: 2020-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Mick hurried to the community center for the start of the couples’ cook-off. He kept his eyes open for Carrie as he hadn’t seen her since the previous morning. And since then, she’d occupied his every waking thought.

“Oh, Mick! Mick, wait up!” called a familiar voice.

“Give me strength, Lord,” Mick muttered under his breath. He wasn’t a swearing man, but he was seriously thinking of taking it up.

Charlotte dashed toward him. “Are you heading to the couples’ cook-off?” she asked.

As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t lie to her. “I am.”

“I’ll walk with you,” she said.

Charlotte talked nonstop on the way to the community center. And even though it was a short walk, Mick had a headache by the time they arrived.

Although Mick was in charge of the activities, he delegated different events to different people. Sarah Caherdavin ran the cook-off; she had for years.

Mick stood at the door and surveyed the place, a beehive of activity. All the chairs had been removed in favor of makeshift workstations, placed in rows in the middle of the room. Most of them were occupied by eager couples. Volunteers ran back and forth doing last-minute things under Sarah’s expert direction.

“Charlotte, would you do me a favor?” he asked.

She beamed. “Anything.”

“Can you see if they need any help in the kitchen?”

“Sure thing,” she said, and she hurried off.

Sarah approached him carrying a clipboard.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

“Good,” she said, glancing at her watch. “We’re on track to begin on time.”

Mick nodded. “Full house?”

“Not quite,” she said with a small frown. “We could use a few extra couples.”

“Let me see if I can round some up,” he volunteered. He turned to leave and spotted Carrie walking through the door.

Sarah placed her hand on Mick’s arm. “Hold on, Mick.” She waved Carrie over. “Carrie! I’m so happy you decided to come.”

Carrie avoided looking at Mick and said to Sarah, “This looks like a lot of fun.”

“I’m glad you think so, because we’re short some couples and I’ve assigned you and Mick to table number nineteen,” Sarah said briskly, scribbling their names down on her sign-up sheet.

Carrie paled. “But I don’t know how to cook!”

Mick suppressed a grin by putting his finger over his mouth.

Sarah smiled. “That’s even better! Think of all the fun you’ll have.”

“I could step in for Carrie,” Charlotte volunteered from Mick’s side. Mick did a double-take. Where had she come from? She had just gone off to the kitchen. As if reading his mind, Charlotte said to him, “They don’t need any help in the kitchen.”

“Charlotte, that’s lovely of you to offer, but as this is Carrie’s first year at the festival, and hopefully not her last,” Sarah said with a wink, “we’ll let her try it out.”

“Maybe we could find another fella for Carrie,” Charlotte pushed.

“No time for that. Come on, Carrie,” Mick said.

“Here’s your badges,” Sarah said. She peeled the backings off of two badges, stuck them on their shirts, and pushed them in the direction of their assigned workstation.

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