ENCORE PERFORMANCE (THE MATCHMAKER TRILOGY) Read Free Page B

considering me for your staff, then. It
is going to be an honor to work with you.”
That was it. Her heart was gone.
All she had to do was keep Thomas from finding out.
CHAPTER TWO
    Carissa gathered dishes while Thomas sat on the back
porch with David after dinner. Katie excused herself to bed
for the night and Hope wandered between helping Carissa
clean up and diverting her father’s attention.
    Sophia set the dishes by the sink.
“So what do you think of Thomas?”
“He seems nice enough and if you say he’s talented,
    then he should be a wonderful asset to our school.” Carissa
flipped her hair over her shoulder and turned on the water
to fill the sink. She didn’t want to tell her mother what she
was really thinking of Thomas.
    “I think we should all sit down on Sunday during
dinner and start addressing some issues about curriculum
and what we want to accomplish.”
    Carissa snapped her head up and shifted her glance
toward Sophia. She was loosely throwing around the words our and we when it came to the school, but it was in fact her school and she had a clear plan on what she wanted to
accomplish.
    Sophia touched her hand and Carissa knew her
thoughts had been transparent.
“I know you and I have ideas, but we should consider
what he has to say. He did come all the way back to the
States for this.” And that was only one of her problems
with Thomas Samuel. First it was his failed career and his
eagerness to leave Rome for Kansas City. Then her body’s
reaction to him had her practical thoughts dissolving. Now
Sophia thought he should have say in her school when she
thought he was just there to teach.
Carissa kept her misgivings to herself and nodded as
she looked out the window to the back porch. The October
sky had already turned dark, but the porch light illuminated
the men like a spotlight.
She watched the interaction between the men and her
sister. Hope had landed on Thomas’s knee and was
showing him something. She couldn’t make it out, but he
was giving her the attention she was demanding.
Sophia handed her a plate.
“Are you sure you’re comfortable with him staying
here? If you’re not we can find somewhere for him to stay.”
“Mom, we’ll be fine. If you trust him I have no reason
not to.”
“I do.”
“I know that. If you didn’t you wouldn’t have asked
him to be part of the school or stay here with us.”
“I think it’ll be good to have him here. It’s one more
set of eyes on Katie.” Carissa turned to take the plate from
her mother, but Sophia gripped it tightly as though she
were afraid to let it go. “I’m worried about her.” She
shifted her eyes to Carissa.
“I take care of her.”
“I know you do. But she’s getting frail and after we
lost Millie I really worried about you.”
Carissa began an assault on the dish in her hand,
scrubbing it hard enough she could have easily scrubbed a
hole through it. “I’ll be okay. I know Katie isn’t going to be
around forever, I just wasn’t ready for Millie to go. So if
you’re worried that I’m too attached, I’ll cope. But she’s
not going anywhere soon.” Carissa shifted her moist eyes to
her mother.
“If you’re all comfortable that will be good. We can’t
pay him much. The least we can do is give him a place to
live.”
Carissa nodded. A place for him to live, where he was
only a few feet from where she’d be dreaming about him
all night. She steeled herself against letting that thought go
any further.
Sophia grinned at her. “And you know, he’s single.”
    Carissa walked her parents to the door. Her father
turned to kiss her good-bye and gave her arm a gentle
squeeze.
    “Call if you need anything .”
“I’ll be fine. But I promise.”
“He’s paranoid,” her mother said as she kissed her.
Hope ran past them and down the front steps to the car.
“Don’t forget. You promised me a juice too.”
“How could I forget?” Carissa laughed as she waved
from the porch.
    Sadness washed over her as