McMillian's Matchmaker Read online

  She waved as she closed the door. “If they’re still awake, say good night to Bradley for me. Good night, Josh, and thank you for a lovely evening. I hope I’ll see you and the boys at church in the morning.”

  Before he could think about it any more, the door closed, so he went home.

  ❧

  “Miss Klassen! Miss Klassen!”

  Melissa turned around to see the McMillian clan arriving through the main door with Bradley running ahead, waving his new book of Bible stories over his head.

  She bent down as he reached her. “Good morning, Bradley. It’s nice to see you at church again this morning.”

  “Look what Uncle Josh gave me!”

  “It’s very nice. Did you read any of it yet?”

  He nodded so fast his hair bounced. “Yes! Some! But Uncle Josh helped lots.”

  Melissa straightened as the rest of the crowd, everyone carrying their own brand-new Bibles, joined them.

  “It’s good to see you again, Uncle Josh.”

  “It’s good to see you, too, Miss Klassen. Would you care to join us?”

  Joining him probably wasn’t a good idea, but she told herself that since she would soon be leaving for her Sunday school class midway through the service, it would be okay to sit with him.

  Being beside him as they sang the worship songs together felt different today than the week before. This time she had the comforting sensation of sitting beside a friend, rather than a mere acquaintance. When the time came to leave the sanctuary to take the children down to the Sunday school classrooms, for the first time in her life, she experienced some hesitation at leaving to do something she loved.

  Just like the previous week, Bradley still remained after the other children left, helping her pick up the materials and tidy the room until his entire family stormed in the door.

  Bradley dropped the books he had been so neatly stacking and called from across the room. “Uncle Josh! Are we going to the restaurant for lunch again? Are we? Please?”

  “I don’t know, Bradley. We went out last week, and we can’t do that too often.”

  “But what if Miss Klassen can come? Can we go out then?”

  Melissa hadn’t seen the bill for last week, but she could only guess how much it cost to feed seven people at a restaurant. “It’s okay, Bradley. We don’t need to go to a restaurant two weeks in a row.”

  His eyes widened, and his smile stretched from ear to ear. “You mean you’re coming to our house for lunch instead of going out? Wow!” He turned to Josh before Melissa could correct him. “Uncle Josh! Miss Klassen said she can come to our house for lunch!”

  “Uh. . .I don’t think that’s what she said, Bradley.” Josh turned to her, and the room hushed with a very pregnant pause as all the kids glued every micron of their attention to him, waiting for him to continue. “Although if she wants to come to our house for lunch, she’s more than welcome—if she doesn’t mind the mess. . . .”

  Melissa tried not to let her smile show. She could remember as a child the occasional mad rush out the door on the Sunday mornings when they were running behind schedule. Knowing Josh and the boys had not yet established a Sunday morning routine, she could only guess at the things that happened in the process to make it out the door on time.

  She looked down at Bradley, fully intending to let Josh save face by turning Bradley down so as not to witness their messy house, but Bradley’s expectant expression stopped her words before they left her mouth.

  She didn’t know why Bradley wanted to see so much of her, but she suspected it had something to do with the ordeal of his parents moving away and knowing it could be years before he saw them again. Her heart broke for him at his lack of a tangible mother figure in his life, especially now knowing that Cleo was just a dog.

  “That’s okay, Uncle Josh. I’d love to come over to your house for lunch. I promise to not look at the mess.” She bent down to whisper to Bradley but whispered loudly enough for all the boys and Josh to hear. “I didn’t make my bed this morning, either.”

  Giggling sounded behind her, and Josh’s cheeks turned a charming shade of pink, something she was discovering happened a lot, which added to his appeal. She stood and looked up to Josh for his final decision.

  “That’s great. It’s nice that you can come. It looks like you’ve got everything put away, so we can all go. Do you remember how to get there?”

  “Of course, but I’ll follow you anyway.”

  Approximately every fifteen seconds of the trip behind the McMillian family van, the three youngest boys who were sitting in a row in the backseat turned around to wave at her. Sometimes she smiled and waved back. A few times all three of them turned to wave at the same time, then all abruptly turned around and sat still facing the front simultaneously, but it never lasted long.

  For the first time, she appreciated her nice, silent car where the only sound was the purr of the engine or the music, only when she chose to turn it on, at the volume she personally selected.

  On their arrival, this time Josh held Cleo with all four paws firmly on the ground while she patted and greeted the dog. The second Josh released Cleo, she jumped on every one of the boys, then Josh, to individually greet them all.

  “Does she do this every time you come home?”

  “Yup. Come on in. Just kick your way through the toys and have a seat on the couch. I’ll get lunch together.”

  “Forget it, Uncle Josh. I’m helping.”

  As she followed Josh into the kitchen, she glanced quickly back over her shoulder to see Bradley, his face shining with glee. Immediately, she knew she had made the right decision to accompany them for lunch.

  “You don’t have to set the dining room table for lunch. I don’t mind staying in the kitchen. It’s cozy.”

  “I would never have called seven people squashed around a table ‘cozy,’ but it is easier to keep everyone in here to eat.”

  “Then it’s settled. Let me do something.”

  Josh removed two egg cartons and a jug of milk from the fridge, then pulled a huge frying pan from the cupboard. “Here. You can make the scrambled eggs, I’ll make the toast and set the table.”

  She looked down at the egg cartons without touching them. “I have no idea how much to make.”

  “I figure we can get away with fourteen eggs.”

  “Fourteen eggs!”

  Josh closed one eye and started counting on his fingers. “Maybe you’re right. Use fifteen. If there’s any left, we can give it to Cleo. She loves eggs.”

  “You’re going to toast the whole loaf of bread, aren’t you?”

  “Probably.” He grinned. “If you think this is bad, you should see how much ketchup we go through in a week.”

  Melissa shook her head as she started cracking the eggs. “I don’t know how you do it.”

  “It’s easy. I figure how much I would eat when I was living by myself, and then quadruple it. I’m usually close.”

  They worked together to prepare lunch with a friendly camaraderie. When Josh called for the boys to come to the table, they all jostled into place around the kitchen nook, which Melissa could only compare to a restaurant booth, except larger.

  Again she somehow found herself sitting beside Josh, but accredited it to the fact that since now the same number of bodies surrounded the table as what they considered normal, she and Josh had taken the accustomed places of the boys’ parents, which were probably side by side.

  When Josh spoke, all the boys quieted. “Who wants to say grace? Okay, Bradley.”

  “Dear God. Thanks for lunch. And thanks for my fambley. And thanks for Cleo, who is a great dog. And thanks that Miss Klassen could come too. Amen.”

  Melissa barely had time to mumble her answering “amen” when a multitude of hands reached at once for the mountain of toast in the middle of the table. As the scrambled eggs were eagerly devoured, they talked about their morning in church and how all their classes went. Andrew gave her a summary of the sermon, the
n Tyler asked if he could bring his friend Allyson next Sunday morning, to which Josh readily agreed.

  Once the food was gone, as quickly as they had come, they deserted the kitchen leaving Melissa alone with Josh once more.

  “It’s like this every day, isn’t it?”

  He shrugged his shoulders as he dumped exactly two spoonfuls of leftover eggs into Cleo’s bowl, along with a piece of half-eaten toast. “More or less.”

  Cleo gobbled up the contents of her bowl, giving Melissa more insight as to how Cleo had gotten so fat.

  “Don’t you think that—”

  A thump followed by a screech sounded from the living room. “Uncle Josh! Uncle Josh! Kyle turned off my game!”

  “Ryan hit me!”

  “You made me lose my man!”

  “Ow! Ow!”

  “Excuse me,” Josh mumbled over his shoulder as he ran into the living room. She could hear his stern voice scolding them as he broke up the fight, followed by orders to both of them to apologize.

  Melissa sank to the table, unable to stop herself from listening.

  Josh McMillian was a very special man to take on such responsibility and to handle everything so well. Without a doubt, he would have his frustrations, and from being a teacher experienced with young children, she knew at times he would blow it, as everyone did. She could also see that when that happened, he would apologize to the boys the same as he made them apologize to each other, then move on, and all would be well again.

  Melissa sighed. When the time came for Josh to leave his nephews with their parents, he would make a wonderful parent to children of his own. Going hand in hand with that, she also knew without a doubt he would be a wonderful husband and partner to the right woman.

  She suddenly found herself jealous of a woman whom she had never met.

  She had established herself as wrong in her foolish assumption about Cleo, and she hoped and prayed she would never have to reveal her secret.

  Because she had thought Cleo was human, Melissa had made the suggestion that Josh see a couples counselor. At the time, Josh hadn’t known she had been referring to Cleo. Instead of questioning why she would suggest such a thing, Josh replied that he had decided he wouldn’t marry the woman he thought she was referring to. Therefore, even though it wasn’t Cleo, there was in fact a woman with whom Josh had some form of serious relationship. For the time being, he had decided against marriage with this woman, but that didn’t mean the situation wouldn’t change or that it was beyond hope. Josh’s life was in a state of upheaval, and a million things could and would change in the next few months, to say nothing of the possible extent of time he would be caring for his nephews.

  Whatever the state of his present relationship, it only magnified the mandate of her principal. For now, Josh did not consider marriage an option. That didn’t say he wasn’t still going out with her, nor did it mean things would not change. Just because Bradley had set them up for a date didn’t negate the fact that in her mind, it was still a date. And being a date, she had stepped between Josh and someone else, and that was a recipe for disaster.

  Professionally, it could mean her job and her reputation.

  Personally, to continue on and hope that something would change beyond her true relationship with Josh, which was only as the legal guardian of one of her students, was an invitation to heartbreak, frustration, and unrealistic expectations. More so, it was a breach of trust, to say nothing of dishonorable, to come between a man and a woman in an existing relationship, even if that relationship was experiencing some difficulties. Josh’s whole life was in a state of flux. He needed help, not a catalyst to weaken his situation or cause him more stress.

  Most of all, Josh McMillian needed a friend. A good Christian friend who could offer him a shoulder to lean on when he was weak, and someone who could help him when his load became too heavy.

  Before she could formulate a way to do that, Josh reappeared.

  “Sorry about that. I think they’re going to be okay—at least for a few minutes.”

  Melissa stood. “I think I’d better be going, before Bradley decides that it’s so late that I might be staying for supper, too. I don’t want to intrude on your hospitality.”

  “Don’t worry, you could never do that.”

  “Still, I think it’s time I went home. But please, if there’s anything I can ever do for you, please, let me know.”

  To Melissa’s surprise, instead of walking her to the door, Josh stepped in front of her and picked up both her hands in his. Shivers ran up her spine as he rubbed his callused thumbs over the tender skin of her wrists. “You’ve already done so much for me. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you.”

  She struggled to find her voice. “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for Bradley. I meant it when I said that if there’s anything you need help with, you can call me. Anything. Name it.”

  “Well, actually there is.”

  Her heart quickened. Standing like this, with her hands nestled inside his larger ones, he was so close he could kiss her.

  “When Bradley gets to school first thing in the morning, could you make sure the lid to his thermos is tight?”

  Nine

  “McMillian! Telephone for you!”

  Josh wiped his hands on his rag and shoved the cloth into the pocket of his coveralls. “Coming!” he called, and hurried to the phone with his heart in his throat. None of his friends ever called him at work, and if the caller was a customer Rick would have taken it. After all the interruptions and extra time off he’d taken, he’d instructed the kids not to call unless someone had been hurt or it was some other form of emergency.

  He didn’t know if he could handle another trip to the hospital. God had provided a miracle to save Bradley from things he didn’t want to think about the first time. Josh wasn’t so sure that the next time something happened to one of the kids, the outcome would be so minimal.

  A phone call half an hour after the close of school did not bode well.

  By the time he reached the phone, his heart was pounding. “Hello?” he choked out, hoping unreasonably that it was only a charity soliciting for donations.

  “Uncle Josh?” a little kid voice questioned.

  Josh thought he might faint. “Bradley. What’s wrong?”

  “Uncle Josh, there’s something wrong with Miss Klassen’s car. I know there wasn’t really anything wrong with it last time, but this time there is. For really. I heard her say that yesterday the car nearly never started and she wasn’t sure it would even go. You gotta do something!”

  Josh bowed his head, squeezed his eyes shut, and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. “Bradley, I thought I told you not to call me at work unless it was an emergency.”

  “But it is a mergencie. Miss Klassen needs her car. What if it won’t work in the morning, and she can’t come to school?”

  Josh sighed. If her car didn’t start, she would simply take a cab or call someone else to pick her up, since she lived so close to the school. However, the greater worry was that her car would die en route somewhere, leaving her stranded and at the mercy of any whacko who wanted to prey on a single, defenseless woman. He stopped himself from such thinking. He didn’t want to consider such a thing. It had been less than a week since he’d last asked about her car, and it had been fine then.

  “I doubt it’s that bad, Bradley, or she would have called me herself.”

  “But Tyler said he can make hot dogs for supper so you can go to Miss Klassen’s house and fix her car. And then you and Miss Klassen can have pizza at her house for supper. You know, while you’re fixing her car.”

  He almost told Bradley he knew Melissa’s car was perfectly fine, but then the thought crossed his mind that Bradley was genuinely worried if he had gone so far as convince Tyler to do any work, especially to cook for the whole family.

  Josh knotted his brows and looked up at the clock. He was off in an hour. If Tyler fed the rest of them, h
e could conceivably have a look at Melissa’s car and even do a minor repair, and still make it back home in plenty of time to help the kids with their homework and get the younger ones to bed on time for a school night.

  “Are you at home or at Darlene’s?”

  “I’m at home.”

  “What about everyone else?”

  “Everyone is at home, and we’re all doing our homework.”

  Josh opened his mouth, but no words came out. If everyone was doing their homework without prompting or threats, he was going to leave well enough alone.

  He cleared his throat. “Okay, tell Tyler to make hot dogs, and I’ll be home as soon as I can figure out what’s wrong with Miss Klassen’s car.”

  “Yippee! Uh, I mean, that’s good, Uncle Josh. I hope you can fix it okay.”

  “I’m sure I can. See you later, Sport.”

  ❧

  “What do you mean, you’re here to fix my car? There’s nothing wrong with my car.”

  Josh let go a long, tired sigh and squeezed his eyes shut for a second. “Bradley said that you said it barely started yesterday for you. Why didn’t you call me?”

  Melissa bowed her head and dragged her palm down her face. “It was only the battery. I left the headlights on when I went in to do some grocery shopping. I drove it for awhile after that, and the battery is all charged up and working just fine now. So really and truly, there is nothing wrong with my car. I don’t know how Bradley heard me say that, because I was talking to one of the other teachers about my little misadventure while we were standing in the parking lot. I also said at the same time that it’s fully recharged. I don’t understand why Bradley is doing this. You said before you think he has a crush on me and he wants to do something special for me, but I don’t think that’s it.”

  “No, I thought so at first, but I changed my mind. If he had a crush on you, he’d want to spend every minute he could with you. He made no attempts to come with me. In fact, he was pretty happy when I told him I was going directly to your house after work, obviously alone. I wonder if he and the boys are trying to get rid of me? Not only is Tyler making supper, but Bradley said that at 3:30 they were all doing their homework without me asking first, when I wasn’t even there.”