She gave her father a quick kiss on the cheek and left the kitchen. When she reached the front door, she heard him say, "So do you like zombie movies?" and Bea said, "What's not to like?"

Alison stopped for a moment, feeling the strangest push-pull of emotions she didn't know what to do with. She loved seeing her father happy. But at the same time it magnified her own feelings of despair.

Stop being selfish. Your father deserves happiness, too. Your day's coming. You just have to stay positive.

But that was becoming harder and harder to do. She didn't know why Brandon had rejected her after giving her the kiss of the century, but it had chipped away at her hope for the future and made her feel lonely all over again.

The next afternoon, Brandon went to the living room, where Tom was taking a nap on the sofa. He tossed a file onto Tom's chest. "Tell me what you think of this guy."

Tom opened one eye. "I think he's perfect," he said, then closed his eye again. "She's going to love him."

"Come on, Tom. I need your opinion."

"You're the matchmaker. So make a match."

"This is Alison we're talking about. I think I have the right guy for her."

Tom's eyes slowly came open again. With a stretch and a yawn, he sat up and opened the file.

"Okay. Let's see. Hmm. He owns a uniform-manufacturing business? That's exciting."

"Not exciting. Just lucrative. He's pretty well off."

"Background check?"

"Clean as a whistle."

"Nonsmoker...never been married...where's his photo?"

Tom flipped a page over, revealing the photo, and made a face of disgust. "What's that he's wearing?"

"A sweater vest."

"That's really dorky."

"It's not permanently stuck to him. If Alison doesn't like it, she can dress him herself."

"Good point. Otherwise I suppose he's okay looking."

Tom flipped back to the questionnaire. "Says here he's from a big family and wants a big family. Alison should like that."

She would. Justin Moore had two brothers, and both of them were married with kids. Brandon pictured those Christmas mornings Alison wanted so badly, the ones filled with warmth and family. She'd be right in the middle of things, decorating and cooking and playing with the kids.

So why hadn't he already set him up with her? Justin had first come to him last week. He'd had plenty of time to do it.

Oh, hell. Who was he kidding? He knew why. In the last week, he hadn't considered anyone for Alison, with the possible exception of himself.

"What was your feel for the guy when you interviewed him?" Tom asked.

"He was smart. Motivated. Successful. Average looking, but Alison doesn't care about that. A little dry, but that may have just been a first impression. Sharp businessman, but socially awkward. He has a lot going for him, but he needs help getting things kicked off with a woman."

"So set them up. What have you got to lose?"

Alison. That's what I have to lose.

But the truth was that she wasn't his to lose. She never had been, and she never would be. Set them up, and do it now.

He took the file to his office, where he sat down at his desk and dialed Justin's number.

"Just three quick questions," he said when Justin came on the line. "Have you ever had anything to do with drugs?"

"Of course not."

"Do you have an ex you're dying to get back with?"

"Uh...no. Why would I go to a matchmaker if I wanted to get back with an ex?"

"Are you sexually conflicted in any way?"

"What do you mean?"

"Have you ever had a desire to be anything but a man with the equipment God gave you?"

"Hell, no!"

"Then I have a match for you," he said, forcing himself to say the words. "And there's no doubt about it. You're going to love her."

On Tuesday morning, Alison checked for any co-workers who might be loitering near her cubicle. When she saw none, she headed over to Lois's desk. No matter what had happened between her and Brandon, she'd promised him a yard sign, so she needed to put Lois to work.

"Hey, Lois."

Lois turned around, and Alison discreetly held up the unmarked bag. Lois whipped back around to stare at her computer, denying, of course, that she'd seen anything at all.

"What's the job?"

"I need a design for a yard sign."

"Same branding as the business card?"

"Yep."

"What do you want on it? "

"Logo. Business name. Phone number. I'll send you the dimensions. You give me the design, I'll order the sign."

"Time frame?"

"ASAP."

"I'll have the design for you tomorrow. But it'll take the sign itself a while to come in."

"I understand."

Lois turned her back to Alison and opened her lower desk drawer. Alison dropped the unmarked bag into it and walked away.

Just then she heard her phone ring. She hurried back to her desk and looked at the caller ID.

Brandon.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hoping deep in her heart that no matter how final he'd made things between them on Saturday night, no matter how much he'd professed that nothing would ever happen between them again, he was calling to tell her how wrong he'd been and that he wanted her every bit as much as she wanted him.

With a trembling hand, she hit the talk button. "Hello."

"Hi," he said. "It's Brandon. I just called to tell you I have another match for you."

Alison felt as if the floor beneath her feet had opened up and the ground had swallowed her. Please tell me he didn't say that.

But he had said it. And it was her fault for thinking it was possible he was going to say anything else. He'd made it pretty clear he didn't want her, and not because of matchmaker ethics. That was just something she'd made up, and he'd used it so he could let her down easy. She'd been an emotional wreck. What else had she expected him to say?

"I think you're going to like him," Brandon said, sounding friendly and upbeat and very professional. And she hated it.

She swallowed hard. "So tell me about him."

"He's nice looking. Has a good job. A big family. And he wants to get married."

"That sounds...wonderful."

"I'll e-mail you some more information. Then you can get back to me to tell me if you'd like to go out with him."

"Have you told him about me?"

"Yes. And he's really excited about meeting you." There was a long pause. Then Brandon said the one thing she should have been thrilled to hear, but instead it sounded empty and hollow.

"Alison, I really think this man may be the one you've been waiting for."

The next Saturday evening, Alison met Justin Moore at a coffeehouse in the high-rent district of West Plano. It had mismatched chairs and tables, oddball art on the walls, and offbeat employees behind the counter. Strange, then, that every patron in the place had laptops flipped open and iPhones beside them, dressed as if they'd stepped out of a boardroom. They were the kind of people who prided themselves on embracing cuttingedge weirdness, then went home to half-million-dollar houses with Lexuses in every garage.

Justin spotted her first and tapped her on the shoulder. When she turned around, she couldn't say it was exactly love at first sight. He was slightly geeky, with glasses perched on his nose and his hair falling down over his forehead, but if she squinted a little, he looked kinda cute. And because he wasn't drop-dead gorgeous, he probably didn't spend his entire day looking in the mirror and marveling at how irresistible he was. And it also probably meant that he wasn't expecting a woman who looked like a supermodel. In other words, he was a man who had substance over style. She repeated that to herself a few times and decided she liked the sound of it.

"Cute place," she said after they got their coffee and sat down at a cozy table for two.

"I come here sometimes on the way to work," he said. "I thought it would be a nice place to get to know each other."

As they sipped their coffee and talked, she started a mental list of pros and cons. There was the matter of the way he dressed that went along with the geek thing-polyester slacks, a plain white dress shirt, and wingtip shoes with everything tied down and buttoned up tightly. Con.

He had a nice haircut and smelled good. Pro.

She told the candy pusher joke. He didn't seem to get it. Con.

He was intelligent. Pro.

Which he demonstrated by telling her about the intricacies of the machinery his employees used to create a janitor's uniform. Con.

Unfortunately, the pro-con thing didn't seem get her anywhere. By the time their date was nearly over, the pros and the cons had pretty much balanced each other out.

Then he started talking about his family, and things took a turn for the better. He had two brothers who lived within a few hours of Dallas, and they were both married with kids.

"I've spent the past fifteen years building my business," Justin told her. "I guess I've pretty much ignored anything else. But I'm getting older, and it's time for me to take that next step. I want what my brothers have."

I want it, too, she thought. She actually felt a tiny surge of excitement as she imagined the possibilities that might lie ahead. He seemed a little shy, but first dates were hard under any circumstances. She decided he just might be exactly what she'd asked for. A nice, reasonably attractive man who was financially responsible and wanted a family, who had the ability to eventually utter the words "I do."

Later, he walked her to the parking lot. They reached her car and stood there with classic end-of-first-date awkwardness.

"You like antiques, right?" Justin said.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Brandon told me."

Brandon. Of course he would know that since she loved his house so much. And he'd seen her furniture. And she'd gushed over the period clothes in his grandmother's wardrobe. And- Forget Brandon. It's Justin you're interested in.

"I can get tickets to the Dallas Antique Show at Market Hall," Justin said. "Would you like to go to the opening night preview party?"

Alison just about had an orgasm on the spot. That was a big ol' charity event where posh antique galleries displayed zillion-dollar pieces and charged through the nose for rich folks to come look at them.

"Those tickets have to be really expensive," she said.

"They are. Five hundred apiece."

Well, don't tell me, she thought, even though she was impressed that he had the money and didn't mind spending it when it was something he knew she'd be interested in. It beat the hell out of the date she'd once had with a guy who took her to dinner at Golden Corral because he had a coupon for two dollars off the allyoucaneat buffet, and it was crab legs night.

"Yeah, I'd love to go."

"Good. I'll get the tickets."

They said good night, and Alison got into her car to go home. She played the date over in her mind, and one word kept coming to mind. Nice. It distressed her a little that she couldn't come up with a better adjective than that. Then again, when some of her first dates could have been described in terms far worse than that, she decided to count her lucky stars.

Later at home, just as she was turning out the light to go to sleep, her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID.

Brandon?

She fingered the button without pushing it, her heart suddenly beating faster and her mouth going dry.

Oh, will you stop freaking out? Just answer the damned call.