Bonus scene

Holly

“Today’s the day, Mikey,” I say, patting him on the back. He needs all the bolstering he can get. He’s about to meet Applejack, his second match on the app, and judging from the state of his nails, he’s been worrying enough for three grown people combined. “This is going to go great. Judith’s a genius.”

“Easy for you to say,” he groans.

He has a point. Cole’s standing beside me, wearing his Hot Rod name sticker, and I have on one saying Cherrybomb. It’s the day of the big reveal, where our app’s beta users can mingle and meet each other—if they so choose—after we interview them about their experiences using our app.

Jane’s at Bryn and Rory’s house, hanging out with her “new grandparents,” while Bryn, Rory, Cole, and I are at the event. It’s over a week since T-Day, what we’ve taken to calling the Thanksgiving brawl, and life has been pretty sweet ever since. For us, at least. Production has started on my grandmother’s show, and Rowan has been a bundle of nerves. It doesn’t help that Harry, who just moved in with us, is constantly moving things around at the house in an attempt to make it feel “peaceful,” and Rowan has fallen a sum total of four times while tripping over some odd or end.

But the show is my grandmother’s problem, and my brother’s problem, I guess, since he’s owned it. It’ll probably end up being my problem too, logistically speaking, but I won’t go begging for it. If it wants to be my problem, it’ll tell me.

“Yes, it is easy for me to say,” I tell Mikey. “But let’s be real. Judith didn’t really do the heavy lifting here. She just confirmed what we already knew.”

Cole lets out a huff of a laugh. “Yes, I knew you loved me all along. You made it so obvious.”

“Why was it obvious?” Mikey asks as if Cole’s deficient of understanding. “She was always so mean to you. I only knew when I saw her throw herself at you at the brewery.”

“Okay, okay.” I lift my hands. “Enough of that. There was no throwing. No throwing was done.”

“I don’t know about that,” Cole says with a grin, looking unfairly gorgeous. “Seems to me you threw yourself at me, and I caught you.”

“You’re trying to get me to do it again, aren’t you?”

“Am I that obvious?” he asks.

I lean in to kiss him, because I can’t not kiss him these days, and Mikey groans again. “It’s your own fault,” I tell him, pulling away. “All this talk about who was throwing who is enough to give a girl ideas.”

“What if that’s her?” Mikey asks, his eyes bugging out. He’s looking at Cherry Williams, a six-foot-tall woman with red hair down to her waist. She was in the year behind me at school. “She’s way too much woman for me. I don’t think I could ever satisfy a woman like that.”

“Well, she does run that bakery,” I say, popping some of the appetizers I have piled on my plate. “You said Applejack has a nighttime job.”

“She’s also known for her apple strudel,” Cole says. He grabs a stuffed mushroom off my plate and eats it before I can slap his hand. I slap it anyway. “Guess we know where the username comes from.”

Mikey’s mouth drops open. “She is?”

Cole shrugs. “Seems like the kind of thing they’d make at a bakery.”

“That’s Cole-speak for he’s fucking with you,” I translate.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Mikey says.

“Why were you so worried?” I ask, crinkling my brow. “That woman is hella fine. You’d be privileged to date a woman like her. Quick, Cole, agree with me without pissing me off.”

Cole shakes his head a little, but the curling of his lips suggests he’s not un-amused. “I’ve heard other people say she’s a very attractive woman, Mikey, and I’d agree if I didn’t only have eyes for one woman.”

I bump him with my hip. “Putting it on a little strong, but I’ll take it.”

“It’s not that I don’t think she’s beautiful,” Mikey says. “I have eyes, don’t I? It’s just. A woman like that would want a tall, growly man with a lot of muscles.” Mikey gives his twiggy arms a sad look. “I tried muscle milk, but it didn’t help.”

“You can come lift with Logan and me at the gym,” Cole offers, earning himself an ass squeeze out of Mikey’s view. Mikey’s quick downward glance says I didn’t manage it. Damn it, that man has eagle eyes for other people’s physical affection.

“Besides, that’s not what every woman wants,” I add.

Mikey gives Cole a pointed look.

“Okay, fine, it’s what I want, but Cole and I are a ninety-seven percent match. You can’t fight those kind of odds. The universe was stacked against us.”

“No need to sound so happy about it,” Cole says with a laugh.

“She put on a nametag,” Mikey says. The nametags are optional, for the testers who actually want to meet their matches. There are some who don’t, because despite being pretty damn awesome, Judith isn’t infallible. Even a brilliant A.I. partially programmed by yours truly can’t find love for everyone with only several hundred beta testers to choose from. “Can you read it from here?”

We all try to get a look, and when Cherry glances over at us, we all look away in tandem, thereby making ourselves that much more conspicuous. A second later, Mikey shifts his gaze back in that direction.

“She’s coming over,” he whispers in abject terror. “I told Applejack that I’d be wearing this shirt.”

“I’m not going to get on your case about trying to fool Judith,” I say. “Glass houses, and all of that. But make sure you update her to fix any bugs.”

He nods tightly. “I already have. She’s still heading this way, isn’t she?”

“Are you sure she’s not just going to the food bar?” I say encouragingly, lifting up my plate on the off-chance he hadn’t noticed. “It’s very good. Bryn really outdid herself.”

Speaking of Bryn, she and Rory are approaching the lectern. Bryn motions me over with an adamant hand gesture. I set my plate down with a sigh.

“Your sister looks pissed,” Cole says, reminding me of a day a little over a year ago, when he told me much the same thing. Bryn and I had gone to a restaurant to celebrate our birthday, and lo and behold, Cole Garrison was sitting at the bar. Instead of ignoring him the way I’d trained myself to, I found myself drawn to him that night, magnet meet metal. It’s always been like that with us, even though we used to do every damn thing we could to fight it.

It's Judith who brought us together, indirectly, by forcing Cole to realize he was ready to move on—and forcing me to realize I never had.

“That’s just what her face looks like,” I say, supplying my line. He grins and pulls me to him, giving my forehead a kiss.

“You missed,” I say. “And it’s a pretty damn obvious target too. Are you drunk, Cole Garrison?” I lift onto my toes to kiss him properly.

“Not drunk enough for this,” he says, leaning back slightly.

Mikey’s tugging on my sleeve, and I look over to see that Cherry Williams really is on her way over here. Huh. Have we found the elusive Applejack? I’ll admit that in my head, she looked more like a My Little Pony.

“You’re not leaving me,” Mikey says as stubbornly as if he were one of my eight-year-old students rather than a man in his thirties.

“You’ll be fine, buddy,” Cole says, clapping him on the back. “Just be yourself.”

“I’m not sure that’s good advice,” Mikey says. “I’ve been told my personality isn’t my strong suit.”

“That’s bullshit,” I say, immediately offended for him. “Who told you that?”

“You did.”

“You must have done something to piss me off. I like your personality at least 75% of the time. That’s huge. I only like Cole’s personality something like 50% of the time.”

Cole shrugs and tilts his head as if to accede the point.

“Now, we have to go, Mikey, before the pregnant lady at the lectern kills us. But you can do this. Be bold. Be assertive. Be you.”

“But I’m neither bold nor assertive,” he says, his brow furrowing.

I’m already retreating with Cole, but I turn to give him a thumbs up as I go. “You got this, man!”

We’re about halfway to Bryn and Rory, on the other side of the room, before Cole turns to me and murmurs, “Do you really think he’s got this?”

“No, absolutely not,” I say. “But someone needs to bolster his confidence.”

He shakes his head, smiling, and lifts a hand to my cheek, his touch shuddering through me. That’s the zip for you, though. I can’t get enough of this man. I literally cannot. It’s a little annoying, honestly. “You’re some woman, Holly Mayberry.”

“So you keep telling me. You ready for this?”

Cole’s not the kind of man who likes spouting his business, but Highland Hills being the small town it is, everyone’s already aware that we’re together—that Cole Garrison and Holly Mayberry, the two people everyone thought would be single forever, are now an item. I might not be a salesperson, but I know a good story when I see one. We’re proof that the Matchmake Me algorithm knows its shit.

“Absolutely not. Then again, there’s no preparing for you.”

I grin at him, and we walk to the lectern hand in hand.

“No cold feet?” Bryn asks.

“My feet are incredibly warm,” I say.

“Didn’t feel that way last night,” Cole comments, making me laugh and Rory grin.

“All right, guys. So Rory will talk first, and then Holly. Got it? Then we’ll start with the scheduled interviews.”

The idea is that we’ll be working most of the time, talking to the testers, but while they’re not being interviewed, they can mingle. Talk about their experiences. Eat free food. Hopefully tell the few reporters who are around that our app is a magical unicorn.

“Jane told me I have to film you,” Bryn says. “So be prepared for that.”

Cole’s laugh rumbles against me as he holds me to his chest. “Of course she did.”

“Hey,” I say, nodding across the room to where Cherry and Mikey are talking. “Do you think she’s really his match?”

“Cherry?” Bryn says. “I saw her a minute ago. Her user name was Nuts and Fluff.”

Goddamn, now I feel guilty for revving Mikey up. I was sort of hoping it would be her, if only because she’s fabulous and she’d surely challenge him out of his comfort zone.

“Applejack’s here somewhere,” Cole tells me. “In the meantime, he’s getting practice for talking to women.” He inclines his head. “And it is still possible for people to find each other without Judith.”

“Not the message we’re looking to convey,” Rory says, patting him on the back.

“Wait, you’re asking about Applejack?” Bryn asks. She gives me a weird look. “She’s with Cherry. They’re friends.”

I look back that way again, squinting my eyes, and fuck, there is a shorter woman standing in Cherry’s shadow. Her hair is pulled back in a tight ponytail, and she’s wearing a shirt that says, It’s Pi day, and the only pie I have is on this shirt.

“Holy shit,” I say. “Judith is a miracle. I couldn’t have done better if I’d hand-picked her myself.”

“You literally didn’t even notice that woman was there until this very second,” Cole says with a snort.

“Do you deny she’s perfect for Mikey?”

“Yes,” he says, giving my arm a bump. “I deny that we have anywhere near enough information to make that call.”

“Look at that shirt,” I say, pointing.

Applejack sees my gesture and responds by points to herself, then waving, then disguising said wave as a head scratch.

“Okay, fine,” Cole says with a sigh. “You’re right. She does seem perfect for him.”

Rory shakes his head at us, silently laughing. “All, right,” he adds as he regains his nearly ever-present cool. “It’s time.”

He steps up to the microphone, every bit the billionaire business man, and from the way my sister’s beaming at him, he is absolutely going to get laid tonight.

“Thank you for being here, everyone,” he says. “I’m thrilled to have played a part in bringing Matchmake Me to life. But it never would have happened if not for my lovely fiancée, Bryn, and her sister, Holly. This app was their brainchild, their creation, and we look forward to speaking with you all today about your experiences with it, good and bad, so we can make it the best app it possibly can be. Now, before we get our interviews started, Holly would like to say a few words about her experience testing the app.”

Cole squeezes my ass before I head up to the microphone, so I’m laughing as I stake Rory’s place.

“Hi, lovebirds! Guess what? My sister signed me up as a beta tester.” I lift a hand. “Now, I’m not recommending you set your family members up on the system unless you also have an identical twin who knows you better than you do yourself, but it did work out in my case.” I nod back toward Cole. “Hot Rod and I here are a 97% match. And guess what? We discovered that in real life before we even realized we were each other’s matches on the app. We’re living proof that the algorithm works.”

Someone raises a hand in back, and I wave for them to speak before registering that it’s one of the many members of Cole’s fan club.“Does this mean Cole’s dating women from Highland Hills now?” Up until recently, he was notorious for only “dating”—i.e. sleeping with—tourists, women who’d be in town for a couple of days or weeks at most.

He steps up next to me, even though I damn well he’d prefer not to participate. “Yes. But only this one.” He puts his arms around me, clasping them over my heart, and love must be making me an insufferable softie, because I feel tears pressing against my eyes.

“Anyone else want to call dibs on my boyfriend?” I ask with a grin.

One woman raises her hand before looking around and slowly lowering it.

“Well, then,” I say. “My sister, Rory, and I would be happy to take some questions about the app before our team starts the interviews.”

One woman at the back raises her hand, and from the open notebook on her lap, I’m guessing—hoping—she’s press.

“Yes?” I say encouragingly, pointing to her.

“You’re related to Maeve Mayberry.”

A chill goes down my back, because I realize where this is going. I’m tempted to answer, Everyone has their misfortunes, yes, but I’m pretty sure Rory wouldn’t approve. Instead, I clear my throat and say, “Yes, Bryn and I came up with the idea for Matchmake Me while we were working at our family business, Mayberry Matchmakers.”

“Do you have anything to do with Matchmaking the Rich?” she asks. Then, before I can answer, she adds, “It’s been in production for less than a week, and it’s already a disaster. Do you have any comment about that?”

“Disasters are in the eye of the beholder,” I say with a tight smiles. “Some people enjoy watching hot messes. One could argue that the success of reality TV hinges on them.”

“Even so. There’s been an unusual amount of controversy, even for a show like this. Do you have a comment?”

“Yes,” I say. “My comment is that you’re in the wrong place if you’re looking for a story about Matchmaking the Rich. I hear they’re filming at the Labelle house. Any old person here can give you directions. Any other questions?”

I point to a man with a very impressive mustache, the ends curling up as if to say hello.

“Yes,” he says, “is it true that your brother is a handyman on the set? I’ve heard from other people in town that you’re estranged from your grandmother.”

“Look, bub,” I say, getting annoyed and not caring who knows it, “I don’t think we’re at the let’s share our family dirt stage of acquaintance. You’ve got to give me your first name before we can even consider it an acquaintance.”

“You’re close, actually,” he says, “my name is Bob.”

I'm tempted to tell him that I do not, in fact, give a flying fuck what his name is, but Cole pulls me away from the microphone and Rory, who’s much more even-tempered than all of us, takes over, telling the reporters that they’ll have a chance to talk to the three of us about “relevant topics” after the interviews are complete.

“You looked like you wanted to body slam Bob,” Cole says, stroking my hair as he leads me back over to Mikey. He knows me well enough to guess, correctly, that I want to see how this whole Mikey/Applejack thing is turning out. “I had to intervene.”

“Wise,” I say. “I would have body-slammed him, and then everyone would go around saying I’d thrown myself at him, and then you’d have to body-slam them. It would be a whole thing.”

“Holly Mayberry,” he says with a not-unhappy sigh. “What am I going to do with you?”

“I have a few ideas,” I say, waggling my brows up and down. “But I did tell Jane that I’d watch that new coding documentary with her, so you’ll have to sit through that before there’s even a chance of you getting laid.”

He looks at me for a long moment, then presses a kiss to my forehead. “I’m one lucky asshole.”

“Well, we agree on the asshole part,” I say, but I wrap my arm around his waist, because I still haven’t gotten over the thrill of being able to touch him whenever I want. I doubt I never will.

We get closer, and yes! Mikey is having an animated conversation with Applejack.

“Everything is going according to plan,” I say with a happy sigh.

“Not on your grandmother’s show,” someone says with a snort. I look up and see that it’s Cherry. She probably stepped away from the Mikey and Applejack conversation to let magic happen. Wise.

“Oh, hey, Cherry,” I say. Cole nods his hello too. “Didn’t see you there.”

She laughs. “That’s not one I hear often. You know, the producers brought the contestant in last week, and it was a real shitshow. They ordered champagne cakes, but the guys kept asking me about what type of champagne I’d used, like they wouldn’t sample a truffle made with anything less than Moet.” She rolls her eyes. “Your grandmother picked some real stinkers.”

“Ugh,” I say. “Not a great look for our app. Speaking of which, did you connect with anyone?”

She makes a face. “I did, but he hasn’t come out of the woodwork. I’m guessing he took one look at me and tore off his nametag.”

“But you’re a goddess,” I say. “I don’t throw words like that around lightly.”

“Men don’t want to date a woman who’s taller than them.”

“A real man wouldn’t care,” Cole interjects.

He means it, because he’s certainly a real man. Rory too. And Alex, Willow’s fiancé. And my brother. They may be one in a million, or one in a billion even, but they’re proof positive that it’s possible to find one.

“He’s out there, Cherry,” I say. “You’ll find your one-in-a-million man.”

She laughs. “Well, at least the odds are in my favor, huh?”

“The odds weren’t actually in our favor,” Cole says, looking at me. “They seemed to be stacked against us. But Holly’s a force of nature, and I can tell you are too. You’re not the kind of person who lets things happen to you. You make them happen. It’s going to work out for you.”

“Thanks, guys,” she says with a smile. Then an alarm burbles on her phone, and her eyes fly wide. “Crap, I have to get back to the bakery to start a second rise on my bread.”

“Aren’t you going to do an interview?”

“Doesn’t this count?” she asks as she backs away.

Fair enough, I guess.

I turn toward Cole. “That was mighty nice of you, you know. If you keep it up, I might get the impression that you’re a sensitive man.”

He kisses me softly, then pulls back, his eyes twinkling. “I might just let you. Say, I get an interview, too, don’t I? You think maybe you can interview me in a private room? For science, obviously.”

I take his hand, and lead him away from the mass of people. “Yes, anything for science.”


Be sure to check out Ivy and Lou's story, Matchmaking a Roommate!

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