Read Online A Match Made in Heaven by Colleen Coble - Free Book Online

great. But even so I’m glad I met you,” he said softly.
    The words penetrated the wall Callie was busy constructing around her heart. She jerked her head up and stared into his earnest blue eyes. “Really?”
    He nodded.
    Callie blinked furiously. She hated to cry in front of anyone. “Okay, then I accept your apology. And I really wasn’t thinking of the design when I invited Barbara to lunch. She’s just so lonely. I could sense it. Women need good female friends. God made us that way. Barbara needs me as a friend and as someone who will share Jesus with her. I was just trying to do what your song said.”
    Nick rocked back as though she’d slapped him. He pressed two fingers between his eyes. “I should have known,” he said. “Now I really feel like a heel.”
    “You should,” Callie said. “Now let’s go eat. I’m starved.”
    He grinned and put the truck in drive. “Is it beans on a tin plate?” he teased.
    “You never know with Gram. One Sunday it might be roast and potatoes, and the next we might be lucky to get cold cuts.”
    “I like your grandma. She was my first friend here, you know. I saw my shooting buddies every month since we all travel around to the different shoots, but she’s my first bona fide Heaven friend. And now I have even more reason to like her since she introduced us.”
    “Don’t tell her that,” Callie warned. “You’ll have her homing in on matchmaking for my other two cousins.”
    “My lips are sealed.”
    As they parked in front of the pink stucco complex of the Heavenly Village Retirement Community, Callie marveled at the easy relationship between her and Nick. If they could just find a way to resolve the Miller design, this budding romance might go somewhere. She led the way to Gram’s apartment.
    Lunch was a pleasant affair with Gram hovering as she always did and waiting on them hand and foot. When she said good-bye to Nick, Callie couldn’t wait for Saturday to come. She had a big plan in store for him.
    The week flew by. Wednesday’s lunch with Barbara went well, but Callie was careful to keep the discussion away from her design. She didn’t want Barbara to lock her into anything yet. Not until she and Nick came to a compromise. They had lunch at Family Fixin’s. Chelsea and Kyle were there, so she was able to introduce Barbara to her cousin. Chelsea looked radiantly happy, and Callie longed for the peace and contentment she saw in her cousin’s face. Callie’s career was fulfilling, but something was missing from her life.
    Their meeting Friday was postponed when Nick had an emergency meeting with another client. Callie couldn’t help feeling relieved that they wouldn’t be locking horns again. Next week she intended to ask to tour some of his other homes and see if she could find some compromise in another design. Until they resolved this, she was afraid to let her heart get involved. She couldn’t take another heartbreak.

Chapter 6
    Nick’s hair glistened from his recent shower. He grinned at his image in the mirror. Whistling, he quickly shaved and splashed on his favorite cologne. He couldn’t help but wonder what Callie had up her sleeve for the day. She’d told him he could wear jeans, so she must not be planning to drag him to some high-class art show or something like that. Though he’d go if she asked.
    He finished getting ready then headed for Callie’s with a sense of anticipation. She kept him on his toes. He never knew what to expect from her. In her presence he felt alive and energized.
    She was dressed in her old jeans and a cotton T-shirt with her hair stuffed up in her hat. Her smile went straight to his heart. His spirits lifted even higher when he saw her suppressed excitement.
    “Follow me,” she told him.
    He followed her through the house, admiring the warm, inviting decor as he went. Maybe she was right, and Barbara needed more than elegance and a showy floor plan. This home made him want to stay.
    She led him through