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mother has become something of a matchmaker.”
    Eli groaned, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. An image of Jamie’s face lighting up with an impish smile when he’d given her his thumbs-up signal in the hardware store flashed in his head. “Jamie and me? No way. She’s not my type.” So why couldn’t he get the woman out of his thoughts?

Chapter Four
    “E li Payton.”
    The woman’s voice filtering back from the reception area jerked Jamie’s attention from the patient chart she was updating on her iPad. Eli was here? At the birthing center? She looked through the window separating the nursing station from reception.
    “Has agreed to cover my classes for me,” Becca Norton finished. “So any time of the day is okay for my appointment.”
    “The new guidance counselor? My daughter loves him. And he’s not bad on the eyes, either,” the office assistant said.
    “I can’t argue with that and neither would my junior girls. Some of them find the need to visit the guidance office daily to discuss their college and career goals.”
    Jamie’s stomach clenched and she tapped the tablet’s screen too sharply. Seriously, she couldn’t be jealous of a bunch of starry-eyed sixteen-year-olds. Nor should she be jealous of Becca. Jamie was hard-pressed to think of anyone who suited her less than Eli Payton did. If, that is, she was looking for someone to suit, which she wasn’t. She had more than enough in her life with work and the kids.
    As for Eli and Becca, Jamie’s rational side said they might be good together. They were both educators and active in the Hazardtown Community Church. He’d offered to cover Becca’s classes for her doctor’s appointments. There could already be some interest there. Jamie tamped down the less positive feelings her emotional side had set loose.
    She should drop some hints about Becca to Leah the next time she ran into her, so Leah could channel her matchmaking efforts elsewhere. A good part of her shopping trip with the older woman had consisted of Leah touting Eli’s virtues and how much he liked kids. How he realized that, at his age, he needed to be open to the possibility of the “right” woman already having children. Leah had assured Jamie that he was.
    Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, halting Jamie’s thoughts and the empty hole that had started to blossom in her stomach when she’d pictured Eli and Becca together. It was most likely one of the kids. She frowned. They knew they weren’t supposed to call her during office hours unless it was an emergency.
    “Hello,” she answered without checking the caller ID.
    “Hi, Jamie. It’s Emily. You busy?”
    Jamie regretted the irritation in her greeting. “I’m at work, but I’ve finished my last appointment. What’s up?”
    “I need a favor. Drew is taking the youth group sledding at the golf course tomorrow. Maybe Myles told you about it. The kids planned it at the last meeting.”
    Jamie tensed. Was she going to ask her to allow Myles to go? Eli had probably told Drew about her blowup with him after he’d driven Myles home from the meeting and Drew had asked his wife to clear the sledding with Jamie beforehand. She was torn. She wanted Myles to be involved in good activities. But she didn’t want him to be taught to depend on faith to get through life. John’s death had shown her the futility of that.
    She shook off the tension. More likely she was making something out of nothing. Guys were more closemouthed about things. Emily was probably calling about something else altogether, like borrowing her kids’ sleds.
    “No, Myles didn’t mention it.” But, then, he hadn’t said much of anything to her in the past couple of weeks, except when Jamie had asked him a direct question.
    “I thought he might be coming since he was at the meeting. He took a permission slip.”
    “Oh.”
    “No matter. Could you come and chaperone? It’s tomorrow from one to four. I know. Short notice. I’m supposed