A Perfectly Imperfect Match (Matchmaking Mamas) by Marie Ferrarella

studio.
    Replacing the GPS into its stand on the dashboard, Jared started up his car.
    Elizabeth held her tongue as long as she was able, which amounted to thirty seconds before it got the better of her. “You don’t know where the store is?” she asked him as they pulled out of the lot.
    “No, I don’t,” he admitted. “But the GPS does,” he assured her, flashing a wide, bright smile at her.
    She found the smile stirring, and his willingness to admit that he didn’t instinctively know how to find any place on the map more than admirable.
    “Most men won’t ask for directions,” she pointed out, thinking of her father and brothers. Her brothers would rather go to their graves than admit to ignorance when it came to road travel. Her father, on the other hand, seemed to know where everything was and how to get there, so he had no need to ask. “They feel it somehow belittles their manhood.”
    “Technically, I didn’t ask for directions,” he pointed out. “I just told Gloria to find the best way to get to The Auto Mall.”
    “Gloria?” she echoed. Was that the name of some administrative assistant back in his office? Or did the name belong to a girlfriend?
    And why would any of that even matter to her? Elizabeth silently demanded. Jared was a client—a potential client, she corrected herself. What he wasn’t was a potential hunk.
    Well, actually, she corrected herself again, he was. But the point was that he wasn’t her potential hunk.
    After all, what would she do with one of those? These days, what with her patchwork quilt of different gigs, she was having trouble finding the time to schedule an oil change for her car, much less anything else. When in heaven’s name would she possibly find the time for a man in her life?
    “That’s what I call the GPS,” he told her wryly. “Mine has this female voice that sounds pretty peeved with me every time I opt to ignore one of her directions. I had a teacher like that in elementary school. Her name was Mrs. Reynolds. Mrs. Gloria Reynolds,” he emphasized. “She taught fourth grade, and it felt like nothing I ever did was right in her eyes. Every time I hear my GPS mutter ‘recalculating,’ I think of Mrs. Reynolds...so I just decided to call the GPS Gloria,” Jared told her.
    She honestly didn’t know if Jared was being serious, or just pulling her leg. But whether he was or wasn’t, that didn’t change the fact that he was putting himself out for her.
    She was grateful to him.
    * * *
    Manny Ramirez was just about to lock up the store for the night when a couple rushed his way.
    “You the guy who called about a battery for his T-Bird?” he called out as they approached.
    “It’s her Thunderbird,” Jared corrected, “but yeah, I’m the one who called.”
    “Got it right over here,” the manager told them, beckoning them over to the last cash register. The battery was out of sight, stored beneath the counter. “Must be your lucky day,” he told Jared. Making his way around the counter, he hefted the battery and placed it on the counter beside the register.
    “Because I caught you before you closed up?” Jared asked.
    The man shook his head. “Because you got the last battery I had that’ll fit into the space under the hood. That’s not exactly a common model,” Manny told them as he rang up the sale. “Didn’t get too many requests for it so I stopped carrying them.” He patted the battery. “This was the last of its kind in the store. I’m not even sure if the other auto shops have it. It’s usually a special-order item.”
    “Then I guess we really are lucky,” Jared agreed, glancing at Elizabeth.
    She already had her credit card out and handed it over to the manager. “We really appreciate you staying open for us.”
    “Hey, anytime. Nothing waiting for me at home but a wife who starts complaining the minute I walk through the door,” he told them with a sigh. Taking the credit card, Manny glanced at the back to make