Free Matchmakers Box Set: Matchmakers, Encore, Finding Hope by Bernadette Marie Page B

looked up. “This man knows Pablo DiAngelo!” The sound of shattering glass cut through the store, but she was still smiling.
    The glassblower jumped up from his seat in the window. The beautiful ornament he’d been working on lay at his feet in shards. He kicked the pieces to the side, turned off the fire, and removed his protective glasses.
    “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you drop…”
    “Ah, nothing!” He held his hand out to David. “You’ve really met DiAngelo?” David could only nod. “He is my favorite. He’s amazing! He’s…” The man searched for English words to fulfill his sentence. “Angelic.”
    “How did you get to meet such a man?” the woman asked, smiling and pumping his hand.
    “My fiancée”—the words were out before he could retract them—“is his cellist.”
    “His cellist?” The woman’s brows knit together. “Sophia Burkhalter? You’re engaged to Sophia Burkhalter?”
    “Was. We’re…” He considered for a moment. “Very good friends now.”
    She nodded.
    “Pablo is very in love with her. You can see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice.”
    The woman couldn’t have hurt him more if she’d stabbed him with one of the shards from the broken ornament. It was painfully clear to him that it wasn’t just about him and Sophia mending their relationship. There was Pablo. And Carissa.
    He felt the energy drain from his body and wished he hadn’t walked so far from his hotel.
    “You say you are close friends?” The man stood studying him.
    “Yes. As a matter of fact, she’s at my home in Kansas City right now.”
    “Come. I want you to take to her a piece I made.” The glassblower walked him to a section in the store that displayed the miniature instruments made from glass. He picked up one of the cellos and displayed it in his hand. “Please, you will take this to Sophia Burkhalter. Please tell her that I am Pablo DiAngelo’s biggest fan, and therefore, I am hers too.” He handed the fragile gift to David. The tiny loops of glass must have taken him many hours to create.
    “Sir, I can’t take this.”
    “It’s not for you,” he reminded him. “You give it to her.”
    “But…” The man’s hand rose in front of him, stopping his excuse. “I’ll see that she gets it.”
    “That pleases me. She’ll wrap it for you.” He handed the woman the figure and patted David on the back.
    “Make sure you put your card in there. She’ll want to send you a thank-you note. That’s how she is.”
    “And I will frame it on my wall.” He laughed. “Back to work. I must start that vase over,” he said with a shrug.
    David waited for the woman to finish wrapping up the package. “This will give him such joy.”
    “I know Sophia will appreciate his gift.”
    David left the store, sat at the nearest bench down the street, and held the box in his hand.
    What had made him walk into that store? They knew her. She was someone to them. Someone more than an accompanist to a man with an angelic voice, as the man had pointed out.
    Who was he to think she’d leave all that and love him? She may have claimed not to have left him for Pablo, but with the shopkeeper’s words resonating in his ears, he knew she’d replaced him with Pablo.
    David felt a tightening in his chest, and he raised his palm to it to ease it.
    He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed the house.
    “Hello.” Sophia’s voice pierced his heart.
    “Sophie?”
    “David.” Her voice softened.
    “How are you?”
    “I’m fine. Where are you?”
    Could her interest be genuine? Would it continue? Could she continue with another man if she knew how he felt? Then again, did he even know how he felt?
    “I’m still in Hawaii. Sophie, I heard you were practicing with Carissa this morning.”
    “I was.” The pitch of her voice rose joyfully.
    “Thank you.”
    “Thank you? Why?”
    “She admires you. I know that meant a lot to her. You don’t have to do it again…”
    “I’ve