A Fare To Remember

“I suppose if you were careful, you could.” The thought had never occurred to Zach. “I figured you drove a cab because you wanted a bigger nest egg for retirement.”

“Nah. I love the job.” His cell phone rang. “Gotta go. Keep me informed, okay?”

“Sure, Mario. And if I didn’t, you’d probably find a way to tail me, knowing you.” With a grin, he climbed out of the cab.

So Mario loved his job. Zach envied him. These days he dreaded going into the office, especially tomorrow, when he’d be moving into Ed’s spot. Maybe he should take Hannah’s advice and quit. Then he could follow Mario’s example and drive a cab.

MARIO USED HIS HANDS-FREE device to answer his cell phone. He knew who it was. He’d called Iris on his way over to pick up Zach and Zach’s mysterious companion. She was probably dying to know who it had been.

“So? Who was he with?” She spoke in her normal tone because she was using the phone in her apartment instead of her cell.

“It was Hannah, the woman I’m trying to set him up with.”

“Bueno! But you don’t sound very happy, amigo.”

“Well, I hope I didn’t make a serious mistake this time. I wanted her to slow him down some, get him to smell the roses, but instead this woman’s advising him to quit his job! I’d hoped he’d fall in love, not end up in the poorhouse.”

“See what can happen when you go messing with people’s lives?” There was no bite to her comment, though.

“Ah, it’ll probably be okay. Zach’s too sensible to do something so irresponsible.” Mario heard a whistle and eased over to the curb.

“He is sensible, that one.”

“You’ll get a look at the two of them together tomorrow. They’re coming by the coffee stand at noon.”

“Will you be there?” Iris sounded as if she’d like that.

“Not right then. I have to sleep sometime. But I’ll see you early, like usual.”

“Bueno.”

Mario savored the wealth of enthusiasm in that two-syllable answer. One of these nights he should just take the evening off and ask her out. But he hadn’t dated in a while. A long while. He was chicken. “Got a fare. See you later.”

HANNAH HAD TAKEN THE TIME to wash out her yellow sundress and hang it to dry before going to bed. She’d originally liked the dress and it was collecting some amazing memories, but she was the kind of girl who enjoyed changing her look. She could hardly wait to get some new duds. At least the warm sunshine felt great on her bare arms and shoulders.

Carrying Zach’s coat over her arm, she stepped off the bus within half a block from the address Zach had given her. The sound of Latina music made her homesick for Arizona as she walked over to the source of the music, the coffee stand where Zach had promised to meet her. The olive-skinned woman running it was doing a brisk business.

Whatever she was serving smelled delicious, and Hannah decided to buy something for both her and Zach, since she was a little early and he hadn’t arrived yet. They wouldn’t have time for a real meal, and she wanted to treat him to some food after all the help he’d been. She had another reward in mind for later on, if all went well. The hotel had decided to give her a suite, and she felt the urge to share it.

She stood in line and finally came face-to-face with the woman working there. “What smells so good?” she asked.

The woman smiled, revealing beautiful white teeth. Her colorful earrings jangled as she nodded enthusiastically. “Everything, senorita.”

“Ah. Habla espanol?” Hannah felt more at home every minute. Some of her best friends in Phoenix were Hispanic and she’d soaked up the language.

“Si!” The woman seemed delighted to discover another Spanish speaker, and before long they were chattering away.

Once names were exchanged, Iris became even friendlier, and in about thirty seconds Hannah figured out that she’d been expected at the coffee stand. Even more interesting, Mario had been the one to alert Iris. The two seemed to know Zach very well, and Hannah’s suspicions grew. She tried to think of the Spanish word for what she wanted to ask, but couldn’t.

Finally she decided to switch to English. “Iris, does Mario like to play matchmaker?”

Iris clapped her hand over her mouth and her cheeks got very pink.

Hannah stared at her. “He does.” Suddenly all that had happened made perfect sense.

“Of course he does,” Zach said, walking up to the coffee stand. “We’re his latest project.”

Hannah spun to face him. “You knew that?”

“Not immediately. He swore to me that he was trying to help out someone who was light on contacts in the city.” Zach didn’t seem too upset about being manipulated.

Hannah was busy processing how she felt about it. She’d liked the scenario better when she’d thought it was pure coincidence, a touch of kismet. Instead she’d been manipulated by a wily cab driver. And yet…could she say she was sorry she’d met Zach?

“So when did you figure it out?” she asked.

“When I saw you standing in the lobby yesterday morning.”

“Because?”

He looked into her eyes. “Because you’re beautiful.”

Oh. A girl couldn’t get too indignant after a response like that, could she?

“Mario, he means well,” Iris said. “He only wants to see his friends happy.”

“I’m sure he does.” Conflicting emotions rolled through her. “But…no offense, Zach…I’ve always liked the idea of choosing for myself.”

“Me, too. But I decided not to let that keep me from spending a little time with you. And that’s all I have in mind. Just because ninety percent of Mario’s fix-ups turn into marriages doesn’t mean-”

“Ninety percent?”

“Good instincts, that Mario,” Iris said.

Hannah took a deep breath. Despite how much she liked Zach, she couldn’t help feeling railroaded, almost like a mail-order bride. A guy with a ninety-percent ratio in matching couples had targeted her for Zach. Mario knew Zach fairly well, but he didn’t know Hannah hardly at all. How could he guess what she wanted or needed at this stage in her life?

She gazed at Zach. “Look, I got to New York yesterday. I’m looking for a new job, a new life. One thing I’m not looking for is a husband.”

Zach nodded. “Fair enough. I’m not looking for a wife, either.”

“A steady girlfriend?” She wasn’t sure that she wanted to fill that slot, either. If they’d met by accident, it would be different, but this had been plotted out. She wasn’t a rat in somebody’s science experiment, damn it.

“I’m not looking for a steady girlfriend, either,” Zach said.

A hot, temporary lover? She thought of her plans for the suite tonight. What a shame if she turned out to be the only one using that king-size bed and Jacuzzi.

Zach sighed. “Hannah, I can see you’re upset about this. We don’t have to spend the lunch hour shopping together if you don’t want to. We can go our separate ways, and in a city of this size, we’ll probably never see each other again.”

Now, that was an unpleasant thought. She’d had fun with Zach last night. More than fun. He kissed better than any guy in recent memory. She shouldn’t let that ninety-percent thing scare her into giving up those kisses forever. Hot kisses did not a wedding make.

“I’d like to go shopping,” she said. “I just want us to understand each other.”

“I think we do.”