This Matter Of Marriage

“Are you kidding? It’s an invasion of territory. None of the kids want me there. The one time I tried it I was banished and sentenced to sit out here with the rest of the parents.”

Hallie smiled. She’d half expected him to ask her more about her awful date and was grateful he didn’t.

They each talked about their jobs, which took all of five minutes. Their discussion of the weather took less than one. A not-uncomfortable silence followed before Steve spoke again.

“Listen, you can tell me to mind my own business, but why was a gal like you going out with a creep like that?”

She sighed. She might as well level with him, seeing that he’d already had her groveling at his front door in the middle of the night, needing a loan. “I guess you’ve gathered I’m trying to meet a man. I, uh, decided this was the year I’d get married.”

His head came up and his eyes narrowed. “Women decide this sort of thing?”

“Not all women,” she told him. “It’s just that I’m turning thirty in April, and—”

“Hey, thirty isn’t old.”

“I know, but I’m not really sure where my twenties went, if you know what I mean. I was busy, happy, working hard, and then one day I woke up and realized most of my friends were married, some for the second time. My dad recently died, and my younger sister just became a mother.” She struggled to explain. “Somehow, things changed for me. My goals. My feelings about what’s important in life. For years, I threw all my energy into my work—and now I want…more. I want someone to share it with.”

“So you figure marriage is the answer.”

“Something like that.” Hallie shrugged comically. “I’ve been dating since I was sixteen, and not once in all that time did I ever meet anyone like Marv. It’s appalling how slim the pickings are. You see, Donnalee made it look easy.” Maybe Donnalee was right; maybe she should reconsider Dateline.

“Is she the friend who stopped by your place a couple of Saturdays ago? The one with the long…the tall one?”

Men rarely had a problem remembering Donnalee. “That’s her. She found Prince Charming after one date.”

“You mean to say she isn’t married?”

“Not yet. She’s the person who suggested I sign up with Dateline. She plunked down her money, and first time out she met this fabulous guy. From everything she said, he’s wonderful.” Hallie couldn’t hide the wistful longing in her voice. “It wouldn’t surprise me if she was married by summer.”

“Slim pickings,” Steve repeated, and Hallie wondered if he’d heard anything else she’d said. He became aware of the lull in conversation and cast her an apologetic look. “I was just thinking over what you said about available men. My ex-wife is starting to date and frankly—” he paused, grinning broadly “—it wouldn’t hurt my feelings any if she was to meet up with the joker you went out with last night. Maybe she’d be more willing to talk about the two of us getting back together.”

“You want to patch things up with your ex?”

Steve nodded, and his eyes held hers sternly, as if he anticipated an argument.

“I’m impressed.” In Hallie’s opinion, too many families were thrown into chaos by divorce. It did her heart good to know there were men like Steve who considered it important to keep the family intact.

Predictably, Meagan and Kenny arrived within seconds of the pizza. The biggest pizza Hallie had ever seen. Pepperoni, sausage, mushroom and black olive. Her favorite. For a while, there was silence as they all helped themselves to huge slices.

When they’d eaten their fill, Steve and Kenny went to find a cardboard container for leftovers. Meagan smiled at Hallie. “I’m glad you came with us,” she said again.

“I’m glad you asked.”

“Kenny and I like this place, but we don’t come often because Dad gets lonely without Mom here.”

It wasn’t the first time Hallie had noticed Meagan worrying about her father. Her tenderness toward him was touching, and Hallie squeezed the girl’s shoulders. “I hope your parents get back together,” she said.

“Kenny and I used to talk about it a lot.”

“Your father certainly loves your mother.”

“I know.”

But Hallie noticed that the girl’s eyes dimmed as she spoke, and she wondered what that meant.

“Mom’s dating Kip,” Meagan said. “Dad knows. Kenny and I weren’t going to tell him, but he knows. Mom is…I don’t know, but I don’t think she wants Dad back. She likes Kip and gets upset if we try to talk to her about Dad. She said that sometimes people fall out of love, and that’s what happened with her and Dad.”

Hallie was a little uncomfortable with these confidences. “Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to,” she said, wanting to reassure the girl and afraid she was doing a poor job of it. It was clear that Meagan loved both her parents, and like every child, wanted them together.

“I like that,” she said, biting her lower lip. “Everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.” A smile brightened her pretty face. “I’ll remember that, Hallie. Thanks.”

Eight

Bachelor #2

I t was déjà vu all over again, as a baseball great—often quoted by her father—used to say.

Hallie sat across the linen-covered table from a man she normally would’ve crossed the street to avoid. “Sleazy” was the word that came to mind. Chad Ellis had hair combed from a low side part to disguise his baldness; it contained enough grease to avert an oil shortage that winter. He wore a suit coat with a bright floral-print shirt unbuttoned practically to his navel and no fewer than fifteen gold chains in various lengths. He looked up from the menu and flashed her a smile that said she was lucky to be with him. Hallie had trouble believing that her own assistant, someone who knew her and presumably liked her, could possibly believe she’d be compatible with this clown.

Hallie reviewed the menu selections, keeping an eye on price. If she was going to end up paying for her half of dinner, she wanted to be sure she ordered a meal she could afford.

Chad made his selection and set aside the menu. “How about a little something to loosen our inhibitions?” he suggested. The thought of loosening anything with this character terrified her. “Such as a double martini.”

Hallie had ordered a martini once, and the only thing worth remembering was the olive. “Uh, I’d like mineral water.”

He jiggled his eyebrows a couple of times. “Liquor is quicker.”

A blind person could read the writing on the wall with this one. She chanced a look in Chad’s direction and her stomach tightened. This creep was Bonnie’s uncle? Did her assistant honestly think she was that desperate?

The waiter arrived and Chad ordered a double martini, while Hallie chose a Perrier. They both ordered their meals—seafood pasta for her, steak for him. “You aren’t nervous, are you, cupcake?”

She gritted her teeth. “The name’s Hallie.”

“Women like pet names.”

“Not this woman.” Hallie was determined not to get into an argument with him until he’d paid the bill, but she wasn’t sure she’d last that long.

“Chad said you’re—”

“Chad said?” Then understanding dawned. “If you aren’t Chad Ellis, who the hell are you?” She was almost shouting.

“All right, all right. Damn, I should’ve known I couldn’t pull this off. Chad had to leave town unexpectedly and he asked me to fill in for him. My name’s Tom Chedders.”

“I was supposed to have dinner with Chad Ellis!” Her blood heated to the boiling point. That Chad had lacked the decency to tell her he couldn’t meet her and sent a stranger in his stead was all she needed to know about him.

“Don’t worry, you’ll have a good time with me,” Tom told her, glancing around to make sure they weren’t attracting attention. “Chad will vouch for me. We’ve been good buddies for a lot of years. We work for the same company.”

“Why didn’t you tell me right away who you were?”