This Matter Of Marriage

“Yes,” Hallie said, although it seemed a stretch. She wondered if other women their age went through this. If so, it wasn’t a subject her single friends discussed often or frankly. Many were like Donnalee, divorced and gunshy. Hallie didn’t have that excuse.

“Guess what? Dateline called me yesterday,” Donnalee said, avoiding eye contact. She fiddled with the leather strap of her purse, opening and closing the zipper, a sure sign she was nervous. “They came up with a match for me.” She darted a look in Hallie’s direction.

“Already?” Hallie hated to say it, but she was impressed.

“They faxed over the pertinent information and asked me to review it and call back. So I did. Then Sanford phoned me an hour later and I’m meeting him for dinner this evening.”

“Sanford?”

“I know. The picture of a stuffy conservative type immediately comes to mind, doesn’t it, but then we spoke and…”

“And?” Hallie prodded when her friend didn’t continue.

“He seems, I don’t know, ideal.”

“Ideal?” Dateline was beginning to sound better every minute.

“I’m frightened, Hallie. I felt the same way about Larry when I first met him, but what the hell did I know? I was nineteen and away from my family for the first time. I probably would’ve welcomed attention from a serial killer.”

Donnalee didn’t mention her ex very often. He’d dumped her for another woman after their first year of marriage. Donnalee’s self-esteem had been shattered and her ego left in shreds. It’d taken a decade to regroup, and even then Hallie wasn’t sure some of the damage wasn’t permanent. She could appreciate her friend’s fears and said so.

“But it’s different this time,” Hallie assured her. “You’re not a kid governed by hormones.”

“No, I’m thirty-three and governed by hormones.”

They both laughed, and then Donnalee took a deep breath. “Okay. Sanford’s thirty-six and an insurance company executive. No priors.”

“You mean he doesn’t have a police record?” Hallie certainly hoped not!

“Means he’s never been married. It’s Dateline lingo.”

“Oh.” So the outfit even had a specialized vocabulary. Interesting. Or maybe not.

“We couldn’t stop talking,” Donnalee went on. “Sanford felt the way I did. We both signed up for Dateline the same week. He was just as nervous as I was about doing it. We were at work and we talked for more than half an hour. You know, he put me at ease right off and he said I did the same for him. It was as if we’d known each other all our lives. He loves Tex-Mex food, the same as me. He lives on a houseboat, which I’ve always thought of as wildly romantic. He’ll watch anything Emma Thompson’s in and reads Steve Martini novels. Can you believe it? I know this is all surface stuff, but it helps to know we’re compatible. And at least we have lots of things to discuss.” She broke into a radiant smile. “He was just as surprised and pleased after talking to me. We had trouble saying goodbye.”

“He lives on a houseboat?” This guy was beginning to appeal to Hallie, too. Maybe if it didn’t work out, Donnalee would consider introducing her.

“Now do you see why I’m a nervous wreck?”

Hallie nodded. She wouldn’t be any less nervous herself.

“He sounds too good to be true,” Donnalee moaned. “The minute I meet him, it’ll be over.”

“You don’t know that.” Hallie tried to sound confident, but she shared her friend’s fears. There had to be a flaw in this guy somewhere. People weren’t always what they seemed, and it was often the small undetectable-to-the-naked-eye character defects that threw her.

“At first I wondered why someone this successful and charming hadn’t been married,” she continued, as if thinking out loud, “but his letter explains all that.” At Hallie’s questioning look, she added, “Dateline enclosed a letter he’d written to introduce himself. He’s been waiting to marry because he wanted to pay off his college loans. Financial security is important to him. I respect that. Dateline makes it a policy to check their clients’ credit records. It’s part of the agreement before your application’s accepted.”

Hallie knew immediately that the minute Dateline got hold of her credit card statements, she was headed for the reject pile.

She was about to say as much when the phone rang. Hallie reached for the receiver and through her kitchen window caught a glimpse of Steve Marris with his son. He was showing Kenny how to hold a softball.

“Hello.”

“I hope you appreciate this,” Rita said without preamble.

“Appreciate what?”

“I found you a potential husband,” Rita announced. “Are you interested in meeting him?”

Four

First There Was Paul, Then George…

S teve glanced at his watch again, although he knew it’d been maybe five minutes since the last time he’d looked. He was wrong. It was three minutes. Almost five o’clock Sunday afternoon and Mary Lynn was late picking up the kids, which could mean only one thing.

She was with this faceless, spineless Kip character.

Steve had gotten his ex-wife to admit she was dating again. That was the reason she’d cut him off physically, although she’d been reluctant to admit it. Probably wouldn’t have, if he hadn’t cornered her. It left him wondering whether she was sleeping with Kip, but for reasons having to do with his sanity, he didn’t pursue the thought. If she was, he didn’t want to know.

As for his idea about using Mary Lynn as a replacement secretary, it didn’t turn out to be so brilliant, after all. Mary Lynn was ten times worse in the office than Danielle had ever been. He knew she wasn’t much good around a computer terminal, but he hadn’t realized she didn’t know how to answer a phone. Another few days with her and he’d be out of business. She’d filed invoices, instead of mailing them, and managed to insult one of his biggest accounts. It didn’t take Steve long to recognize his mistake. He quickly hired a new secretary, wrote Mary Lynn a generous check for her trouble and took her to lunch. While still in her good graces, he followed her home, thinking—despite her telling him the sex had to stop—that they’d head for the bedroom the way they normally did when he dropped by in the middle of the day.

But she’d meant it when she’d said no sex. And she’d also told him she was seeing Kip.

Once he’d persuaded her to confess she was dating again, he couldn’t shut her up. She’d met Kip in a bookstore, she told him, smiling at the memory. Steve knew his ex, and she’d never been a reader, which was probably a detriment when it came to school. He couldn’t imagine her buying books for pleasure, something she considered a waste of money. It was clear that her sudden interest in them had nothing to do with enjoyment. Mary Lynn had been looking to meet eligible men. Steve had heard that the singles scene had moved out of the bars and into the bookstores; he supposed this proved it.

Although she’d been more than willing to tell him about meeting the new love of her life, Mary Lynn had kept quiet about what they did together. Curious he might be, but Steve refused to grill his children about their mother’s activities. His gaze shifted to the two kids. Meagan and Kenny were curled up in front of the television watching a Disney video. Neither seemed to notice or care that their mother was late.

He stared out his living-room window. His neighbor was outside vacuuming her car, and he smiled, remembering her embarrassment when she realized he knew she’d been talking to Dateline. So Hallie McCarthy was on the prowl. He wished her well. As far as he could see, she shouldn’t have much of a problem finding a husband. She was actually kinda cute. Petite with dark brown hair that she wore in short curls. She had a nice face, and she seemed friendly, approachable. Certainly Meagan had taken to her right away. Hallie was just fine in the figure department, too.

He wasn’t sure where she worked, but it must be in an office. They’d crossed paths a couple of times in the mornings, and she always maintained a professional appearance. He guessed her to be in her mid to late twenties. Possibly thirty, but he doubted it.

If he had any interest in dating, which he didn’t, Steve would be more attracted to her friend. Now there was a looker. He’d been outside, horsing around with Kenny, when she’d arrived, and he’d practically dropped the ball. The woman was all legs. They went on and on. Shapely legs with a body to match. But Mary Lynn was beautiful, too. With his thoughts back on his ex-wife, Steve moved away from the window.

“Your mother’s late,” he said, hoping he sounded casual and unconcerned.

“Kip’s taking her to a wine-tasting party,” Meagan murmured. Her eyes grew huge, as if she’d said something she shouldn’t.

“It’s okay. Your mother told me she was dating Kip.” Steve didn’t want his children worrying about what they did or didn’t say.

“She told you about Kip?” This seemed to surprise his daughter.

“Yeah.” He sat down between the two kids on the couch and draped his arms around their shoulders. “I bet it’s a little weird to have your mother dating again, isn’t it?” If he was upset about Kip, then it made sense his kids would be, too. He wanted to reassure them that, no matter what happened, they could always count on him.

“Not really,” Kenny said, not taking his eyes from the television screen. “She’s gone out lots before.”

She has ? This was news to Steve.

“First there was Paul, then George.”