Practice Husband

“There’s Tom, who’s a bachelor friend of Jim’s,” Kathy said slowly. “He’s pretty nice, but he does tend to drink a little too much. Jim had to represent him in a drunk-driving charge last month.”

“Forget Tom. I don’t expect perfection in a husband, but I do want sobriety.”

Kathy sighed. “Addy, you’ve left it till very late. The good ones have long since been snapped up. Although...” Kathy’s admiring gaze ran down the length of Addy’s trim figure. “You look a lot better than any wife I know. Including myself.”

“Thanks,” Addy muttered, squelching her instinctive urge to make a self-deprecating response.

“Tell you what, I’ll ask Jim when he gets home from work tonight. Maybe he can think of someone I can introduce you to.”

Jimmy suddenly tossed his bowl on the floor and started to howl.

“Be quiet, brat.” Kathy’s loving tone belied her words as she took a wet cloth and scrubbed the applesauce off him. When he was reasonably clean, she set him on the floor and turned back to Addy.

“It might help if I knew what you are looking for in a husband.”

Addy blinked as an image of Joe’s features floated through her mind No. She purposefully banished them. Joe was not husband material. At least, not for someone as inexperienced as she was. She ignored the irrational sense of loss that filled her.

“Well... He has to be willing to work and to like kids and to be clean. And a nonsmoker.”

“You forgot a good lover,” Kathy said. “Believe me, great sex can cover a multitude of other deficiencies.”

What kind of lover would Joe be? Addy wondered, and then flushed when she realized where her thoughts were headed.

“I wouldn’t know,” Addy said primly.

Kathy stared at her friend in shock. “Don’t tell me you’re still a virgin!”

“I’m never going to tell you anything about my sex life, because it’s none of your business.”

Kathy chuckled. “Ah, hit a nerve there, did I? Tell me, do you still know anyone from around here?”

“Just Joe.”

Kathy frowned. “Joe? Joe who?”

“Joe Barrington.”

Kathy’s mouth dropped open. “Just Joe! Are you out of your tiny little mind, woman? That man isn’t just anything. How on earth did you ever meet the town’s most eligible bachelor?”

“Is he?” Addy asked curiously.

“Is he what?”

“A bachelor?”

“Yup. No woman has ever managed to tie him down. And believe me, it hasn’t been for lack of trying. Now, spill it. How did you meet him?”

“He rescued my favorite doll.”

“What?”

Addy laughed at Kathy’s confused expression. “I was in the second grade, and he must have been in about the fifth. It seems like I’ve known him forever.”

“Yeah, but that was then. This is now. Now, he moves in entirely different economic circles from the likes of you and me. His last girlfriend was some model who was regularly decorating the pages of Vogue.”

“What’s his present girlfriend do?” Addy tried to make the question sound casual.

Kathy shrugged. “According to local gossip he hasn’t replaced her yet. Of course I can’t guarantee it. Joe is not a man who socializes much. In fact, he doesn’t socialize with anyone around here at all. You might find that he doesn’t even remember who you are.”

“He remembered.” Addy felt a great deal of satisfaction at the words.

“You’ve seen him already?” Kathy asked avidly.

“That’s where I just came from. His company wants to buy my parents’ property.”

“Oh, so that’s it. I heard talk that he might be planning to expand. Are you going to sell to him, Addy?” Kathy suddenly looked serious. “The town could sure use the jobs. Too many young couples have to move away because there’s no work for them here. I...” she broke off as Jimmy toddled back into the room holding a can of soda that he was dribbling down the front of him.

“Blast his father!” Kathy muttered. “If I’ve told Jim once, I’ve told him a hundred times, not to leave half-empty cans of soda sitting around. Now I’ll have to give the little monster a bath.”

Addy got to her feet. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“You don’t have to go,” Kathy said. “It won’t take me long.”

“Thanks, but I still need to check with the realty company that handled the lease on the house for me while I was gone. I just wanted to touch base with you first.”

Kathy gave her a warm smile. “I’m glad you did, and I’m even more glad that you’re thinking about marrying and staying this time. I’ll give you a call later.”

“Thanks.” Addy picked up her purse and let herself out.

With a last wave at Kathy, Addy climbed into her car and headed toward the realty office, her mind full of what Kathy had said. So Joe was a bachelor, apparently one of the very few around. A sense of discouragement filled her, but she refused to allow it to grow. She’d known from the first that her goal wouldn’t be easily reached. Addy pulled into the turn lane and waited for the traffic to clear.

If only she had a little more experience at interacting socially with men. But wishing couldn’t change the facts. Her mirror might tell her that she was slender, but in her mind she still felt fat. Fat and unattractive. When a man tried to make small talk with her, she froze. She mumbled awkward comments at random and the man invariably drifted away to find someone easier to talk to.

But how was she supposed to go about getting experience talking to men? she wondered in despair. Most women learned the skill in junior high school. She turned left as the light changed.

What she really needed was a brother who could give her good advice on what men liked and didn’t like. But she didn’t have a brother. Or even a cousin. But there was Joe, she thought, as the memory of his championship of her during their school years came to mind. He had been very kind to her back then. But was he still kind? Kindness and big business seemed an unlikely combination.

Besides, he was a very busy man. That much had been obvious from her brief visit this morning. Why should he take the time to help her learn how to relate to men?

Because he wanted to buy her property! The need wasn’t all on her side. Joe wanted something too. He wanted her land and, while she really didn’t want to sell, Kathy was right. It was selfish of her to hang on to the past when so many people could benefit by her letting go.

She could offer to sell him the house if he would help her learn the skills necessary to get a husband. If Joe agreed... A surge of excitement filled her. It was certainly worth a try. After all, the worst thing that could happen would be that he’d say no.

Two

“Do you have a reservation, sir?” The hostess eyed Joe as if he were a particularly appetizing entrée.

“Yes. Barrington.” Joe glanced around the crowded restaurant looking for Addy, oblivious of the hostess’s interest. “I’m meeting a Miss Edson.”