Parents Wanted!

John: “There was no call for her to dump him in public.”

Marilyn: “I think Matt can stand up to the strain. He’s better off without her, John, and you know it”

John, sighing: “You got that right. But I worry about little Jessica. She needs a mother in the worst way.”

Marilyn: “Not that kind of mother. It’s very perceptive of you to figure that out, though.”

John: “I didn’t figure out nuthin’, it hit me in the face. Dammit, Marilyn, someone ought to fix Matt up with a nice girl who’ll be a mother to that child—”

Laura thought that no nice girl in her right mind would waste her time with a ladies’ man like Matt Reynolds, even if Jessica was a nice little girl. Why, he’d probably been through every woman in town already, and he still—

April Forbes rounded the corner heading for her receptionist’s desk. She stopped short at the sight of Laura kneeling beside the boss’s half-closed door. “Everything all right?” she asked.

“Fine, just fine.” Laura shot to her feet, her cheeks burning. “I just had to—” She pointed to her foot. “—shoelace, you know—gotta get back to work.”

And she rushed out, leaving April staring after her. The new planning director’s name turned out to be Roger Reedy and he turned out to be a pleasant, if bland-looking, man in his mid-thirties. “I know you two will get on like gangbusters,” the mayor said when she introduced them. “Just go on out back to the deck—you’ll know everyone, Laura—and introduce Roger to anyone he hasn’t met.”

The doorbell rang at that moment so Laura nodded and led Roger away. She’d been in the mayor’s home a couple of times before, so she knew her way around.

Sure enough, she recognized all those who’d arrived before her: John, of course, plus the president of the chamber of commerce and his wife, the superintendent of schools and his wife, the fire chief and his wife.

John was manning the barbecue when she led Roger up to him and began the introductions.

“We’ve met,” John said, shaking hands. “So how’s it going at city hall, Rog, old boy?”

Roger launched into an earnest explanation but Laura wasn’t listening. Instead, her attention was drawn like a magnet to the man just pushing open the sliding-screen door.

Matt. Why should this surprise her? He was, after all, the newly crowned Citizen of the Year.

Their glances crossed paths, circled back and held. He looked great in crisp khaki trousers and a baby-blue Henley shirt, which was not to say he didn’t look equally great in his usual uniform of jeans and work shirt. But he’d gotten a haircut and he looked sleek and commanding as he stood there in the open doorway.

He started toward her, or maybe he was heading for his grandfather. She’d never know because Marilyn appeared behind him and called his name. He stopped instantly, turning toward her.

Marilyn had a stranger with her. a tall, impressive thirty-something woman dressed all in black, her black hair pulled back in a tight bun. There was a strength about her face that was hardly traditional but she was intensely striking, Laura thought.

Marilyn’s voice carried clearly. “Matt, I’d like you to meet Meredith Zink. She’s new in town and I’m trying to help her meet a few people.”

Matt took the hand the woman offered. “And what brings you to our fair city, Meredith?” he inquired.

“I’m an attorney,” she said crisply. “I’ve just joined the law firm of Lowe and Winkler. Perhaps you know of them...?”