Mike, Mike and Me. Wendy Markham

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      CRITICAL PRAISE FOR SLIGHTLY SETTLED

      “Readers who followed Tracey’s struggles in Slightly Single, and those meeting her for the first time, will sympathize with this singleton’s post-breakup attempts to move on in this fun, lighthearted romp with a lovable heroine.”

      —Booklist

      “Tracey is insecure and has many neuroses, but this makes her realistic…. And like many women, Tracey needs to figure out when to listen to her friends and when to listen to herself.”

      —Romantic Times

      CRITICAL PRAISE FOR SLIGHTLY SINGLE

      “…an undeniably fun journey for the reader.”

      —Booklist

      “Bridget Jonesy…Tracey Spadolini smokes, drinks and eats too much, and frets about her romantic life.”

      —Publishers Weekly

      WENDY MARKHAM

      is a pseudonym for New York Times bestselling, award-winning novelist Wendy Corsi Staub, who has written more than fifty fiction and nonfiction books for adults and teenagers in various genres—among them contemporary and historical romance, suspense, mystery, television and movie tie-in and biography. She has coauthored a hardcover mystery series with former New York City mayor Ed Koch and has ghostwritten books for various well-known personalities. A small-town girl at heart, she was born and raised in western New York on the shores of Lake Erie and in the heart of the notorious snow belt. By third grade, her heart was set on becoming a published author; a few years later, a school trip to Manhattan convinced her that she had to live there someday. At twenty-one, she moved alone to New York City and worked as an office temp, freelance copywriter, advertising account coordinator and book editor before selling her first novel, which went on to win a Romance Writers of America RITA® Award. She has since received numerous positive reviews and achieved bestseller status, most notably for the psychological suspense novels she writes under her own name. Her previous Red Dress Ink title, Slightly Single, was one of Waldenbooks’ Best Books of 2002. Very happily married with two children, Wendy writes full-time and lives in a cozy old house in suburban New York, proving that childhood dreams really can come true.

      Mike, Mike & Me

      Wendy Markham

       www.mirabooks.co.uk

      Dedicated with love and friendship to the Siegel family,

       Joan, Richard, Rory and Nicholas, and to

       the three guys I adore: Mark, Morgan and Brody.

      With special gratitude to the brilliant David Staub

       of Network Expert Software Systems.

      Contents

      Chapter one

      Chapter two

      Chapter three

      Chapter four

      Chapter five

      Chapter six

      Chapter seven

      Chapter eight

      Chapter nine

      Chapter ten

      Chapter eleven

      Chapter twelve

      Chapter thirteen

      Chapter fourteen

      Chapter fifteen

      Chapter sixteen

      Chapter seventeen

      Chapter eighteen

      Chapter nineteen

      Chapter twenty

      Chapter twenty-one

      Chapter twenty-two

      Chapter twenty-three

      Chapter twenty-four

      Chapter twenty-five

      Chapter twenty-six

      Chapter twenty-seven

      Chapter twenty-eight

      Chapter twenty-nine

      Chapter thirty

      Chapter thirty-one

      Chapter thirty-two

      Chapter thirty-three

      Chapter thirty-four

      Chapter thirty-five

      Chapter thirty-six

      Chapter thirty-seven

      Chapter thirty-eight

      Chapter thirty-nine

      Chapter forty

      Chapter forty-one

      Chapter forty-two

      Chapter forty-three

      Chapter forty-four

      Chapter forty-five

      Chapter forty-six

      Chapter forty-seven

      one

      The present

      So in case you’ve been wondering, I married Mike after all.

      Which Mike, you might ask?

      And rightly so.

      For a while there, it was a toss-up. But when I finally made my choice, I honestly believed it was the right one—that I’d chosen the right Mike.

      Only recently have I begun to question that…and everything else in my life. Only recently have I been thinking back to that summer when I found myself torn between the guy I’d always loved and the guy I’d just met.

      That they shared both a name and my heart is one of life’s great ironies, don’t you think?

      Then again, maybe not. According to the United States Social Security Administration, Michael was the most popular boys’ name in America between 1964 and 1998. Odds are, if you’re a heterosexual female who was born between those years—as I am—you’re going to date a couple of Mikes in your life. As I did.

      Meanwhile, if you’re a heterosexual male who was born in those years, you’re going to date a couple of Lisas. That was the most popular girls’ name the year I was born.

      I’m not Lisa.

      Remember that song? All about how she wasn’t Lisa, her name was Julie. It was a big hit when I was a kid. I remember singing it at slumber parties with my best friends—two of whom were named Lisa.

      But I’m not Lisa. I’m not Julie, either.

      My real name is Barbra. Spelled without the extra “a,” like Barbra Streisand’s. That’s not why mine is spelled that way; I was born back in the mid-sixties, before my mother ever heard of Barbra Streisand.

      My father—who if his own name weren’t Bob probably wouldn’t be able to spell that—filled out the birth certificate while my mother was sleeping off the drugs they used to give women to spare them the horrific childbirth experience.

      That, of course, was back in the Bad Old Days when they didn’t realize that the fetus was being drugged as well—otherwise known as the Good Old Days, when nobody was the wiser and nobody was feeling any pain.

      I always figured that when it was time for me to give birth, I’d want those same drugs.

      Am I a wimp? you might ask.