This Matter Of Marriage. Debbie Macomber

be ridiculous.”

      “You’ve had your entire life to find a husband, and you haven’t. What makes you think it’s going to be different now?”

      “Because I’m ready.” This probably wasn’t the time to remind her friend that she’d had relationships over the years, the most promising one with Gregg. While it was true that those relationships had grown fewer and fewer, and her social life had become rather dull, she’d barely noticed, working the hours she did. However, since the first of the year, she’d taken measures to correct that, delegating more responsibility to Bonnie Ellis, her assistant.

      “And your being ready for marriage changes everything?” Donnalee sounded skeptical. She sounded skeptical a little too often, in Hallie’s opinion.

      “There’s a man I’m interested in right now,” Hallie confessed, thinking of John Franklin.

      “Really? Who?”

      She should’ve guessed Donnalee would demand details.

      “A banker,” she answered with some reluctance. “He’s the new loans officer at the Kent branch of Keystone Bank. He transferred this week from the downtown Seattle branch. We met Friday, if you must know. I liked him immediately and he liked me. He’s really good-looking. Sensitive, too.”

      “Good-looking and sensitive,” Donnalee repeated.

      “Single good-looking men are hard to find,” Hallie insisted, wondering at her friend’s slightly sarcastic tone.

      “That’s because the majority of them have boyfriends.”

      Hallie paused. John? Was it possible? “Do you know John Franklin?” Since Donnalee managed a mortgage company, she was familiar with many bankers in the area.

      “I know of him.”

      Hallie’s suspicions mounted. “What do you mean?”

      “John Franklin’s the perfect reason you need the services of Dateline.”

      “Oh?” Her confidence was shaken.

      “You’re right,” Donnalee continued. “John’s sensitive, friendly, personable and handsome as sin. He also happens to be gay.”

      Hallie’s spirits sank to the level of bedrock. John Franklin. Hmm. With some men it was obvious and with others…well, with others, it wasn’t.

      “So, are you going to join Dateline?” Donnalee asked.

      “Two thousand dollars?”

      “Consider it cheap since the men are screened.”

      “If Brad Pitt’s out, then for that kind of money they’d better come up with royalty.”

      “If they do, kid, I’ve got first dibs,” Donnalee said with a laugh.

      “I’ll look into Dateline, but I’m not making any promises.”

      “Just call and they’ll mail you a brochure. Phone me once you’ve read it over. Promise?”

      “Okay, okay,” Hallie mumbled, and wrote down the number. She replaced the telephone receiver and shook her head. Who’d ever have thought this matter of marriage could be so complicated?

      Two

      Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

      S teve Marris’s day wasn’t going well. A parts shipment was lost somewhere in the Midwest, his secretary had quit without notice, and he suspected his ex-wife was dating again. The parts shipment would eventually be found and he could hire another secretary, but the news about Mary Lynn was harder to take.

      He poured himself a cup of coffee and noted that it’d been at least a month since anyone had bothered to clean the glass pot. He’d make damn sure his next secretary didn’t come with an attitude. This last one had refused to make coffee, claiming she’d been hired for her secretarial skills—not that they’d been so impressive. And she’d never understood that in his shop, everybody pitched in. No, he was well rid of her.

      He sipped the hot liquid and grimaced. Todd Stafford must have put on this pot. His production manager made the world’s worst coffee. Steve dumped it and rinsed his mug, then sat down at his desk, sorting through the papers amassed there until he found the invoice he needed.

      Todd opened the door. “You going to sit in here all day and fume about Danielle quitting?”

      Todd was talking about their recently departed secretary. “Naw, we’re better off without her.”

      Todd came into the office, reached for a coffee mug and filled it. He pulled out Danielle’s chair and plopped himself down, propping his feet on the desk. “If it isn’t Danielle walking out, then my guess is you’re sulking about Mary Lynn.”

      His friend knew him too well. “I heard she’s dating again.”

      “Heard? Who from?”

      “Kenny,” Steve admitted reluctantly.

      “You’re grilling your kids for information about your ex-wife?”

      “I know better than that.” Steve experienced a twinge of guilt. He hadn’t intentionally asked his nine-year-old if his mother was dating. Kenny had been talking about joining a softball team in the spring, all excited about playing shortstop. He’d wanted his mother to toss him a few balls, he’d told Steve, but she couldn’t because she was getting ready for a date. The kid had Steve’s full attention at that point. It hadn’t taken much to get Kenny to tell him Mary Lynn was seeing Kip somebody or other.

      What the hell kind of name was Kip, anyway? Sounded like a guy who traipsed around in ballet slippers.

      “So, what’d you find out?”

      Steve ignored the question. He didn’t like thinking about Mary Lynn dating another man, let alone talking about it. What had happened between them was painful even now, a full year after their divorce. An idea struck him suddenly, and he marveled at the genius of it. “I wonder if Mary Lynn might consider filling in here at the office until I can hire another secretary.”

      “She hates it here,” Todd muttered. He sipped his coffee, seeming to savor every drop. “You know that.”

      What his friend said was true, but Steve welcomed the opportunity to spend time with her. She might even tell him about Kip. “It couldn’t hurt to ask,” he returned, sorry now that he’d said anything to Todd.

      “You’re divorced.”

      “Thanks, I guess I must’ve forgotten.” Steve glared at him, hoping his sarcasm hit its mark.

      “It’s time to move on, old buddy. Mary Lynn has.”

      Steve rose abruptly from his chair. “Shouldn’t you get to work?”

      “All right, so I touched a raw nerve. No reason to bite my head off.” Todd hurried back to the shop, and Steve swallowed his irritation. Damn it, he still loved Mary Lynn. No one had told him how painful this divorce business would be.

      They’d been married twelve years and fool that he was, Steve had assumed they were happy. Then, one day out of the blue, Mary Lynn had started crying. When he’d tried to find out what was wrong, she couldn’t say—except that she was unhappy. They’d married too young, she’d missed out on all the fun, all the carefree years, and now here she was, stuck with a husband, kids, responsibilities. Steve tried to understand her concerns, but everything he said and did only made matters worse. The thing that really got him was her claim that she’d never had her own bedroom. As it turned out, that was more important than he’d realized, because she asked him to move out of theirs shortly afterward.

      Steve had called her bluff, firmly believing it was a bluff. He’d voluntarily moved out of the house, thinking that would help her “find herself,” something she apparently couldn’t do