The trouble was, she didn’t know anymore. Everything was getting so muddled. If he hadn’t kissed her, it would have been a little simpler for her to sort out. Not much, maybe, but at least a little.
Chris left the room. Rosemary hurried after him down the stairs. She stopped at the front door. “Danny really had a wonderful time. Thanks.”
“Sure thing.” He touched her face lightly with his hand. He felt excitement telegraph through him. If they were on the same wavelength, then she would have felt it, too. “Maybe we can do it again sometime.” Chris saw the uncertainty enter her eyes again. He glanced toward the puppy cage, where Rocky was stretched out on her side, sleeping. “Just the four of us.”
There was safety in numbers. With Danny along, she could be Danny’s mother. Rocky’s keeper. Chris’s friend. It wouldn’t be a one-on-one situation with the spotlight on her “one.”
She smiled at him. “That sounds good to me.”
Yes, she was certainly a unique woman, he thought. The signals he was receiving were very, very mixed. He tried to concentrate on what he had felt when they’d kissed. What he had read in her kiss.
Chris turned just before he left and ran a thumb along her lower lip. He wanted to kiss her again, badly, but knew he couldn’t press. He’d just have to wait a little longer.
He had the satisfaction of seeing a flicker of desire flower in her eyes. Yeah, me, too.
“‘Night, Rosemary.”
“’Night.”
Rosemary closed the door and then leaned against it, feeling suddenly, utterly boneless.
“Oh, boy,” she murmured with a sigh. “Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy.”
“So this woman actually didn’t show?” Teri looked properly shocked after Rosemary had filled her in on Mary Smith’s glaring nonappearance.
Rosemary still felt very guilty about the incident. After all, she had roped Chris into it. “No.”
Teri slid open an envelope, shaking her head. “Incredible. And you were there with Danny to see all this not happen?”
“Yes.” She started to key in an application, but her mind wasn’t on it. It was where it had no business being. On Chris. “Danny insisted on going there for Mother’s Day. I didn’t have the heart to turn him down.” Rosemary didn’t realize that Teri had stopped working and was watching her with a great deal more interest than she was giving to her work. “We all wound up sharing one of those monster ice-cream dishes.”
There was an intrigued, hopeful look on Teri’s face. “And?”
Rosemary attempted to concentrate on what she was typing. The man who had filled out the form had an affinity for cacti. Hadn’t she come across that lately?
“And he took us up to his parents’ house. They own a kennel and Danny was completely engulfed by puppies.” She hit the computer, seeking a match.
Teri studied her face. “How about you? What were you engulfed by?”
Bingo, Rosemary thought as a name appeared on the screen. She pulled up the file and smiled as she skimmed over the particulars. It looked like a good match in the making.
“Puppies,” Rosemary answered absently.
Teri looked at her in disgust. “That’s all?”
Rosemary looked up from the screen. “What are you getting at?”
What did Rosemary need, a road map? “I just thought that, well, a guy doesn’t take a woman to meet his parents every day…”
Leave it to Teri to hear only what she wanted to hear. “It wasn’t every day. It was Mother’s Day,” Rosemary stated patiently. “And he was going up to see her. He just asked us to come along since we didn’t have any plans.”
She hit the print button and waited for the printer to give her a hard copy of the file she’d pulled up. Unless she missed her guess, Tom Kelly was going to really hit it off with Gloria O’Hara. She hoped all the couples who had been paired off and announced on K-LAS had fared well. Better, at least, than Chris Maverick and his no-show.
She was dealing with a babe in the woods, Teri thought. She planted herself in front of Rosemary’s face. “And you believe that?”
Rosemary collected her printed sheet and placed it alongside the application she had been keying in. “Why shouldn’t I?”
Exasperated, Teri tried again. “He didn’t seem the slightest bit interested in you?”
Rosemary shrugged, suddenly pulled into the conversation. “Well, he kissed me—”
“Hallelujah.” Teri clapped her hands together like a member of a revival meeting. “Now we’re getting to the good part.”
If Teri was bracing herself for “the good part,” she was going to be sorely disappointed. “That’s it. He kissed me and then he went home.”
Rosemary had to have skipped something. “That doesn’t sound right.”
When was Teri going to get it through her head that she wasn’t looking for a romance? “That sounds just the way I want it to sound, Teri.” Rosemary frowned. “Except for the kiss part.”
Teri looked positively crushed, as if a daydream had just died. “You didn’t like it?”
Her cousin’s eyes were going to fall out of her head, Rosemary thought. “I didn’t say that.”
Teri threw her hands up. “Then what the hell are you saying, Rosemary?”
Enough was enough. “That I’m tired of this conversation and we have work to do. That Mary Smith ruined my record by not showing up and it’s going to take me a long time to get over that.”
Talk about being thickheaded! “I think she did you a favor and you just don’t know it.”
Rosemary sighed and pointed to the piles of letters that were still stacked in front of Teri, waiting to be opened. “Just get to work, okay? Or I’m going to have to find another assistant.”
The letter opener remained immobile next to Teri. “Another brain is more like it. If that golden-voiced hunk in tight jeans kissed me, I sure wouldn’t have sent him home with his tail between his legs.”
Rosemary picked up another form she had reviewed and began typing that in. “He doesn’t have a tail, and if he did it wouldn’t have been between his legs-”
The smile on Teri’s face was almost lecherous. “Where would you have put it?”
She pointed her finger dramatically at the letters. “Just work.”
Teri regarded her cousin thoughtfully. “I guess I’ll just have to.”
Rosemary continued typing the information from the form into the program without looking at Teri. She missed the glint in Teri’s eyes. “Good idea.”
Teri sighed and she began slicing the letters open again. “Yeah.”
7
Rosemary looked out the back window. The puppy, exhausted from chasing butterflies all morning that refused to be caught, was stretched out, sleeping on the patio. No doubt saving up energy for when Danny came home from school.
A sixties song was playing in the background. She’d set the dial on K-LAS about six months ago when she had discovered it while flipping stations, and had left it there. The disc jockey who followed Chris was on, making a pitch for a high-priced car.
That meant Chris would be home soon.
“Hey, Rosie, look at this letter.” Teri waved it at her to get her attention. “It’s from your no-show.” She took another look at it. “Or rather, it’s from her son. Take a look.”
Rosemary’s first inclination was to tell Teri to put the letter somewhere and then disregard it. Since the ad campaign, Soulmates, Inc., had been inundated with requests for forms. Someone on the local newspaper had heard the ad and decided to write a piece on personalized dating, featuring Rosemary. Now they were receiving all kinds of letters and telephone calls.
She felt overwhelmed and swamped. And very triumphant. It was all mixed together.
It was kind of, she mused, the way she had felt when Chris had kissed her.
When Rosemary didn’t reach for the letter, Teri looked at her in surprise. “Don’t you want to see it?” she prodded.
“Oh, all right.” Rosemary p
ut her hand out. “Let me take a look at it.” Teri leaned over the desk and extended the letter to her. Rosemary settled back, looking at the mailbag Teri had brought in with her. It was completely full. “You know, if things keep up like this, you’re going to have to go full-time.”
The timing couldn’t have been better. Teri grinned as she took a sip of her coffee.
“Fine with me. The kids will be in school for another two months. After that, I’ll just bring them along with me.”
Rosemary could just picture that. Teri’s twins were as rambunctious as the puppy. She was going to have to remember to stock up on herbal tea.
Rosemary glanced at the dormant dog on the patio. Rocky couldn’t be referred to as a puppy much longer. In the three days since Mother’s Day, the dog seemed to have grown three inches.
Funny how she kept using Mother’s Day as her reference point. It seemed as if the world had completely turned around that day. Since he had kissed her. She hadn’t been kissed like that, like she was a desirable woman, since Patrick had died.
She had almost forgotten what it had felt like. Wonderful.
Enough of this. You’ve got to get your mind back on your work.
She scanned the letter that Teri had handed her. It was from Tommy, all right, and it was as heartfelt an apology as she had ever seen on paper. She bit her lower lip as she read. Tommy had started throwing up at the last minute, just before Mary was going to leave him with a sitter. Mary did what any mother would do in that kind of a situation. She had taken him to a walk-in clinic.
She didn’t want to write to you about it because she feels funny and embarrassed. I know she wants another chance. She said so, but she’s really shy and says maybe it’s forthe best. I don’t think so. Can you help?
Your friend,
Tommy Smith
Can I help? Of course I can help, Rosemary thought, folding the letter and placing it on the desk. Shy, huh? Well, heaven knew she could certainly relate to that. Since Tommy was certain that his mother was just having trouble coming out of her shell, maybe what she needed was a little push.
Mary Smith deserved a chance at happiness and shouldn’t be allowed to get in her own way.
Rosemary glanced at the salutation at the top of the letter. Rosemary sincerely wished that the woman had something other than a P.O. box to write to. Why didn’t they have a regular address? Were they new here? Transient? Did they live in a motel or a trailer park? And why would that even matter?
Worse yet, there was no telephone number on file to use. Mary could call them, but they couldn’t call her. It made things difficult. But not impossible.
Teri decided that she had been patient enough. “What do you think? Shall we give her another chance with the hunk-of-the-month?”
Teri’s interest was atypical. Her cousin usually found something to amuse her in the forms. She didn’t take Soulmates as seriously as Rosemary did.
“You seem awfully anxious about this match all of a sudden. I thought you were trying to thrust me into Chris’s arms.”
“And manly arms they are.” Teri sighed audibly. “But you weren’t thrustable, and I do so hate to see something that delicious wasted.” Teri fluttered her dark lashes prettily as she struck a pose.
Rosemary laughed as she shook her head. “You’re hopeless.”
A little of Teri’s amused expression abated, to be replaced by a canny one. “In this room, I’m only number two.”
Rosemary raised a brow. She might have known. “Same old song?”
Teri shrugged innocently as she resumed opening letters. “Hey, I’m only humming.”
Yeah, right. It wasn’t bad enough that Chris was dwelling on her mind. Teri had to keep reinforcing that haunting image at every opportunity. It just wasn’t right to date someone she had set up with a client. And besides, she didn’t date, she insisted, all but mentally shouting.
“Well, hum something else.” Rosemary stared at the letter. There was something here that spoke to her. A crying need written between the lines that was going unanswered. Tommy needed a dad and Mary certainly needed to have a fire lit under her before she would move.
From what she knew, Chris Maverick was just the man to do it. She had to set them up on another date right away.
Even as the thought hit her Rosemary felt a reluctance to act on her impulse. But it was the only way, she told herself. If Chris was with someone else, she wouldn’t be having these impossible thoughts about him.
And they were impossible. She knew exactly what would happen if she disregarded her principles and went out with him. What would happen would be a big, fat zero and then he’d think of her as a dud. Though it wasn’t supposed to make a difference what he thought, Rosemary really didn’t want Chris to feel that way about her. And it would happen. She’d bet any amount of money on it.
“Always leave them wanting more” took on a whole new meaning for her.
Teri could see that Rosemary was wrestling with something. She waited a moment before asking. “So how do you figure you’ll do it?” Rosemary raised her eyes to her questioningly. “Make Chris say yes again,” Teri elaborated.
It really shouldn’t be all that difficult. “He wasn’t exactly furious when she didn’t show up.” Rosemary smiled without realizing it. “He’s not one of those people with an ego to nurture.”
“Stop.” Teri held up a hand like a patrolman directing traffic. “You’re making me salivate.” An impish smile curved her mouth. “Just go do what you have to do. I’ll man the phones and hold down the fort until you get back.”
But Rosemary remained where she was, debating with herself. She wasn’t quite as eager as she had originally been to fix Chris up. All the right reasons were there, but her emotions were holding her back.
You can’t have it both ways, Rosemary insisted silently.
She shrugged, curling the edge of a form between her thumb and forefinger. “I could just wait until he comes over to see Danny and work with Rocky.”
Some orchestration was definitely required here. “I’d rather he came over to see Danny and work with you.” Teri saw the way Rosemary’s brows drew together and she threw up her hands in surrender. “All right, all right, I’ll stop.”
“Thank you.” Rosemary glanced at her watch. It was already an hour past the time that Chris usually arrived. She found herself listening for the sound of his car pulling up in his driveway these days…
Like a puppy waiting for its master to come home, she upbraided herself.
All the upbraiding in the world didn’t prevent her from wondering why Chris was late today. He normally returned home like clockwork. Maybe there was someone he was seeing at the station. Maybe—
Maybe it was none of her business. After all, she wasn’t involved, except in the most professional of capacities.
And didn’t that sound just peachy? she mused sarcastically. It made her sound like one of those ladies of the evening who littered the downtown area of every major city.
Teri looked at her impatiently. “So, you going to sit there, or what?”
“I’m sitting,” Rosemary answered brightly. “The ‘or what’ isn’t home yet.”
Teri looked at her knowingly. “Listening for him, are we?”
Oh, what was the use? Teri seemed to be determined to throw her together with Chris, via jealousy or any weapon she had. Why couldn’t her cousin just leave well enough alone?
“I don’t know about you, but I’m not. I just—” The telephone mercifully chose that moment to ring. Rosemary looked at Teri pointedly. “Get that, will you, and do something useful with that mouth of yours.”
She felt herself on the edge of exasperation and she never got that way. With anyone. It just proved how strung out she had felt—since Mother’s Day.
There was that point of reference again.
Teri laid a hand across her forehead and sighed dramatically. “I just don’t know why I take this abuse. Must be the Samaritan in me.”
; “More like the meddler in you.” She pointed toward the wall phone. “Phone?”
Teri rose and picked up the receiver. “Hello, Soulmates, Inc. How may I help you?”
Maybe she could get some work done now, Rosemary thought. The doorbell chimed, playing notes from “Since I Don’t Have You.”
And then again, maybe not. She sighed as she rose, feeling as if things were slipping right out of her grasp. What was going on? She used to be so organized. How had things gotten so out of hand in three days?
They weren’t out of hand, she insisted. At least not much. They’d just gotten a little tangled. All because a hunk in tight jeans had kissed her. And here she was, attempting to give him away.
The doorbell rang again before she could reach it. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” she called.
Rosemary pulled the front door open and her heart skipped. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she admonished herself as she looked up at Chris. She was a grown woman. This was a ridiculous way to react.
The truth slid from her tongue before she could think to stop it. “Hi, I was just thinking about you.”
It was a cool May morning that instantly warmed as he smiled at her. “Anything good?”
She jumped into the heart of the matter, thinking it best. If she let herself bask in that smile, who knew where this would lead? “Well, I have this letter.”
He groaned even though his smile remained. “Not another client.”
“No.” Rosemary motioned Chris in and closed the door behind him. “Not another one. The same one.” She watched him for signs of annoyance and was pleased when there weren’t any. “I just received another letter from her son in today’s mail.”
He looked at her. “Danny?”
That was an odd mistake for him to make. “No, Tommy. Her son’s name is Tommy,” she reminded him. Or had she forgotten to tell him that? She didn’t think so, but she wouldn’t place bets on anything lately.
Rosemary noticed that Chris was holding a bag and wondered what was in it. Since he didn’t mention it, she curbed her curiosity. There were more important things to get to.
“Anyway, Tommy says he was sick on Mother’s Day. Mary had to take care of him.” It all sounded perfectly plausible to her, if maybe a bit contrived.
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