This Matter Of Marriage (6 page)

Hallie stared in shock as he tallied the dinner bill and stated, “Your half comes to forty-five dollars and thirteen cents, including tip.”

“
My
half?”

“Why should I pay for your dinner?” he asked. “You said yourself that we're incompatible.”

“Yes, but…you asked me out.”

“True. Nevertheless, it was with the unspoken agreement that this date was between two people interested in pursuing a relationship. You aren't interested, therefore, your half of the dinner bill comes to…” He appeared to have forgotten and looked down at his calculator.

“Forty-five dollars and thirteen cents,” she supplied.

“That includes your portion of the tip.”

Disgusted, Hallie picked up her purse. It wouldn't do any good to argue. Luckily she had two twenties and, yes, a five, which she kept hidden for emergencies. The thirteen cents practically wiped her out.

With nothing more to say, they left soon afterward.

Hallie heard the car well before the valet drove it into view. She glanced at Marv, wondering if he'd ignore the clanking sound
this
time. He did.

Rather than point it out again, Hallie climbed inside and steeled herself for a long uncomfortable ride home. She wasn't far from wrong. When they reached the interstate the engine noise had intensified until even Marv couldn't miss it.

“What was that?” he demanded, as if she was somehow responsible for the racket.

“Your car?” She was unable to avoid the sarcasm.

“I
know
it's the car.”

“There's no need to worry,” she said, parroting his words, “your vehicle's in perfect running order, remember?”

“Correct. Nothing could possibly be wrong.” Then he cursed and pulled off to the side of the freeway. Smoke rose from underneath the hood, billowing into the night.

“Oh, dear,” Hallie murmured. This didn't look good. The way things were going, he'd probably make her pay for half the tow truck, too.

Marv slammed his fist against the steering wheel. “Now look what you've done.”

“Me?” Of all the things he'd said, this was the limit. The final insult. “I have a few questions for you,” she snapped. “When was the last time this car had an oil change? A tune-up? Did you bother with antifreeze this winter?”

Marv leapt out of the car and slammed his door.

Hallie got out, too, shutting hers just as hard.

He glared at her over the top of the hood. “I don't find your attempts at humor the least bit amusing.”

“The biggest joke of the night was my agreeing to go out with you!” The cold wind whipped past her and she tucked her hands into the pockets of her coat. Unfortunately, she'd worn a flimsy coat, more of a wrap, because its jade green went so well with her new dress. Her wool coat hung in the closet. The only thing she had to keep her warm was her anger—and so far, it was working.

“Until I met you, my vehicle
was
in perfect running order.”

“Are you suggesting I put a hex on it?”

“Maybe you did,” he growled.

Hallie seethed, crossing her arms. “You're the rudest man I've ever met!”

His eyes narrowed and his mouth thinned. It wasn't until then that she realized how deeply she'd insulted him. Marv obviously prided himself on his manners—opening the door, helping her on with her coat, those gestures so few men observed these days. Well, she'd take a normal man who let her open car doors over Marvin anytime!

“If that's how you feel,” he said stiffly, “you can find your own way home.”

“Fine, I will.” She carelessly tossed out the words, slapped her silk scarf around her neck like Isadora Duncan and started walking, high heels and all.

This wasn't the smart thing to do, Hallie soon realized. She was chilled to the bone, blinded by all the headlights flashing by and, dammit, one of her heels chose that moment to break off.

At least it wasn't raining.

T
he ringing woke Steve out of a sound sleep. He rolled over, thinking the incessant noise was his alarm. He hit the switch, but it did no good. Then he noticed the time. Eleven-thirty. What the hell?

He sat up and realized the irritating sound wasn't his alarm clock but his doorbell. He grabbed his jeans and pulled them on as he hobbled into the living room. He had no idea who was calling on him so late at night—but the last person he expected was his next-door neighbor.

“I'm sorry to wake you,” Hallie said, her eyes desperate in the pale porch light. A scruffy-looking fellow hovered behind her, and a taxi stood parked in her driveway. “Could I borrow twenty dollars?” she pleaded. He stared at her. “Just until tomorrow afternoon,” she added.

“Sure,” he said, and reached in his hip pocket for his wallet, extracting a bill.

“Thank you,” she breathed, then whirled around to give the taxi driver his money. “I told you you'd get paid!” she said fiercely.

“You can't blame a guy for doubting. You wouldn't be the first lady who tried to stiff me.”

“Well…thanks for bringing me home.”

The cabbie handed her a business card. “Sure, lady. Listen, the next time some guy dumps you on the freeway, give me a call and I'll make sure you get home.”

“Thanks,” she muttered, sending an embarrassed glance in Steve's direction. She waited until the driver had left before explaining. “Really, it's not as bad as it looks.” Nervously she pushed a trembling hand through her tangled hair. “I'll get the twenty dollars to you after work tomorrow afternoon. I…I quit carrying my credit cards and didn't have my ATM card with me,” she explained, rushing the words. “It took all my cash to pay for my half of dinner.”

“Don't worry about it.”

“I promise to have the money back by tomorrow. You have my word on that.”

He grinned. “I said not to worry about it.”

“At this point, it's a matter of pride.” She turned away and limped toward her own condo. It took him a moment to realize the heel on one of her shoes had broken off.

“Hallie?” he called out, curiosity getting the better of him. “Do you want to come in for coffee and tell me what happened?”

She paused, and he knew she was tempted to accept. “If you don't mind, I'll take a rain check on the coffee. I'm fine, really. It was just a date gone bad.”

“From Dateline?”

“No. I decided against…I didn't sign up with them. This was a date arranged by a friend. A
former
friend.” She filled in a few of the details: the questions, the restaurant bill, the car. He listened sympathetically, nodding now and then, marveling at her ability to laugh at her situation.

“Don't let it get you down,” he advised.

“I won't,” she said, and although she looked disheveled and pitiful, she managed a weak smile. “It'd take more than a pudgy accountant to do that.”

“Good girl.” He waited until she was all the way inside her house before he closed his own door. Only then, did he allow himself to laugh. He had to hand it to Hallie McCarthy. The lady had grit.

 

“What's so funny?” Todd asked Steve the following morning.

“What makes you think anything's funny?” Steve leaned over a pile of metal shavings to avoid meeting his friend's gaze. Todd was right; his mood had greatly improved. It was because of Hallie, he suspected. Every time he thought about her and that jerk accountant, he found himself grinning from ear to ear. No wonder he wasn't eager to get back into the dating scene. It made far more sense to win back his ex-wife. He only hoped Mary Lynn met up with a few of Hallie's rejects. Then maybe she'd realize he wasn't so bad, after all.

“You've been wearing this silly grin all day.” Obviously Todd wasn't about to let the subject drop.

“Would you rather I stormed around making unreasonable demands?”

“Nope,” Todd admitted. Then he shrugged. “You ready for lunch?”

“Sure.” Steve packed his own now, same as he had when he was married—which meant he picked up something at the deli on his way into work. He and Todd headed for the small room adjacent to his office, stopping to let Mrs. Applegate, his new secretary, know he was taking his lunch break. She was working out well. He'd found her through a business college. She was older, described as a displaced homemaker, whatever that meant. But Mrs. Applegate appreciated the job and worked hard.

“Would you care for a cup of coffee with your lunch?” she asked.

“Please.”

“That woman's going to spoil you,” Todd commented as he sat down across from Steve. He pulled a submarine sandwich from his lunch pail and peeled away the wrapper.

“I'm going to let her, too.” In comparison to Danielle and Mary Lynn, Mrs. Applegate was a paragon—organized, efficient, cooperative. He wondered how he'd ever managed without her.

“Now tell me what's so damn funny,” Todd said after the coffee had been served. “I could use a good laugh.”

“My neighbor.” Steve could see no reason not to relay the events of the night before. “Apparently she's on the hunt for a husband.”

“What's she look like?”

“Why? You interested?”

Todd took a big bite of his sandwich and chewed vigorously as he considered his response. “I might be.”

“You? It wasn't so long ago you told me you wanted nothing to do with women.”

“
Some
women. Go on, I want to hear what happened to your neighbor.”

“She got me out of bed at eleven-thirty last night and asked to borrow twenty bucks. The guy she'd been with acted obnoxious all evening—even made her pay for her own meal. Plus he had car trouble, blamed it on her, then dumped her on the freeway and told her to find her own way home. Which she did.”

“Good for her.”

“That's what I said.” He bit into his pastrami-on-rye and found himself smiling again as he recalled Hallie's story. She'd done a hilarious imitation of this Marv guy demanding his forty-something dollars.

“You like this neighbor of yours, don't you?”

“Like? What do you mean?” Sure he liked Hallie. What wasn't to like? But he had no romantic interest in her, and there was a difference.

“Are you going to ask her out?”

“Naw,” he answered, dismissing the suggestion. “She's not my type.”

“Exactly what is your type?” Todd pressed.

“Damned if I know.” The only woman he'd ever loved had been Mary Lynn. She was all he'd ever wanted, all he'd ever thought about. That wasn't going to change.

His answer appeared to satisfy Todd, who nodded. “Same way I feel. I might date again, and I might not. Sure as hell, the minute I start getting serious about a woman I'll run into problems, just like I did last time. So I figure, if I meet someone, fine. Great. But I'm not going out of my way.”

Steve frowned as he listened to Todd. It distressed him that Mary Lynn seemed to be involved with another man, and according to his kids, had been dating for some time.

“You look upset,” Todd remarked.

Steve set his sandwich aside, his appetite gone. “Mary Lynn's seeing someone.”

“I know, you told me earlier. You've been divorced a year or better—what did you expect?”

“I expected her to see the light,” Steve muttered.

“Well, it's not going to happen. She wanted out of the marriage. And as far as I can see, nothing's changed.”

“When did you become an expert on my relationship with my ex-wife?” Steve asked irritably. They'd had this discussion before, and it irked him that his friend saw things differently. More than anyone, Todd knew he hadn't wanted the divorce. More than anyone, Todd knew he loved Mary Lynn as much now as he had the day they'd married.

Todd threw up his hands in disgust. “Let's drop it, all right? I butted in where I didn't belong. You want to moon over Mary Lynn, for the rest of your life, then be my guest.”

“D
onnalee Cooper's holding for you on line two,” Bonnie said. Hallie stared at the blinking phone. It wouldn't help to put it off any longer. Her friend had a right to know—even to gloat.

“Hi, Donnalee,” she said with forced cheerfulness.

“You didn't phone,” Donnalee accused. “What happened?”

“You don't want to hear.”

“I wouldn't have called if I didn't. I haven't got much time, either. I've got clients due in five minutes, so cut to the chase, will you?”

“Okay, then—gloat. This guy was a jerk. Big time. He wanted to investigate my family genes to make sure I was qualified to bear his children. When I told him I didn't think we clicked, he made me pay for my half of the dinner. Then his car broke down on the freeway and I was stuck finding my own way home. To add insult to injury, I had to get my neighbor out of bed and borrow twenty bucks to pay the cabdriver.”

A lengthy pause followed her condensed version of the previous night. Hallie suspected Donnalee had covered the receiver with one hand to hide her laughter.

“Well?” she challenged. “Say something.”

“Okay,” Donnalee replied slowly. “Are you ready to invest in Dateline yet?”

“No.” Hallie was determined to pay off her credit cards, not add another two thousand dollars to the balance. “Besides, I have another date.”

“Who?” Donnalee—predictably—sounded skeptical.

“Bonnie's uncle Chad.” Bonnie had mentioned him early in January, but Hallie had wanted to be at her best before agreeing to a date with him. “You know that old saying about getting back on the horse after you fall off? Well, I accepted a dinner invitation this very morning.”

“When are you seeing him?”

Hallie didn't know what to make of Donnalee's tone. It was a mixture of wonder and patent disapproval. “Soon,” Hallie said. “Monday night.” Actually she wondered how smart this was herself. Monday was only three days away.

Chad Ellis had sounded nice enough over the phone, and Bonnie had said he was her favorite uncle. Someone related to a member of her trusted staff seemed a safe bet—especially after the disastrous Marv.

“Did you go out with Sanford last night?” The change of subject was deliberate.

“Yes—and it was wonderful. He's a dream come true,” Donnalee said with the same wistful note she used whenever his name was introduced into the conversation.

“Have you talked to him today?” Hallie didn't know why she insisted on torturing herself.

“He sent me a dozen red roses this morning.”

“Roses?” Hallie was almost swooning with envy. While Donnalee was being courted and pampered, she'd been grilled for hours and then abandoned on the freeway.

“I'm falling in love with this guy,” Donnalee confessed. “Head over heels.”

“So am I, and I haven't even met him.”

Her friend chuckled. “I wish you'd reconsider Dateline. Chad might be Bonnie's uncle, but how much do you really know about him?”

“Just what Bonnie told me. He's divorced, has been for five years. He sells medical equipment and is on the road quite a bit, but he'll be back in town after the weekend. For a while, anyway.” She wasn't sure if that was luck or fate. Their one all-too-brief conversation had taken place that morning. He sounded…interesting. Which, come to think of it, was the same word she'd used following her telephone chat with Marv.

“If you don't call me Tuesday morning, I'll track you down and torture the information out of you,” Donnalee warned.

“I'll phone,” Hallie promised. No date could possibly be as awful as the one with Marv. Sheer chance assured Hallie that the odds of Chad's being a decent date were good.

At this point she wasn't even looking for Mr. Right. Mr. Almost Right would satisfy her nicely. If she'd learned anything from the experience with Marv—and she
had
—it was that she needed to lower her expectations. No Mr. Knight-In-Shining-Armor was going to gallop up to
her
front door. On her way home that evening, Hallie stopped off at the bank for cash. Her ATM card remained in her bottom dresser drawer, along with her credit cards—safe from temptation.

Wanting to put the task of repaying her neighbor behind her, Hallie headed directly for his condo after she parked her car. His lights were on and she assumed he was home, but it was Meagan who answered the door. “Hi, Hallie!”

“Hi, Meagan. Is your dad there?”

“Yeah. He's in the shower. You can wait, can't you?”

“I don't actually need to talk to him.” She pulled the twenty-dollar bill out of her purse. “Would you give this to him?”

“Sure.”

“Give me what?” Steve strolled barefoot into the hallway, wearing jeans and an unbuttoned plaid shirt. A damp towel was draped around his neck, and his dark hair glistened with water. “Oh, hi, Hallie.”

“Hi.” She smiled weakly, embarrassed about their last meeting.

“Hey, Dad,” Kenny shouted, leaping off the sofa. “Hallie brought you twenty bucks. Let's go out for pizza, okay?”

“Uh…” Steve hesitated.

Meagan's eyes were as bright as her brother's. “Can Hallie come, too?”

“I…can't. Really.” Hallie looked over her shoulder at her empty condo, tempted to suggest she had places to go, people to meet. It would have been a lie. “I just wanted to repay the loan and thank you for coming to my rescue. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't answered the door.” Well, she would have managed—she would've retrieved her bank card from the bottom drawer and…But Steve had saved her time and spared her inconvenience. She'd been in no shape to go driving around with a seriously annoyed cabbie, looking for a bank machine.

“
Can
we go out for pizza, Dad?” Kenny asked again, his hands folded in prayerlike fashion. “Please, please, please?”

“I don't see why not,” Steve relented, grinning. He turned to Hallie. “You're welcome to come along. Actually, I wish you would. The kids will desert me for the video games the minute we arrive and I'll be stuck sitting there with no one to talk to.”

She wavered. Even if she didn't have any plans, she didn't want to intrude.

“Please come!” Meagan urged.

“Sure,” Hallie said before she could change her mind. Although it wasn't the thought of her empty condo or equally empty refrigerator that persuaded her. It wasn't even Meagan's invitation. It was the pizza. Pizza, loaded down with cheese, spicy sausage and olives. After nearly two months of exercise, after week upon week of eating lettuce and vegetables, skinless chicken and Dover sole, she deserved pizza. She'd walk an extra mile on her treadmill, but heaven help her, she wanted that pizza.

“I'm glad you decided to come,” Meagan told her when they arrived at the local pizza parlor, a five-minute drive away. To Hallie's relief, Steve had taken his car—not his truck, which he'd left at work.

The place was filled with Friday-night family business, the noise roughly equal to that of a rock concert. While Steve stood in line at the counter to order their dinner, Hallie steered the kids toward one of the few empty tables.

Steve returned five minutes later with two soft drinks, a couple of beers and a pile of quarters. Kenny's eyes lit up like the video games he loved and he reached forward to grab the coins. “Twelve quarters each,” Steve said, gazing sternly at his offspring. “And they have to last you all night. Once they're gone, they're gone. Got it?”

“Got it.”

The quarters disappeared along with Meagan and Kenny.

Steve sat down across the picnic-style table from Hallie. She spread one of the red-checkered napkins on her lap, aware that it was taking her an inordinately long time to do so.

“It was kind of you to invite me,” she finally said, slightly uneasy at being left alone with Steve. To her surprise she found herself revising her earlier estimation of him. He was really quite good-looking. Funny she hadn't realized that earlier. The fact that he'd been willing to help her out only added to the attraction.

“Hey, I appreciate the company. Mary Lynn and I used to bring the kids here once a month. Meagan and Kenny would like to come more often, but I feel stupid sitting by myself.”

“What about trying your hand at the videos?”

“Are you kidding? It's an invasion of territory. None of the kids want me there. The one time I tried it I was banished and sentenced to sit out here with the rest of the parents.”

Hallie smiled. She'd half expected him to ask her more about her awful date and was grateful he didn't.

They each talked about their jobs, which took all of five minutes. Their discussion of the weather took less than one. A not-uncomfortable silence followed before Steve spoke again.

“Listen, you can tell me to mind my own business, but why was a gal like you going out with a creep like that?”

She sighed. She might as well level with him, seeing that he'd already had her groveling at his front door in the middle of the night, needing a loan. “I guess you've gathered I'm trying to meet a man. I, uh, decided this was the year I'd get married.”

His head came up and his eyes narrowed. “Women
decide
this sort of thing?”

“Not all women,” she told him. “It's just that I'm turning thirty in April, and—”

“Hey, thirty isn't old.”

“I know, but I'm not really sure where my twenties went, if you know what I mean. I was busy, happy, working hard, and then one day I woke up and realized most of my friends were married, some for the second time. My dad recently died, and my younger sister just became a mother.” She struggled to explain. “Somehow, things changed for me. My goals. My feelings about what's important in life. For years, I threw all my energy into my work—and now I want…more. I want someone to share it with.”

“So you figure marriage is the answer.”

“Something like that.” Hallie shrugged comically. “I've been dating since I was sixteen, and not once in all that time did I ever meet anyone like Marv. It's appalling how slim the pickings are. You see, Donnalee made it look easy.” Maybe Donnalee was right; maybe she
should
reconsider Dateline.

“Is she the friend who stopped by your place a couple of Saturdays ago? The one with the long…the tall one?”

Men rarely had a problem remembering Donnalee. “That's her. She found Prince Charming after
one
date.”

“You mean to say she isn't married?”

“Not yet. She's the person who suggested I sign up with Dateline. She plunked down her money, and first time out she met this fabulous guy. From everything she said, he's wonderful.” Hallie couldn't hide the wistful longing in her voice. “It wouldn't surprise me if she was married by summer.”

“Slim pickings,” Steve repeated, and Hallie wondered if he'd heard anything else she'd said. He became aware of the lull in conversation and cast her an apologetic look. “I was just thinking over what you said about available men. My ex-wife is starting to date and frankly—” he paused, grinning broadly “—it wouldn't hurt my feelings any if she was to meet up with the joker you went out with last night. Maybe she'd be more willing to talk about the two of us getting back together.”

“You want to patch things up with your ex?”

Steve nodded, and his eyes held hers sternly, as if he anticipated an argument.

“I'm impressed.” In Hallie's opinion, too many families were thrown into chaos by divorce. It did her heart good to know there were men like Steve who considered it important to keep the family intact.

Predictably, Meagan and Kenny arrived within seconds of the pizza. The biggest pizza Hallie had ever seen. Pepperoni, sausage, mushroom and black olive. Her favorite. For a while, there was silence as they all helped themselves to huge slices.

When they'd eaten their fill, Steve and Kenny went to find a cardboard container for leftovers. Meagan smiled at Hallie. “I'm glad you came with us,” she said again.

“I'm glad you asked.”

“Kenny and I like this place, but we don't come often because Dad gets lonely without Mom here.”

It wasn't the first time Hallie had noticed Meagan worrying about her father. Her tenderness toward him was touching, and Hallie squeezed the girl's shoulders. “I hope your parents get back together,” she said.

“Kenny and I used to talk about it a lot.”

“Your father certainly loves your mother.”

“I know.”

But Hallie noticed that the girl's eyes dimmed as she spoke, and she wondered what that meant.

“Mom's dating Kip,” Meagan said. “Dad knows. Kenny and I weren't going to tell him, but he knows. Mom is…I don't know, but I don't think she wants Dad back. She likes Kip and gets upset if we try to talk to her about Dad. She said that sometimes people fall out of love, and that's what happened with her and Dad.”