A Bride After All Read Free Page B

froze on her face, because Marylou wasn’t alone at the table in the corner. Mr. Casual was sitting there, too.
    “Oh, Marylou, what are you doing?” she grumbled under her breath, and then squared her shoulders and headed for the table. “Hi, I guess I’m late,” she said as she slid her tray onto the tabletopand then divested herself of her belongings. Susie was cute, and helpful, but she was also heavy. “Hello,” she said to the man across the table as she sat down.
    Then, to keep her hands busy, she opened her bottle of soda and took a drink from it. Her mouth had gone rather dry.
    “What? You two don’t know each other?” Marylou asked as if shocked. “I would have thought—haven’t you both been teaching classes here forever?”
    “Third semester.”
    “This is my second year.”
    The first answer was from Mr. Casual, the second Claire’s own, delivered at the same time. “Sorry,” Claire added, trying to ignore Marylou’s soft kick under the table.
    “Oh, no, no, don’t apologize,” Marylou said, beaming. “Because now you’re going to know each other, aren’t you? Claire Ayers, please allow me to introduce Nick Barrington. Nick, my friend Claire, who teaches a parenting class here. Nick teaches English as a second language.” She picked up her coffee cup and smiled at them both from above the rim. “There, that was easy. All done.”
    “Hello, Nick,” Claire said, extending her hand halfway across the table. “It’s nice meeting you.”
    “Back at you,” he said, taking her hand. His eyes were green, now that she could see him up close. And they were laughing. Like he knew what was going on and found it all extremely amusing.
    Claire clenched her teeth even as she continued to smile. That way maybe nobody would know that the touch of his hand had done something strange to the region of her stomach, but she probably would be able to keep from throwing up her first sip of soda.
    Marylou put down her cup and actually rubbed her hands together. “Nick has a son, you know. Sean. He’s over there, at that big round table with all the other kids from his karate class. Aren’t they all just so cute in their white pajamas?”
    “The uniform is called a karategi , Marylou,” Nick said, clearly suppressing another smile. “If Sean heard you calling his uniform pajamas he’d be highly insulted. He’s up to his red belt now, with the brown one coming next, if he qualifies.” He looked at Claire. “Karate is supposed to foster the spirit to overcome life’s obstacles, along with instilling courage, respect, self-confidence, self-control, and self-discipline. I’m still waiting for those last two to kick in, but he’s getting there.”
    “How old is Sean?”
    “Nine, going on thirty-five, which makes him older than me and means sometimes he thinks he’s the parent and I’m the child.”
    “I think I remember reading somewhere that the children of single parents often mature quickly,” Marylou slipped in neatly as Claire felt another soft kick on her ankle. “But you’d know that, wouldn’t you, dear, working with children all day. Claire’s aphysican assistant for her brother, who’s a pediatrician,” she told Nick, turning to look at him, her eyes wide and innocent. “It’s all very…very medical,” she ended rather weakly, then flashed another smile.
    The woman’s cell phone, which was on the table next to her, rang, and Marylou snatched it up like a drowning man grabs a life ring thrown from a friendly passing ship.
    Claire kept her eyes on her plate as Marylou spoke rather breathlessly into the phone. “Yes? Yes? Oh, no! Well, of course, Chessie, I’ll be right there. No, no, no problem at all. It’s not like you wanted your battery to go dead, now did you?”
    The cell phone snapped shut and at last Claire looked up again, to see Nick Barrington sitting with his chin in his hand, his eyebrows cocked in a way that made her want to laugh as he listened to Marylou