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occasion to meet at all.  She had so much to do at work, she just
didn’t have time for distractions of any kind.  What was her grandma thinking?
    To her surprise, Brady took her elbow and urged
her along.  They began walking along the path at a clipped rate, surprised at
the many paths that veered off from the main one.  If their grandparents were
here somewhere, they might not be so easy to find.
    “Should we split up?” Amanda asked him. 
    Brady glanced around.  He gave a defeated
shrug.  “I’m going to call my granddad again.”  He quickly dialed, but soon
hung up.  “He’s not answering,” he said with a frustrated sigh.  “This is
ridiculous,” he announced.  “And I really have someplace I have to be.  Let’s
start back.”
    “But we have to find them.”
    “Somehow, I have the feeling they won’t be found
until they want to be found.”
    “ What is this about ?” Amanda mused,
equally frustrated with the wayward senior citizens. 
    Once again, he took her elbow.  He escorted her
back the way they’d come.  Amanda resisted the urge to stop on several
occasions, when particularly lovely roses beckoned to her.  Brady seemed to
sense she was drawn to those flowers.
    “You’ll have to come back here sometime,” he
said, smiling suddenly. 
    Amanda was taken aback by the change in his face
when he smiled—so much so that she stopped walking.  He’d seemed so stern
before, but smiling…  He seemed an entirely different person—transformed. 
There was no denying he was a good looking man, but that smile seemed to erase
years of worry and strain from his face.  She figured he was probably in his
early thirties, but something about his eyes suggested he had the weight of the
world on his shoulders.
    He apparently noticed her studying his face,
since he gave her another smile, this one charmingly lop-sided and full of
question.  “What?” he asked, bringing them to a stop.
    “Oh, nothing,” she answered quickly, embarrassed. 
She glanced away from him and began walking rapidly away, surprised at her
reaction to his smile.  Sure, he was handsome, but she met handsome men all the
time.  Executives in power suits who seemed intent on catching her eye.  But
she didn’t have time for romantic entanglements, and had ignored each and every
advance.  Until she was a business success, or at least met her own definition
of success, she wasn’t interested in the opposite sex.  She simply didn’t need
the distraction—and certainly didn’t have time for a relationship.
    Relationship .
    She suddenly remembered that recently, her
grandmother had called her at work.  She’d been busy, of course—typically
harried, and hadn’t been able to give her much of her time.  But she now
recalled her grandmother inquiring about her relationship status.  She had
suggested that Amanda wasn’t getting any younger and might want to consider
dating someone.  She had gone so far as to suggest she had someone she wanted
her to meet… 
    Oh, good grief!
    She came to an abrupt stop.  Brady came to a
halt, and watched her curiously.  “What is it?” he asked.
    She met his questioning gaze and gave a sheepish
smile.  “I think I know what this is about…”
    “What?”
    She gave an embarrassed smile.  “I think this is
a … setup.  I think this was their way of assuring that you and I met.”
    He watched her with surprise, but began nodding
his head up and down in understanding.  “My granddad called me at work recently
and told me he wanted me to meet the granddaughter of one of his friends.”  He
laughed.  “Okay, you’re right.  I get it now.”
    Amanda nodded in agreement.  “Grandma told me
about the ‘nice young grandson’ of one of her friends.”
    Brady chuckled, but quickly sobered.  “I told
Granddad I wasn’t interested in being set up.”
    “Me too,” she admitted.
    “So they took matters into their own hands.”  He
laughed.  “You have to give it to