This Matter Of Marriage Read Free Page A

delegating more responsibility to Bonnie Ellis, her assistant.
    â€œAnd your being ready for marriage changes everything?” Donnalee sounded skeptical. She sounded skeptical a little too often, in Hallie’s opinion.
    â€œThere’s a man I’m interested in right now,” Hallie confessed, thinking of John Franklin.
    â€œReally? Who?”
    She should’ve guessed Donnalee would demand details.
    â€œA 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.”
    â€œGood-looking and sensitive,” Donnalee repeated.
    â€œSingle good-looking men are hard to find,” Hallie insisted, wondering at her friend’s slightly sarcastic tone.
    â€œThat’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.
    â€œI know of him.”
    Hallie’s suspicions mounted. “What do you mean?”
    â€œJohn Franklin’s the perfect reason you need the services of Dateline.”
    â€œOh?” Her confidence was shaken.
    â€œYou’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.
    â€œSo, are you going to join Dateline?” Donnalee asked.
    â€œTwo thousand dollars?”
    â€œConsider it cheap since the men are screened.”
    â€œIf Brad Pitt’s out, then for that kind of money they’d better come up with royalty.”
    â€œIf they do, kid, I’ve got first dibs,” Donnalee said with a laugh.
    â€œI’ll look into Dateline, but I’m not making any promises.”
    â€œJust call and they’ll mail you a brochure. Phone me once you’ve read it over. Promise?”
    â€œOkay, 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