A little later, as Louise escorted her sister and nieces out to the car, Rosemary asked, *Are you sleeping with him?"
*None of your business."
*He"s rather nice," Kathy said suddenly. *For an old man."
Louise glared at her niece. *Old? He"s not old!"
Her other niece smiled. *And I love your new clothes. Much more trendy. Good on you, Auntie Louise."
*Well, I think those clothes are far too young for you, but now you"ve bought them, I suppose you may as well get the wear out of them." Rosemary scowled sideways.
Louise chuckled. *Oh, I"ll definitely continue to wear them. Richard likes them, you see."
When the car had driven away, she felt suddenly shy about facing him. But there was no avoiding it, so she turned and walked back into the cafe.
He was sitting at one of the empty tables. He gestured to a steaming cup of coffee. *I thought you"d need this after your encounter with the dragon lady."
She sank into a chair. *I do." She raised her eyes resolutely to his. *I"m grateful to you for a for intervening. Rosemary is a she"s like a tank rolling over you sometimes. Mind you, her heart is in the right place. She"d do anything for her family." She realized she was gabbling and shut her mouth, stirring her coffee very carefully.
*So you didn"t mind me saying we were engaged?"
*Of course not." A smile creased her face at the memory of Rosemary"s shock. *Actually, it was fun."
*My ex-wife used to hate my sense of humour."
*I like it." Oh, no, what had she said? She sounded as if she were encouraging him!
Now it was his turn to stir his coffee too carefully. *We could try it, if you like."
*Try what?"
*Try being engaged."
*What?" Louise goggled at him.
He looked at her with a quizzical grin. *Is that "yes" or "no"?"
*Why?"
He didn"t pretend not to understand. *Because I like you, Louise. A lot."
*But I"m not a not pretty. And I"m too .a.a. brisk and managing."
*Only in the little things. And you are pretty. Especially now that you"re doing your hair like that and wearing more flattering clothes." He leaned closer. *I really do like you, Louise. Very much. I think it could develop into something permanent. What do you say we take a chance and find out?"
For a moment the room whirled around her, then she looked at Richard"s smiling face and took the biggest chance of her whole life. *I"d like to try it. I really would. Because a I like you, too. Very much indeed."
His kiss only reinforced the rightness of her decision.
Then he held her at arm"s length and said, *We"ve both skated round the word, but what I really mean is, I love you. I vowed I"d never say it to a woman again, but that was stupid. I do love you, Louise."
*I didn"t take any vows about saying the word; I just didn"t meet someone to love. Till now. I do love you, Richard, but I didn"t realize how much until today."
Possibilities.
Anna"s Notes.
OK, I confess. I love looking at the personal columns in the newspapers and trying to work out what the people are like who advertise.
I always think *Good for them!" It"s too easy to sit at home on your own and feel lonely.
I"ve known several people who"ve found partners and friends that way.
Of course, the results of advertising may not always be as people expect. This one wasn"t!
Sara tossed the newspaper away. It fell off the chair a well, it had been that sort of a day. The pages scattered all over the floor and the one that settled near her foot said *POSSIBILITIES" at the top in large black letters.
She kicked it aside. *Ha!" She had given up on men, absolutely given up, and even if she hadn"t, no way would she advertise for a date like that. Never! You had to be desperate.
The following morning her mother rang her up at work. *Um a are you busy tonight, love? Want to have tea with me?"
*Love to." Since her father"s divorce and removal to Sydney, Sara tried to see her mother a couple of times a week.
The minute she entered the house she realized her mother had been up to something. Well, you couldn"t mistake the bright mischief in her eyes. If Beth Greenby lived to be a hundred, she"d still have young eyes. Mind, at fifty, she wasn"t doing badly. Trim figure, russet hair only lightly threaded with grey. Sara just hoped she"d look as good as that when she grew older.
*What are you plotting, Mum?"
*Oh. Well a as it happens I"ve put an advert in that POSSIBILITIES thing in the paper."
* Sara forced a smile. Just because it was something she wouldn"t do herself, it didn"t mean she should make her mother feel bad. After all, her father had been gone for three years now. *You old devil. Feeling like a bit of masculine company?"What?"
*Not for me a for you."
Sara lost all desire to smile.
*It"ll be fun."
*No, it won"t, and I"m not doing it."
But her mother was very determined and by the end of the evening, Sara had agreed to look at the replies.
Only as she was getting into bed did she realize she hadn"t asked exactly what her mother had put in the ad. *I"ll phone her tomorrow," she decided.
But work was crazy with the new project taking off, so she forgot all about the stupid advert until a week later, when she was summoned to inspect the replies.
*There are seven." Beth waved a bunch of envelopes triumphantly.
Three were disgusting and went straight into the bin.
*These two sound lonely." Beth sighed. *Poor things."
*Well, they can just stay lonely. What would I look like going out with a guy that much shorter than me? And I"ve never liked blond men."
*Which leaves two possibles. What does yours say?"
*This is an advert for a dating agency."
*You open the last one." Her mother pa.s.sed the letter across.
Sara felt more like ripping it into tiny pieces. Still, with a bit of luck, it"d be some no-hoper and she"d make sure her mother never did this to her again.
They studied it together. *I"m thirty, looking for an intelligent female with a sense of humour. Loved your advert. How about we meet? Mark." There was a phone number.
Sara frowned. *I don"t think I want to phone a complete stranger. And he doesn"t say much about himself. He could be five foot one and bald, for all I know."
*Where"s your sense of adventure?"
*Gone on holiday."
*Please, dear. Just give it a try. After all, he contacted you first. And you haven"t met anyone interesting for ages. What have you got to lose?"
Sara sighed, but with her mother"s steady gaze on her, she took the phone being held out to her and keyed in the number. A voice answered, a lovely deep, velvety voice. *h.e.l.lo?"
Suddenly she was nervous. *Um a you answered my advert in POSSIBILITIES."
*You"re twenty-seven with glorious hair and a wicked sense of humour?"
Sara"s mouth fell open and she turned to stare accusingly at her mother. *Um a I suppose I am. Do you often look through those ads?"
*No. Someone else pointed yours out to me. It certainly caught our a my interest."
His voice was rather attractive. And he had a good sense of humour. With her mother nodding encouragingly, Sara told him her first name, agreeing to meet this Mark fellow in town at a cafe she knew.
Putting the phone down, she gave her mother a basilisk stare. *Show me the advert!"
*IaI-"
*Show me!"
It was the longest in the whole column. It detailed her interests as well as her appearance. Sara felt cruelly exposed. *Oh, Mum! Promise me faithfully you won"t do this again."
*I hope there"ll be no need. I have a feeling about this."
*Promise!"
*Oh, very well."
Of course, that was the week Sara met Bill. A friend introduced them and they clicked immediately. After two dates on two consecutive evenings, she knew she didn"t need or want to meet Mark. She rang her mother.
*Mum! I left the phone number of the guy from POSSIBILITIES at your place. I need to cancel."
*Oh, Sara! He sounded so nice."
*Well, I"ve met someone else and he"s pretty nice, too. Gorgeous, in fact." Her pager started beeping. *Look, could you give Mark a ring and tell him it"s off. I have to go. There"s a crisis here. It"s like a madhouse."
Beth put down the phone and stared at it. Why had she ever started this? Her husband had always said she was too impetuous and that was one of the things that had driven him mad. Well, he"d had a few faults too.
Taking a deep breath, she dialled Mark"s number. She tried several times that day and couldn"t get an answer.
After two days of fruitless efforts she rang her daughter, but could get no answer there, either. The evening of the date arrived and she couldn"t bear to think of a nice young man sitting alone waiting in the cafe. It was all her fault, so it was up to her to put things straight.
She dressed with care to give herself confidence. When she looked in the mirror she smiled. *Not bad for an oldie."
But as she sat in the taxi going into town, b.u.t.terflies fluttered in her stomach. She was carrying a newspaper, wearing a pink carnation, as agreed a oh, what a stupid idea this was! She should just turn round and go back home.
But once again the image of a lonely young man feeling rejected rose before her and just a but only just a overcame her nervousness.
The cafe was full of young people. No one else was wearing a pink carnation. She sat at a corner table and ordered a cappuccino, but couldn"t swallow a sip, just stirred the froth around. She shouldn"t have come. He"d be furious when she told him.
*Sara?"
Beth turned round. *Oh a er a no a that is, yes a well, sort of."
He was tall and certainly good-looking, but he was as old as she was. Indignation surged through her. *How dare you say you"re thirty! You"re closer to my age!"
Her voice was so loud people turned round to stare.
*Shh!" He sat down, scowling at her. *You"re no spring chicken, either. Why did you advertise for a younger man?"
Furious, she jumped to her feet and tried to walk out, but tripped on the chair leg and nearly fell over. He caught her and they stood chest to chest, staring at one another. Noises bounced around them and she sat down a well, collapsed actually a telling herself she"d just rest for a moment till she"d pulled herself together, then ask them to call her a taxi.
*I didn"t advertise for me," she muttered as the silence grew uncomfortable. *My daughter can"t make it. I didn"t want this poor young man sitting waiting."
*Oh." He eyed Beth"s cup with longing. *Look, do you mind if I order a coffee while we sort this out? It"s been a long, hard day and my throat"s parched."
She shrugged.
*Your I"m his father and I"m here a reluctantly I might add! a to stop your poor young man was called to the States on business and only remembered this date after he got there.poor little daughter feeling let down." He held out his hand. *My name"s Jeff, by the way. Jeff Bairnes."
*Beth Greenby." She took the hand, finding it firm and warm. He had a friendlier look in his eyes now. The chorus line of b.u.t.terflies inside her stomach began to subside into a soft shoe shuffle.
By the time his coffee was plonked on the table, she"d taken a few surrept.i.tious glances at him. Well-dressed, a nice tie and a really cla.s.sy suit, the sort she"d always wanted her husband to wear and he"d refused to buy because he hated suits, period.