do you think we ended up here together?”
“Obviously by some computer glitch.”
Diana knew it was a mistake to follow her partner Teddy’s urging. Diana had told her that she didn’t have time for a man in her life, but Teddy, in her usual persistent manner, had worn her down, and finally Diana had gone into the MatchforLove.com system and filled out the profile. And now she stood in front of Scott Thomas, a mistake if she ever saw one.
Before he could continue their conversation, his cell phone rang and Diana took the opportunity to leave. She felt she’d get to her car and be done with him. At least when she turned the corner at the end of the block she could relax. But Scott was not to be eluded. He fell into step next to her, all the while continuing his phone call.
“What?” Diana heard him say. He stopped walking, but caught up with her several steps later. “Can’t you find someone else?”
He listened for a moment while she walked faster. Her shoes were the latest style, very high heels on a small platform. They elevated her five-foot-five-inch height by five additional inches.
“All right,” he said as if giving in to something.
Diana got to the corner and turned. The garage was half a block away. Hoping Scott would continue up Nassau Street, her thoughts were doused as he turned with her.
“Yes, I said I’d do it.” A moment later he nearly shouted into the receiver. “What did you say?”
Diana couldn’t help listening while she walked.
“Who’s doing it?” he asked.
Again there was a pause.
“You’re kidding!” Scott said. This time he sounded as if something incredible had happened.
Diana didn’t get the impression that there was any kidding going on. But she heard Scott agree to the final unheard question. “It’s all right. I get it. I’ll be there.” He ended the call and pocketed the phone.
Diana could tell something was not as he wished it to be, but she wasn’t interested in finding out what was off in his world. She had her own to deal with.
“Why are you following me, Scott? I have a high-profile wedding to get the final plans on, and I don’t have time to be bothered with childish pranks. You’ve already said it’s not about the offices, so what do you want?”
Scott hesitated a moment. “I want to know if you told the truth.”
She frowned, not understanding his question.
“On your profile. Was everything you put in there true?”
Anger, hot, red and eruptive sliced through her like the knife edge of an arctic wind. “As I remember it, lying is your department. And since we aren’t likely to see each other again...” She emphasized again, closing the door on him making further offers on her offices. “I think we should just forget this day ever happened.”
Pivoting on shoes that were now hurting her toes, Diana straightened her back and shoulders and walked away from him. He didn’t follow her, a good choice on his part, she thought. Practically calling her a liar to her face was enough. Another word from either of them would require police protection.
* * *
“How was he?” Theresa “Teddy” Granville jumped up from her chair the moment Diana came through the office door. “Was he as good-looking as we thought?”
Diana dropped her purse on the chair and gave Teddy the look. It should have been patented between them. It was the look they gave each other when a bride chose something that was totally wrong for her theme.
“That bad?” Teddy was nonplussed. She flopped back down in her chair. “After we had such high hopes.”
“After you had high hopes.” It was at Teddy’s insistence that Diana go to MatchforLove.com. Diana had done it to silence her partner. But after she began talking to [email protected], things changed. He seemed to understand her. Even though they never identified themselves by name, he knew she owned her own business and she knew he flew airplanes. She thought he was a pilot.
“What was wrong with him?”
“He was Scott Thomas.”
Teddy came forward in her chair as if she’d been pushed. “Scott Thomas? The Scott Thomas who wants us to move? That Scott Thomas?”
“One and the same,” Diana said.
“That’s impossible.”
“I couldn’t believe it myself. It was all I could do to get out of the coffee shop.”
“Without seeing him?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Diana said. She took a seat in front of Teddy’s desk. The place was neat as a pin, although Teddy was juggling three weddings for the next two weeks. It was time for the brides to get crazy and the mothers of the brides to go ballistic over something minor. Luckily at this moment the phones weren’t ringing with complaints. “I wished I could have become invisible when I saw him, but he spotted me and we talked.”
“Talked?”
“We both agreed that the dating service had made a terrible mistake. No way are we compatible.”
“That’s all?”
“Pretty much.”
“Pretty much, what?” As usual Teddy read between the lines and persisted.
“As we were parting he called me a liar.”
“What?” Her eyes grew big.
“Not in those exact words. He asked me if everything I put in my profile was true.”
“Well it was, wasn’t it?” Teddy asked.
“Teddy!”
“I mean,” she stammered. “We all like to embellish ourselves a little online.”
“I did not embellish.”
At that moment the phone rang. Diana got up to leave. At the door Teddy stopped her. “Well, at least he’s good-looking,” she said.
Diana frowned at her and went to her own office. It was a contrast to the orderliness of Teddy’s. Diana worked in chaos. She knew where everything was, and she could put her hands on it without error.
Good-looking, Teddy had said. Diana supposed if she thought about him without the animosity that clouded his image, Scott was pleasant to look at. More than that. He had great eyes. They were probably his best feature, dark brown, fringed by long lashes. His cheeks had dimples that drove the women crazy in college. They hadn’t diminished in effect in the ten years since they graduated. He wasn’t a football player, but his lean features boded well for the diving team. Diana remembered the broad shoulders that tapered to a thin waist and strong muscular legs. Diana had to admit he was good-looking. If she was planning one of her bridal fashion shows,
