seem to be mighty happy about something,” he said, smiling at her.
“I am,” she responded cryptically.
At closing time, she hurried home. As soon as she was back in her condo, Beth logged online, hoping Peter would be there.
He was.
Did you have a good day? he typed.
Great. What about you?
He didn’t reply immediately. It couldn’t have been better, he eventually wrote. Thank you for listening while I poured out my woes about my marriage last night. I don’t often talk about it. I wouldn’t have with you, but in all fairness I felt you needed to know.
Peter, thank you, she hurriedly typed back. I can’t tell you how freeing it was for me to tell you about my divorce. It’s not a subject I bring up lightly. I felt like such a failure when we split up and that feeling never went away.
I know. That’s how I felt when my marriage ended, too.
It seems we have even more in common than we realized, she told him.
I was thinking the same thing.
They chatted for most of an hour until Beth’s stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten dinner. Peter couldn’t stay online long because he was seeing a friend, so they ended their conversation.
It was just as well, because Beth had to call Heidi and let her friend know there’d been a small change in plans.
After she reached her, Beth explained that she’d be seeing Peter in Leavenworth and said she hoped Heidi didn’t mind.
“Mind? Of course I don’t mind,” Heidi told her. “I think it’s so romantic that you two will meet up there. All we need now is some snow for the day to be absolutely perfect.”
Snow in Santa’s Village—that would indeed be marvelous.
“I wonder if I’m expecting too much,” she said, suddenly anxious.
“How can you help it?” Heidi asked. “He does seem too good to be true.”
No dating service could have set her up with a more suitable candidate. They agreed on practically everything they’d discussed. In the past week, Beth had learned that they both read the same books, liked the same kinds of food—Mexican and Chinese—and adored anchovies on Caesar salad but not pizza. Granted, those might be superficial similarities, but unlike John, Peter was responsible and dedicated, both qualities she admired. She knew this from his loyalty to his friends, his seriousness about his career—as a coffee buyer at Starbucks—his affection toward his parents and many other examples she’d gleaned.
Maybe he was too good to be true, as Heidi had said. But Beth’s instincts told her that Peter was a man she wanted to know better, a man worth knowing better. Not that her instincts had been what you’d call reliable in the past. So, before things went any further, she had to learn if this could become a viable relationship—and there was only one way to find out.
In other words, Beth was counting on their face-to-face meeting to tell her whether these feelings for Peter were real—or just a fantasy concocted during their online adventures.
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