wrote, “Shopping!!” with two exclamation points and an S with curlicues.
Her Favorite Food was macaroni and cheese, but she wrote, “Vegetarian,” because it seemed more sophisticated. Under A Perfect Date Would Be, she wrote, “Dinner in a four-star restaurant and dancing,” when the truth was closer to “A romantic movie at home before a roaring fire and with a bottle of wine.”
Ideal Vacation? “A Caribbean cruise,” she wrote extravagantly, even knowing she’d be happier in a cabin in the mountains. Ideal Partner Would Be...?
This stopped her cold. She couldn’t write, “Poor but honest and loving,” which was the truth although she didn’t suppose anyone would believe it. So she wrote, “Sophisticated, wealthy, handsome man-about-town.” And tried not to lift her gaze to the man seated across from her, a man who certainly appeared to be “poor but honest and loving”—and so handsome that her pulse quickened just looking at him.
She was not here to find a husband, or even a serious relationship! She was here to pay a debt of honor. She lowered her head and forced herself to stare at the next question. What I’m seeking in a relationship.
Nothing. She wasn’t seeking a darn thing. And once she finished this questionnaire and got away from the appealing Cody James, it wouldn’t be so hard to remember that. But since she had to write something, she wrote, “Fun and games!” in great big letters.
No more computer geeks for her!
Ideal Partner Would Be...?
Cody frowned at his questionnaire, wishing he could come up with an easy answer. He wasn’t sure what his ideal partner would be but he sure knew what she wouldn’t be.
She wouldn’t be like Jessica.
The thought of his ex-wife sent a familiar shaft of irritation through him. She’d said all the right things—until she had him roped and tied. Then all of a sudden, she didn’t want children, she didn’t want a boring life on a ranch and, eventually, she didn’t want him.
She did want his money and she’d made off with a hefty chunk of it. By then, it had been worth it to Cody to be shed of her. But sometimes he still remembered the things about her that he’d loved, things like a quick laugh, a ready humor, a passionate nature...
And she sure was easy on the eyes....
Blond, brown-eyed, peaches-and-cream skin, a figure that made men drool—actually, Jessica looked a lot like Emily Kirkwood. Jessica knew her power, too, although it took him a little while to realize it Now, two years after the divorce, he realized that he’d based all his hopes and dreams on what she’d said, not on what she’d done. He’d been wearing blinders, he realized in retrospect. He’d seen her with children and she was completely disinterested; he’d seen her with his family on the Flying J and she’d been standoffish and reluctant to join in.
But all the time she’d been insisting that she loved kids and she loved ranch life and she loved big families and—the biggest lie of all—she loved him. He figured if he’d watched what she did instead of what she’d said, he’d have been spared a lot of heartache.
The opening of the door broke into his reverie. Wanda stood there smiling. “Almost finished?” she asked cheerfully.
Emily said, “Almost. May we have a few more minutes?”
Wanda said, “Of course,” and went back outside.
Emily looked at Cody and it wasn’t at all the way Jessica had looked at him. Somehow he felt as if Emily really saw him.
She smiled. “It’s hard, isn’t it.” Her voice was soft and intimate, so appealing that it took him a moment to respond.
“What’s hard?”
“Answering all these personal questions.” She wrinkled her pert little nose. “I mean, it’s hard unless you sit around all day thinking deep thoughts about your life. Do you?”
He laughed, feeling some of his tension drain away. “Not too often. Guess you don’t, either.”
She made a rueful little face before turning back to the paper before her. Cody did likewise.
Ideal Partner Would Be, “A good old down-home country girl without pretensions,” he wrote. What I’m Seeking In A Relationship: love and marriage.
Last question. Describe Yourself In Your Own Words. He scowled at the paper for a long time, finally writing a single word: tall.
Emily had finished the questionnaire well before Cody but hadn’t been satisfied with her answers. Going back over what she’d written, though, she couldn’t find anything worth changing.
What difference did it make? It was all a pack of lies anyway. Still, she’d instinctively asked for more time when Wanda appeared. She didn’t need it but had a sinking feeling that she wasn’t going to like what came next.
Wanda reappeared a few minutes later, bustling over to the table with her eyes twinkling. “There,” she said, scooping up the questionnaires, “that wasn’t so hard, now was it?”
Cody groaned, which made Emily smile. She hadn’t enjoyed it, either.
Wanda pursed her lips. “Now, now, I know we ask a lot of nosy questions, but the computer needs to know!”
“I suppose.” Cody rose, stretching his lanky frame. “Now what?”
“Why, now we take a couple of pictures.”
“Pictures?” Emily didn’t much like the sound of that. She didn’t like having her picture taken because she thought the result never looked like her.
“It’s a very simple procedure,” Wanda assured her. “The camera is all set up. I just plunk you down on the stool and say, ‘Smile!’”
“And then what happens?” Cody asked again. “When will you have news for us?”
Wanda frowned thoughtfully. “Tomorrow,” she announced, “unless George gets temperamental on me.”
“Tomorrow!” Emily was astonished. “I wouldn’t even think that would give you time to put our information in the computer, let alone get the results.”
For the first time, Wanda looked flustered. “I’m very good with computers,” she said defensively. “I know I didn’t grow up with them the way you young people did, but—”
“Oh, Wanda, I didn’t mean...” Emily hesitated, chewing on her lower lip. She wouldn’t hurt this nice lady’s feelings for the world. “I only meant that I didn’t think anybody could work that fast. If you can, then I applaud you.”
The old lady seemed to recover herself. “I guess I’m touchy about my age,” she confided. “When George was installed, it took me forever to learn to get along with him. For a while there, I thought I might actually lose my job.”
“Hey,” Cody said, “you’re not the only one with computer problems. Those blamed things can be more trouble than they’re worth sometimes.”
“You know, they really can.” Wanda
