Free See Jane Date by Melissa Senate Page A

I’d have the joy of seeing Dana and Larry’s faces smiling at me from these pages.
    I scanned the names—and stopped breathing.
    Max Reardon’s smiling face stared at me. His arm was around a pretty redhead with freckles. Reardon and Carmichael, the headline read.
    Max Reardon, 28, and Cheryl Carmichael, 26, bothEquity Analysts at the Bank of New York, were married yesterday at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the bride’s hometown of…
    Tears plopped on the newsprint before I even realized I was crying.
    I ran into the kitchen and opened the cabinet under the sink. But I broke into sobs before I could even utter Eloise’s name.
    The phone rang. My legs were useless. I couldn’t even manage to stand.
    The answering machine clicked on. “Omigod! Jane, it’s Dana! I can’t believe this! Larry and I are sitting here reading the paper and having breakfast, and guess who got married in The Times? Your ex, Max! Remember him? Omigod, can you believe it? The wife’s so pretty! Doesn’t she remind you of Natasha a little? Everyone’s so excited that Natasha’s coming to the wedding! Did you buy the shoes? Call me later. Bye!”
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    I tried and tried to turn off the alarm clock, but it kept buzzing. And then I realized it was the telephone. I sat up, forcing open my eyes. It was six-thirty in the morning.
    My sheets smelled like stale smoke. I’d gone through two and a half packs of cigarettes yesterday. Amanda had valiantly stayed through the first chain-smoked pack and a half, but when her eyes had become as red rimmed and watery from the smoke as mine were from sobbing, I’d had to force her to leave. Eloise had emptied the ashtray for me every time it hit five butts and sprayed Lysol after each half pack.
    The nicotine must have done serious damage to my brain cells. Because unless I was mistaken, I’d actually agreed to go on more blind dates with acquaintances of Amanda’s boyfriend. Eloise had convinced me that givingup and arriving solo at the wedding would only make the Maxes and Kevins of the world win. But hadn’t they? Who had the energy to fight them anymore? I was going to end up like Great-aunt Gertie. I might as well just accept it.
    And then Aunt Ina had called to ask if I was okay about Max’s wedding announcement. Her motherly concern had been so comforting that I’d almost burst into tears on the phone. Until I’d remembered that a woman with a supposedly wonderful new boyfriend wouldn’t be so upset about an old flame’s wedding.
    Amanda had said she’d take care of everything. She’d whipped out the cell phone, and suddenly I had four new blind dates all set up. Three for this week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) and one for next week (Tuesday). If Blind Date #1 worked out, I could cancel #2, and so on and so on.
    â€œYeah but, what if they’re all busts?” I’d asked. “Then what?”
    Dead silence had followed. We’d agreed to worry about that at Friday’s Flirt Night Roundtable.
    The phone shrilled again. I snatched the cordless. “’Lo,” I croaked into the receiver.
    â€œJane? Natasha. I’m so surprised to get you! I thought I’d be leaving a message, since you said you usually stay at your boyfriend’s. Otherwise I wouldn’t have called so early.”
    Why was the Gnat calling me at home, anyway? She was work. Not a personal friend.
    â€œJane? Did I wake you?”
    â€œUm, no, I was actually doing my yoga tape.” I breathed deeply, held and exhaled. “My boyfriend’s away on business for a few days, so…”
    â€œOh, good then! I wanted to let you know I was planning to stop by the office this morning, if that’s okay. Oh, I just realized I could have left you a message there, but you don’t have a direct line, and I never remember your extension so…Anyway, I spent a good chunk of the weekend