Free An Appetite for Passion by Cynthia MacGregor

time to time with a question, and each time he did, she puzzled over the familiar sound of his voice.
    Near the end of the conversation, he said, “You sound familiar. Do I know you? What’s your name?” And as he did, it hit her—it was Glenn! Glenn, who’d made the elephant crack after one night in bed with her. Suddenly shaking, she hung the phone up. Jeff, who was discreetly standing behind the volunteers, monitoring their work, noticed that she’d hung up without a goodbye. “What was that?” he asked gently.
    “An asshole I once...dated,” Kari answered. And broke down crying. Immediately, she was ashamed of herself for having so little self-control, but Jeff put an arm around her and comforted her. The way Lylah would do...or would have done in the old days , Kari thought bitterly. Feeling very unprofessional, she pulled herself together as quickly as she could. She hadn’t known the nerve Glenn had hit was still so raw.
    “Do you want to go home?” Jeff suggested. “You’ve been working since 6:00; it’s 9:00 already, about time to stop calling people anyhow. You’ve been working all day, too. There’s not a whole lot more to do tonight without the flyers. Come back Thursday, like we’d planned, and you’ll work on the mailing then.”
    Grateful for his understanding, Kari slipped into her coat, gathered up her pocketbook, and left. It had been a bad day all around the board, but Max would be waiting for her “in her computer.”
    Opening her front door, she flung her coat down on the nearest chair, stopped only long enough to put on some music and grab a Diet Pepsi, then rushed over to the computer. She booted up, logged on, and found three pieces of email...but none were from Max. Her bad day was continuing!
    Her mind raced through all possible scenarios. Something she’d said in her last letter had put him off. He was ill. He’d had to work late. His former fiancée had reappeared on the scene. He had plans for the evening and hadn’t been able to log on, but would pop up later. His computer had broken down. Which?
    She dashed off quick answers to the three letters. She was in no mood to chat lengthily. Then the phone rang. It was Jeff. “Just checking that you’re okay,” he said. “You were upset. I wanted to make sure you got home all right.”
    “That’s sweet of you,” Kari said, and meant it. They didn’t talk at any length. Once he was satisfied she was all right, he returned to another futile search for the missing flyers. But she was touched that, in the midst of his own pressing problems, he’d been a caring enough friend, even though he was a new friend, that he’d taken the time to call and check on her. Then, as she hung up the phone, handling it reminded Kari that, in her wild dash to the computer, she not only hadn’t hung up her coat, she hadn’t checked the answering machine either.
    And that was where she found Max.
    She didn’t know his voice, of course. But when his opening words were, “My dear,” she had a sneaking, heart-exalting suspicion.
    “My dear,” his message said. “I’m sorry I missed you. I know you’re working at the campaign headquarters after dinner, but I was hoping you were coming home for dinner. I’m doing some campaign volunteer work myself this evening, heading out that way now. I’ll be back by 10:00, but I’ll wait to call you till 11:00. You should surely be home by then. Be ready for bed when I call, and we’ll go to bed together.”
    Ironically, the only other message was from someone at Badley’s headquarters, calling to persuade her to vote for their candidate!
    Feeling considerably cheerier, Kari prepared a bubble bath. She usually showered, saving baths for special occasions or times when she felt like doing something luxurious. As she poured the fragrant bubble liquid under the steamy water, she thrilled to the thought of talking with Max in just a little while.
    The CD she’d been playing had gone off, so she went