Free Love 'N' Marriage by Debbie Macomber Page A

separated at the airport, and Stephanie hadn’t seen Jonas since. It was just as well, she told herself. The incident at the fountain had been a moment out of time, and was best forgotten.
    “Steph?”
    Stephanie shook her head to free her tangled thoughts. “I’m sorry, were you saying something?”
    Jan gave her an odd look. “I was asking if you’d like to meet Jim’s cousin, Mark. I thought we might double-date Saturday night. Dinner and a show, that kind of thing.”
    For a moment, Stephanie couldn’t remember who Jim was. “Sure, that sounds like fun.” Anything was better than spending another restless weekend alone in her apartment.
    “Mark said something about dating again, but I’ve held him off because I wanted to see how things developed between you and Mr. Lockwood.”
    Stephanie stared at her blankly and blinked twice, carefully measuring her words. She was saddened by the reality of what she had to say. “It isn’t going to work between Jonas and me. Nothing’s going to happen.” The crazy part was that Stephanie was of two minds on the subject of the company president. He intrigued her. There wasn’t a single man who interested her more. He was challenging, intelligent, pigheaded, stubborn, and completely out of her league. Ah well, she thought, sighing expressively, you won some and you lost some. And she’d lost Jonas without ever really having known him.
    “Saturday at seven, then?”
    “I’ll look forward to it.” That wasn’t stretching the truth all that much. As far as men went, there was little happening in Stephanie’s life.
    “The three of us will pick you up at your apartment. Okay?”
    “That sounds fine.”
    Jan groaned and laughed. “You’re back to that word again.”
     
    Saturday evening, Stephanie washed her hair and spent extra time coiling it into a long braid that reached the middle of her back. The trick was one that her sister had taught her. She dressed casually in cords and a bulky knit sweater her mother had sent her last Christmas. The winter-wheat color reminded her of the rolling hills of grain outside her hometown.
    The doorbell chimed, and Stephanie expelled her breath forcefully. She wasn’t looking forward to this evening. All day her thoughts had drifted back to Jonas and their time in Paris, especially their stroll in the park. If she went out with anyone tonight, she wanted it to be with him. Wishful thinking, and not a fountain in sight! She wasn’t especially eager to meet Jim’s cousin either. Jan had tried to build him up, but Stephanie knew from experience the problems that could be encountered on a blind date. Had she had her wits about her and been less concerned about revealing her attraction to Jonas, she would have declined the invitation. But it was too late now.
    She needn’t have worried about Mark. He looked nice enough, although it came out in the first couple of minutes that he was newly divorced. Miserable, too, judging from the look in his eyes.
    The vivacious Jan carried the conversation once the introductions were finished with.
    “Would anyone like some wine before we leave?” The tray with the wine glasses was set up on the coffee table, waiting for their arrival. “It’s a light white wine.”
    “Sounds marvelous,” Jan said, linking her fingers with Jim’s. The two claimed the sofa and sat side by side. Mark took a chair, leaving its twin for Stephanie.
    Still standing, she poured the wine. “What movie are we seeing?”
    “There’s a new foreign film out that sounds interesting.”
    The doorbell chimed, and Stephanie got up to answer it. “I’m not expecting anyone,” she announced to her guests. “It’s probably the paperboy wanting to collect.” The youth seemed to do so at the most inopportune times. Last month she’d been in the shower shampooing her hair when he’d come.
    Undoing the lock, Stephanie was about to tease the teenager about his bad timing when she stopped cold. It wasn’t the