Free The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber Page A

didn’t tell each other—except for Angie’s meeting with the matchmaker and it was easy to understand why her friend hadn’t mentioned that, since Simon had rejected her as a client. If it’d happened to her, Cassie wouldn’t have announced it, either. But this was an entirely different matter. For some reason, Angie preferred to remain tight-lipped about this man in her life. Well, so be it. When necessary, Cassie could be patient. If Angie wanted to keep this mystery man to herself for a while, Cassie would respect that.
    “I’ll tell you everything soon,” Angie said. “It’s just that I’d like to hold on to this feeling for a little longer.”
    Still, Cassie couldn’t help being curious. “Would it hurt to let me know how you met?”
    Angie’s face relaxed into a warm smile. “You’ll love that part. We sort of stumbled upon each other. We dated for a while ages ago and decided it wasn’t going to work. Or rather, he did, not me. So I began the search again.”
    “So this is the guy you’ve been in love with all along?”
    Angie nodded. “You’ll meet him,” she said a second time. “I promise.”
    “Will you be seeing him soon?”
    “No. It’s a bit…complicated at the moment.”
    “Complicated?” Cassie didn’t like the sound of that. “He’s not married or anything, is he?”
    Angie shook her head. “Oh, no! Nothing like that.”
    “Good.” Cassie smiled, then glanced down at her feet. “Actually,” she said in a low voice, “I was hoping to chat with you last night. I had a couple of questions.”
    “What kind of questions?”
    “I wanted to ask you about Simon.”
    “What about him?”
    “Basically…I was curious. Other than the information on his Web site, what do you know?”
    Angie shrugged. “Not much.”
    “How did you hear about him?”
    “He was a birthday gift—at least, the first consultation was.”
    “Who from?”
    “My mother. She wants grandchildren and knew how brokenhearted I was when…this other relationship ended. She heard about Simon when he did a radio interview.”
    “Simon did a radio interview?”
    “I don’t think he does them often. This was around Valentine’s Day a few years back.”
    “Oh.”
    Angie cocked her head to one side. “Why this interest in Dr. Dodson all of a sudden?”
    Cassie didn’t want Angie or anyone to suspect how intrigued she was by the matchmaker. She found her thoughts drifting toward him far more often than was comfortable. She told herself that once her curiosity was satisfied, he’d drift into the background where he belonged.
    While she’d gone on to his Web site—the address was noted on his business card—she hadn’t searched further.
    That evening, she did. She logged on to the Internet and immediately typed his name into Google. There wasn’t a lot, but enough to answer some of her questions. He’d been a Rhodes scholar, attending Cambridge—after Harvard. He’d taught at a prestigious East Coast college. He’d written political articles for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Just as she’d realized earlier, he had opinions about everything and didn’t mind sharing them…in unvarnished prose.
    According to Wikipedia, Simon had never been married. She found that…interesting.
    Intent as she was on reading her computer screen, the phone startled her. “Yes,” Cassie said, snatching it up. Her gaze stayed on the screen for fear she’d miss a single detail.
    “Ms. Beaumont?” The female voice was vaguely familiar. “This is Dr. Dodson’s office.”
    A chill raced down her spine. Simon knew she was online, reading about him! He was about to inform her that she’d forfeited her thirty thousand dollars. “I won’t do it again!” she blurted without thinking.
    “Excuse me?”
    “Were you phoning because—” Cassie stopped abruptly, aware of how absurd she’d been. How paranoid. “Can I help you?” she asked sweetly.
    By now Ms. Snelling sounded utterly confused.