Free The Heart of the Matter by Muriel Jensen Page B

But, yes, I kissed her.”
    Adam stopped at the doorway to his room, clearly astonished. “And?”
    “And it was very nice.”
    “Did she think so?”
    Jason was convinced she had and that that was most of her problem. “Yes, I’m pretty sure she did.”
    “Wow.”
    “Yeah. Get to bed, it’s late. And thanks for making the coffee.”
    “Sure. Oh, Dad?” Adam caught his arm. “Aunt Patsy called, and she and Nickie are going to Boston to find Nickie an apartment before she goes back to college. She wants to know if they can visit for a few days since we didn’t get to Lawrence for the Fourth of July. She said she’ll call you on her cell phone in the morning on the way.”
    “Okay.” Jason pulled Adam into his arm and hugged him. “Sleep tight.”
    Adam opened his door, then stopped and pointed to Matt’s room. “Dufus really did. Went right to sleep on his Power Rangers sheets. I had to check for monsters, but once I told him the room was clear, I didn’t hear one whine out of him.”
    Jason nodded. That had been a clever gift on Laura’s part. It occurred to him that it was easy to identify the fears in someone else and miss your own entirely.
    He wandered back toward the kitchen, thinking it was probably going to be a sleepless night and he’d be able to get a column or two ahead.

5
Women should come into a man’s life with instructions designed for those accustomed to visual aids and replays. And with an interpreter, as well, because even if a woman states her case twice, it doesn’t mean you’ll understand it.
    —“Warfield’s Battles”
    “ S o…we’ve been…walking for…for almost an hour.” Dixie swallowed and gulped in air. “And you haven’t…told me…how it went.”
    “It went fine.” Laura felt the comfort of her properly fed muscles moving in concert with her strong bones and oxygenated blood and waited for the endorphin rush that came with it. It happened without fail. She’d been eating right and exercising so long that her body moved like a well-tended machine, and she swore there were days when she could feel every part in perfect harmony with every other.
    “Fine? All I’m getting…is fine. I’m power-walking with you…at 7:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning while…pushing a twenty-three-pound baby…in a stroller…and…all I’m getting is…fine?” Dixie stopped, breathingheavily. “I want more than…that…or I’m leaving you.my baby and going to Dunkin’ Donuts.”
    Laura ran lightly in place. “That’s no threat,” she said, grinning as she smiled down at the baby and it giggled up at her. “Sammie and I love each other, and if you do scarf a dozen doughnuts, you’ll be so penitent and regretful in class tomorrow night that you won’t even groan while I work you to death.”
    Dixie sighed in defeat. “All right. Then, take pity on me because I’m nosy.” She began to push the stroller again.
    Laura walked in step with her. “Okay, we had a great time,” she said, pumping her arms. She blamed Dixie’s slower pace and incessant questions for the fact that she couldn’t concentrate on her exercise this morning. But the truth was that her mind was too cluttered with fears, longings, recriminations and memories for her to abandon herself to the demands of her body. “Jason Warfield is very charming company.”
    “What did you do?”
    “Well…it was a dinner.”
    Dixie shook her head pityingly. “Please don’t recite the menu. What did you do?”
    Laura unknotted the sweater tied at her waist and pulled it on. The breeze from the ocean had a little early morning bite to it. “His speech was funny,” she said, sidestepping the more personal stuff, “and I met a few people from Boston who are summering here.”
    Dixie obviously wasn’t satisfied.
    “We danced,” Laura added, unable to prevent a little smile as she remembered how nice that had been. She could recall clearly the moment she’d stepped into his arms and how right it had felt. If