Free A Match Made in Dry Creek by Janet Tronstad

she could have at least let them write letters to each other. What was the harm in a few letters?
    Charley looked over at Mrs. Hargrove and stepped closer so he could put his arm around her.
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    Doris June hissed.
    Curt drew back his breath. He was on the verge of saying something to her. Just one word that would start the tumble of his confession. But she hissed. How couldhe talk when she wasn’t paying attention to him? Instead, she was staring straight ahead.
    â€œDid you see that?” Doris June demanded in a low voice as she moved over close enough to him so they could have a private conversation.
    Curt hadn’t noticed earlier tonight that tiny wisps of hair were escaping Doris June’s tightly controlled hair style. But when she stood next to him, he could see the strands of hair lying against her cheek. The strands showed up when Doris June walked under the one streetlight Dry Creek had. It was distracting enough that he hadn’t even tried to figure out what she was talking about.
    â€œHuh?” Curt said. He wondered if she’d be mad if he smoothed those strands back. He’d forgotten how much he used to love the feel of her hair.
    â€œThem,” Doris June jerked her head toward something in front of them. “Our parents. Did you see them holding hands?”
    â€œI wasn’t watching them, you see I was thinking—” Curt began.
    â€œHow could you not see them?” Doris June squeaked. “Your dad had his arm around my mother’s shoulder.”
    Curt decided to try again. “Sometimes when old friends start to feel romantic, things are confusing—”
    â€œYou think they’re romantic? Our parents?”
    Curt could see Doris June was completely missing the point he was trying to make.
    â€œNo.” Curt figured the only way to get her attention back was to answer her questions. “No, I don’t think anyone around here is romantic. But—”
    â€œOf course,” Doris June said in a rush. “I should have seen it before now. My mother isn’t senile, she’s in love. That explains why she wanted me to buy this for her.” Doris June held out the skirt of her dress as if there was something wrong with it. “This is probably her idea of a date dress. Why my mother needs a dress like this I don’t know. I don’t even want to know.”
    â€œThat dress is your mother’s?” Curt smiled in relief. The longer he had looked at that pink frilly dress tonight the more convinced he had been that Doris June must have a regular boyfriend back in Anchorage. A woman wouldn’t buy a dress like that unless she had occasion to wear it and wear it often in places that were usually date kind of places.
    â€œYou have a problem with the dress?” Doris June asked stiffly.
    â€œAbsolutely not, it’s a pretty dress,” Curt said mildly. He wasn’t about to tell her that he’d been worried she had a boyfriend. “But I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Things aren’t always what you think. Your mom and my dad have known each other for years. They’re good friends—that doesn’t mean they’re romantically inclined.”
    â€œSo your father has been acting normal lately?”
    Curt stopped a moment to think. Now that he knewDoris June didn’t own the pink dress, he was enjoying how the breeze blew the sleeves around in the faint light that was coming from that new light Linda had installed on the café porch. He wouldn’t mind standing out here and talking for a bit.
    â€œWell, has he been acting normal?” Doris June asked again.
    â€œHe might have been a preoccupied, I suppose. If one wanted to be technical about it.”
    Doris June nodded. “My mother, too.”
    â€œMaybe they had an argument and were worried about how to fix it between themselves,” Curt said, and it could be possible. “I know when friends