Love 'N' Marriage by Debbie Macomber

Author:Debbie Macomber [Macomber, Debbie]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9780373085224
Google: nSkoAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0373085222
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 1987-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Well?” Maureen was at Stephanie’s desk early the following morning. “Don’t keep me in suspense. What happened?”

“Nothing much.” Stephanie kept her gaze lowered, doing her best not to reveal her emotions. She’d been depressed and out of sorts from the minute she left Jonas’s office.

“Nothing much? What does that mean?”

“It means I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You had an argument?” Toni joined her friend. The two of them placed their hands on the edge of Stephanie’s desk and leaned forward, as if what she had to say was a matter of national importance.

“I wish,” Stephanie muttered, sighing heavily. “No, we didn’t argue.”

“But you don’t want to talk about it?”

“Very perceptive, girls.” She made busywork around her desk, inserting a pencil in the sharpener at the far edge of her desk. The grinding sound followed, but neither Toni nor Maureen budged.

“I think we need to talk to the others.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Stephanie insisted, her tone determined.

“Hey, come on, Steph, we’re all in this together. We want to help. At least tell us what happened.”

It was apparent that she wouldn’t have a minute’s peace until she confessed everything to her romance-loving friends. “Meet me at ten in the cafeteria,” Stephanie told them. “I’ll get it all over with at once, but only if you promise never to mention Jonas Lockwood’s name to me again.”

Toni and Maureen exchanged meaningful glances. “This doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s my final offer.” Replaying her humiliation was going to be bad enough; she didn’t want it dragged out any more than necessary.

“All right, all right,” Toni muttered. “We’ll be there.”

Stephanie’s morning went smoothly. Her boss, George Potter, was on a two-day business trip to Seattle, but there was enough work to keep Stephanie occupied for another week if need be.

When she arrived in the cafeteria later that morning, she found the four women sitting at the table closest to the window, eagerly awaiting her arrival. A fifth cup of coffee was on the table in front of an empty chair.

“From that frown you’re wearing, I’d say the meeting with Mr. Lockwood didn’t go very well,” Jan commented, barely giving Stephanie time to take a seat.

“There are no adequate words to describe it,” Stephanie said by way of confirmation, reaching for the coffee. “I’m sorry to be such a major disappointment to you all, but anything that might have happened between me and Jonas Lockwood is off.”

“Why?”

“What happened?”

“I could have sworn he was hooked.”

“To be honest,” Stephanie said, striving to be as forthright as possible, “I think Jonas may be attracted to me, but we’re too different.”

“That’s what makes you so good together,” Barbara countered.

“And I saw the way he looked at her,” Jan inserted thoughtfully. “Now tell us what happened and let us figure out the next strategy.”

Stephanie swallowed and shrugged. “If you must know, he kissed me.”

“And you’re complaining?”

“No, he was!”

“What?” All four looked at her as if she’d been working too much overtime.

“He kissed me, then immediately acted like he’d committed some terrible faux pas.

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