Page 14 of Marrying Off My Husband

“So, you’re…okay with this dating?”

“Well, one good turn deserves another, right?”

I swallowed hard. “Right. Well… expect it soon, then. Too bad your mother messed up next weekend. Those are prime dating days.”

“Oh, I know it.”

Silence stretched between us for a few moments before she polished off her drink and set the glass on the table between us. “Are you ready to hear what else happened to me today?”

I twisted toward her. “What do you mean? I thought you called it quits when your mother called?”

“Well, on the shopping, yes. I felt like I needed some pampering. So, I went to the bakery, you know the one I love, for a chocolate eclair. But they’d run out. Can you imagine?”

I could. And it wasn’t good. When she was in a funk, things not going right could send her into a downward spiral.

“Well, you can imagine that threw me into a tizzy.”

“Uh-huh,” I answered.

“And just as I was pitching a fit, this little doll pops up behind me and offers me her chocolate eclair.”

“Oh,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “That was nice.”

She patted my arm, a grin on her features. “Wasn’t it? Just so sweet and kind and nice.”

“Sounds like it,” I said with a nod. “A really good Samaritan.”

“Uh-huh. So, I bought this good Samaritan a hot chocolate and a mini donut, and we sat down to have a good old-fashioned chat.”

It seemed Louise had found a new friend. I wasn’t surprised since she’d talk to practically anyone, but I was pleased. For being so outgoing, she didn’t have many friends at all. Most of them abandoned her when she got to be “too much.”

I wondered how long the new one would last.

“And you know, she is just the loveliest little person I have ever met.”

“I’m glad you found a new friend.”

“So am I,” she said with another amused smile that faded to a more pensive expression. She paused, studying me for a moment. “And I’m not just glad for me.”

“Oh?” I furrowed my brows. “For who?”

“You, silly.” She said it with a chuckle and a surprising amount of casualness as though it was the most natural conclusion in the world.

I choked on my drink, coughing a little as I lowered the cup hastily. “Me?”

With an amused raise of her eyebrows, she puckered her lips. “Why, of course. Now, you know I’ve been encouraging you to date. And I know you’re reluctant, but this one…she’s different.”

“Louise–”

She waved off my protests with a dismissive flick of her wrist. “Come on, Spencer. I’m playing your game. Now, you have to play mine.”

“But…okay, I won’t find you any dates.”

“Oh, Spencer,” she said, disappointment in her voice. “Just meet her, see for yourself. What’s the worst that could happen?”

A myriad of awful things danced through my mind from the woman being a gold-digger who had cased the high-end shopping district for an easy mark to a deranged serial killer.

Surprise and apprehension swirled inside me. I hadn’t expected her to come up with someone this soon.

---