A Mother's Wish: Wanted: Perfect Partner / Father's Day

“But, Mom, don’t you see? Steve’s saying he likes you, but he doesn’t want to pressure you into anything unless you like him, too.”

“He is?” Whatever confidence she’d felt a moment earlier vanished like ice cream at a Fourth of July picnic.

“The next move is yours.”

“Laura?”

“I wouldn’t know,” her fickle friend said. “I’ve been married to the same man for twenty-six years. All this intrigue is beyond me.”

“I agree with your daughter,” a shy voice said from the other side of the counter. “You should call him.”

It was Meg’s customer, Judith Wilson. Meg wasn’t sure she should listen to the older woman who faithfully purchased romance novels twice a month. Judith was a real romantic and would undoubtedly read more into the gesture than Steve had intended.

“See?” Lindsey said excitedly. “The ball’s in your court. Steve made his move and now he’s waiting for yours.”

Meg didn’t know what to do.

“It’s been three days,” Lindsey reminded her. “He’s had time to think over the situation, and so have you.”

“Call him,” Laura suggested. “If for nothing more than to thank him for the flowers.”

“Yes, call him,” Judith echoed, clutching her bag of books.

“It’s the least you can do.” Once more it was her daughter offering advice.

“All right,” Meg said reluctantly. The flowers were gorgeous, and thanking him would be the proper thing to do.

“I’ll get his work number for you,” Lindsey volunteered, pulling the Yellow Pages from behind the cash register.

The kid had Steve’s shop number faster than directory assistance could have located it.

“I’ll use the phone in the back room,” Meg said. She didn’t need several pairs of ears listening in on her conversation.

She felt everyone’s eyes on her as she hurried into the storeroom. Her hand actually shook as she punched out the telephone number.

“Emerald City,” a gruff male voice answered.

“Hello, this is Meg Remington calling for Steve Conlan.”

“Hold on a minute.”

“Of course.”

A moment later, Steve was on the line. “Meg?”

“Hello, Steve. I know you’re busy, so I won’t take up much of your time. I’m calling to thank you for the flowers.”

A long pause followed her words. “Flowers? What flowers?”

Three

“You mean you don’t know anything about these flowers?” Meg cried, her voice raised. Steve could see that he hadn’t done a very good job of breaking the news, but he was as shocked as she was.

“If you didn’t send them, who did?” Meg demanded.

It wasn’t difficult to figure that one out. “I can make a wild guess,” he said with heavy sarcasm. He jerked his fingers through his hair, then glanced at the wall clock. It was close to quitting time. “Can you meet me?”

“Why?”

Her blatant lack of enthusiasm irritated him. He’d been thinking about her for three days. Nancy was right—he liked Meg Remington. She was a bit eccentric and a little on the hysterical side, but he was willing to overlook that. During their time together, he’d been struck by her intelligence and her warmth. He’d wished more than once that they’d decided to ignore the way they’d been thrown together and continue to see each other. Apparently Meg suffered no such regrets and was pleased to be rid of him.

“Why do you want to meet?” she repeated, lowering her voice.

“We need to talk.”

“Where?”

“How about a drink? Can you get away from the store in the next hour or so?”

She hesitated. “I’ll try.”

Steve mentioned a popular sports bar in Kent, and she agreed to meet him there at five-thirty. His spirits lifted considerably at the prospect of seeing her again. He must’ve been smiling as he hung up because his foreman, Gary Wilcox, cast him a puzzled look.

“I didn’t know you had yourself a new girlfriend,” Gary said. “When did this happen?”

“It hasn’t.” The last thing Steve needed was Gary feeding false information to his sister. Nancy and her outrageous ideas about marrying him off was enough of a problem, without Gary encouraging it.

“It hasn’t happened yet, you mean,” Gary said, making a notation in the appointment schedule.

Steve glanced over his shoulder, to be sure Gary wasn’t making notes about the conversation he’d had with Meg. He was getting paranoid already. A woman did that to a man, made him jumpy and insecure; he knew that much from past experience.

An hour later Steve sat in the bar, facing a big-screen television with a frosty mug of beer in his hand. The table he’d chosen was in the far corner of the room, where he could easily watch the front door.

Meg walked in ten minutes after him. At least Steve thought it was Meg. The woman carried a tennis racket and wore one of those cute little pleated-skirt outfits. He hadn’t realized Meg played tennis. He knew she didn’t run and disliked exercise, but …

Steve squinted and stared, unsure. After all, he’d only seen her the one time, and in the slinky black dress she’d looked a whole lot different.

Meg solved his problem when she apparently recognized him. She walked across the room, and he noticed that she was limping. She slid into the chair beside him, then set the tennis racket on the table.

“Lindsey knows,” she announced.

Steve’s head went back to study her. “I beg your pardon?”

“My daughter figured it out.”

“Figured what out?”

“That I was meeting you,” she said in exasperated tones. “First, I called you from the back room at the store, so our conversation could be private.”