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long as you're sure you like me more."
She hugged Carolyn to her. "Oh, honey, I do."
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Eye of the Beholder
by Marilyn Lee
Chapter Nine
David and Mike stood on the scaffolding, looking down
onto the construction site. "I think Jones is going to work out
just fine on the crane, Dave."
He nodded and pushed his hard-hat further down on his
head. "How are things going with you and Jill?" he asked.
"Great. She's the best thing that ever happened to me,
man. I'm going to ask her to marry me."
He turned to look at Mike. "I didn't know you were that
serious."
Mike nodded. "Oh, yeah, and I want her out of circulation."
"Do you ever ... when you two first started dating, did you
take her flowers?"
"What's this? You writing a book?" Mike asked, laughing.
"I just wondered ... I have a date tonight and I'm a little
out of practice. I'm not sure if I should take flowers."
Mike shrugged. "I guess it depends on how strong an
impression you want to make. I knew the first time I saw Jill
that I could really go for her. So I turned the big guns on her.
Flowers, candy, dancing, phone calls in the middle of the day
just to say hi. You know. The works."
"You knew the first time you saw her?"
Mike nodded. "Didn't you know when you saw Harriet?"
"No, but I knew I never wanted to date anyone else after I
met her."
"And this woman you're seeing tonight? What about her?
Who is she by the way?"
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"She's one of the owners at Carolyn's daycare."
"The one your mom's been bugging you to take out?"
He turned back to watch the crane lifting several hundred
pounds of dirt. "Yes. She seems like ... a nice lady."
"What's she like? Anything like Harriet?"
"No!" He swung around to look at Mike. "You think I'm
looking for a substitute for her? Well, I'm not. I could never
love another woman like I did her. Never."
Mike held up his hands. "Okay. Okay. It was just an
innocent question. Don't go ballistic on me, man."
He let out a long breath and laughed self-consciously.
"Sorry. I guess I'm a little uptight."
"A little, you say?"
"Okay, a lot."
"Why?"
"I like her. She's warm, attractive, funny, and she and
Carolyn are crazy about each other."
"So what's she like?"
"That's the strange part, Mike. You know I like petite
women of average height."
Mike, who at six-two, was only three inches shorter than
David, grimaced. "Never understood that about you.
Personally, I like a woman who has a little meat on her bones
and is tall enough that I don't have to bend over double to
kiss her. Makes her more huggable."
"Diana is very ... huggable."
Mike's eyes widened. "You mean she's not about five-foot
high and supermodel thin?"
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Eye of the Beholder
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"She's about five nine or ten and she definitely weighs
more than a hundred pounds. She has beautiful dark skin."
"How dark?"
He shrugged. "Dark chocolate?"
Mike slapped him on the back. "A full-figured, black
woman is the only way to go, man."
He laughed. "Don't be ridiculous."
Mike shrugged, looking smug. "Ridiculous? I barely heard a
peep out of you when you went out with those other women
your mom set you up with. But you start thinking romance
when you meet a woman with pigment in her skin and meat
on her bones? You want to know about flowers."
"Size has nothing to do with it. And neither does her skin
color."
"I'm impressed. I didn't know you had such depth."
1
Diana studied her reflection in the full-length mirror on the
back of one of her closet doors. She wore a light blue two-
piece dress with short sleeves, a full skirt, and a matching
jacket in a slightly darker shade.
Just before she left for a date of her own, Becki had
assured Diana she would knock David's socks off. Now that
she was alone, waiting for him, she wasn't so sure.
She glanced at her bedside clock. It was six-fifty. She'd
find out what he thought in about ten minutes. She gave her
face a final pat with her powder puff, slipped her feet into a
pair of dark blue pumps, gathered her handbag, the shoe bag
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that held her walking shoes, and went into the living room to
wait.
She was pacing the floor when the bell rang five minutes
later. She went over to the answer call box next to the
apartment entrance door. "Yes?"
"Diana. Hi. It's David."
She glanced down at herself. "Did you want to come up?"
"Ah, no. I'll wait down here."
She took several deep breath before slowly walking down
the two flights of steps. At the front door, she took one final
breath before opening the door.
"Hi." His gaze flicked quickly over her before he met her
gaze. "You look nice."
Just nice? Not pretty or attractive or good enough to take
his breath away? Apparently not. Nice was better than
nothing. She looked at him in her turn.
He wore a dark suit that emphasized the breadth of his
shoulders. It fit so well it might have been made especially for
him. She smiled. "You don't look so bad yourself."
For a moment, they stood staring at each other. About the
time she noticed his right hand was behind his back, he
bought it out and offered her a bouquet of white and yellow
carnations. "I hope these are all right."
"Oh." She accepted them with a big smile. She inhaled
their fragrance before speaking. "They're perfect. Thank you!"
Impulsively, she leaned up and kissed his cheek.
He caught his breath and stepped away from her.
Her face flooded with heat. "I'm sorry!"
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He shook his head. "No. I'm the one who needs to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]