Read Online Marrying Mallory by Diane Craver - Free Book Online Page B

any
additional questions I had about the surgery.”
    “Mallory, I’ve never heard of a doctor taking a patient for
coffee after a first appointment.”
    “Oh, do they usually wait until the second appointment?”
    Her mom laughed. “You know what I mean. Is he single?”
    “Yes, he’s single. I invited him to the dinner Elizabeth’s
going to have. She’s arranging it in hopes of fixing me up with Jeremy.”
    “Whoa. I guess I haven’t talked to you enough this past
week. First, who’s Jeremy?”
    “He’s the minister. You’ve met him. He’s a sweetie but I
don’t want to date him. What’s the point when I won’t get serious about anyone
again?”
    Her mother left out a big sigh. “I wish you’d change your
mind. You’re young and have every right to be happy. It’s my fault. I might
have given you bad advice. I’ve been thinking how I wasted years of my life
waiting for your dad to change and to return to us. I know I stressed many
times how I didn’t believe in divorce. Sometimes dissolving a marriage seems to
be the only answer. And you didn’t fail at your marriage. Toby did when he
cheated on you. You should consider dating Jeremy. He might be God’s plan for
you. You used to want to be a minister’s wife.”
    “Well, that was in the past. I don’t see Jeremy being
interested in dating a divorced woman. But I’ll humor Heather and Elizabeth.
And it’ll be fun to have Seth meet my friends.”
    “Having fun with other people is a step in the right
direction. You need to move on with your life. Toby has.”
    “Oh, he won’t last with Samantha. Toby’s a womanizer.”
    “On Tuesday night Alan and I decided to get a pizza at Jac
and Do’s. Toby was picking up a pizza. Honey, Samantha was with him. I know he
missed Tuesday night with you and Josh.”
    He’d told her how he couldn’t meet them at a restaurant on
Tuesday, and that he had to meet with a client. He canceled on their night to
eat together as a family, but had time to enjoy pizza with Samantha.
     Her mother continued in a troubled voice, “I don’t want to
hurt you but I think you should know. They looked like a couple in love. I
wouldn’t be surprised if Toby and Samantha get married soon.”
    “We looked like that once.”
    “I bet God has someone better for you in mind.”
    She gave a weak chuckle. “You just want a minister in the
family. Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll keep praying about everything.”
    After finishing their phone conversation, Mallory returned
to her computer. I should email Seth about moving up my surgery when
I thank him for the photos . The phone rang while she took another glance at
the pictures.  
    She didn’t have to leave the study to answer because she’d
taken the cordless with her. Leaning back in the swivel chair, she said,
“Hello.” 
    “Hi, Mallory. Sorry to bother you again.”
    Hearing Toby’s warm greeting surprised her. Now what? Was he
going to ask her if Josh could just spend the whole month with him in Las
Vegas? That was ridiculous. She’d already put up a fuss about a shorter stay.
    He continued, “I bet you’re grading papers. I remember how
you always worked hard on your students’ papers on Saturdays.”
    Wasn’t he being sly? He didn’t fool her by trying to be
considerate and act like he didn’t want to interrupt her work. Heck, he’d
already done that by visiting her. “I finished them before you came. Do you
have a parenting question for me to answer?”
    “Why would you ask that?”
    “You asked me if I’d mentioned to Josh about you moving back
home. I thought maybe you had another question since Samantha’s in Josh’s
life.”
    “No, of course not. I think you should come with Josh on the
plane. You’ve never been to Vegas and I bet you’d enjoy it. There are a lot of
family things to do too.”
    Sure, a family vacation except they weren’t a family any
longer. “What about Samantha? Doesn’t she want to travel with Josh?”
    “She does but