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“If a woman wrote me a letter like that, I’d treasure it for the rest of my life,” Gary assured them.

“It wasn’t actually me who wrote it,” said Marge.

“Oh?”

“See, Tex wrote the letters and I wrote him back, and I put the ones he sent me in a box and kept them, while he managed to lose the ones I wrote him.”

Margaret shook her head and tsk-tsked freely.“Lost them. How about that?”

“I hope you get them all back,” said Gary. “It’s terrible when you lose a personal memento like that. Especially through no fault of your own.”

“Yeah, it’s not a pleasant experience,” said Marge. “But let’s not dwell on it.”

“No, let’s not,” Gary agreed.

“Gary likes to read spicy novels,” said Margaret, sensing that the conversation might come to a standstill. “Exactly my kind of novel, in other words.”

“Oh, you read romance?” asked Marge.

“Yeah, I do,” said Gary, giving her a half-smile. “Unusual for a guy, I know.”

“Oh, no. You’d be surprised how many men actually read romance.”

“You’re kidding. Really?”

“Really. So you’re not alone, Gary.”

“Maybe you could show Gary around the library?” Margaret goaded. “He’s in search of some fresh reading material, and no one gives better advice than you.”

“Of course. Absolutely,” said Marge, always ready to assist a customer.

And as they went off, chatting amiably amongst themselves, Margaret nodded knowingly to herself. The first hurdle a couple must take had been successfully taken. The part where they meet for the first time and feel that spark. And that a spark had been felt was a certainty for this old hand at the romance game.

Tex Poole would rue the day he put those letters in the trash!

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One of the perks of being a reporter is that you don’t have to punch in at nine o’clock or out at five. And since Odelia’s husband was a detective and he, too, could be flexible with his work schedule, the couple now stood in the entrance hall of the daycare center where they had just dropped off Grace.

Fortunately for them, their little girl was a sociable and happy child, who loved nothing better than to make new friends. And as they waved goodbye to their darling sweetheart, Grace didn’t even give them the time of day, engrossed as she was in a deep conversation with a friend, mommy and daddy already forgotten.

What the two toddlers were saying to each other, exactly, was a mystery to anyone, as it amounted to nothing more than disjointed sounds and nonsense words. But apparently, and in their very own way, they managed to communicate.

“I hate to leave her here,” said Odelia, who only now noticed how her husband had a big smile on his face. So big, in fact, that he looked a little ridiculous.

“We can’t always ask your gran to babysit, babe,” said Chase. “Or your mom and dad. They have their own stuff to do.”

“Yeah, I know. But still.”

He placed an arm around her shoulders.“And look at the bright side: they say that kids who go to daycare and learn to socialize end up doing a lot better in school and also in life.”

“I guess,” she said. But she still missed her baby girl. If possible, she would take her along everywhere she went, but she knew that simply wasn’t possible.

“Cheer up, babe!” said Chase, that rictus grin apparently a fixture on his face. “Grace is healthy, happy and she’s got a great future ahead of her and so have we!”

She frowned at her hubby.“Is everything all right with you, babe?”

“Of course! Everything is great! Everything is amazing! Wonderful!”

“Easy there, tiger. You’re starting to sound like Tony Robbins there.”

“Oh, wow. What a compliment. What a great thing to say! You’re making me so happy right now!” And he actually gave her two thumbs up to go with the crazy smile.

She shook her head, but decided not to pry. If she didn’t know any better, she would have thought he was high on some illegal substance, but she knew Chase wasn’t into drugs. He didn’t even smoke or drink. Most likely he was trying to make her feel better about leaving Grace at the daycare center. Which was so sweet of him.

“It’ll be fine,” she said, glancing back at their little girl one last time. She said it as much to Chase as to herself, trying to drown out the little voice that told her she was a bad mother for putting her kid in daycare. “It’ll be just fine.”

CHAPTER 8

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When you’ve lived in the Poole household for as long as I have, you come to expect the unexpected at every turn of your existence. And let me tell you: a quiet existence it is not!

Take today, for instance. When I woke up at the foot of Odelia and Chase’s bed that morning, little did I know that it wouldn’t be a day like other days. Oh, sure, it started out that way, with Grace letting all and sundry know that she was awake and expecting to be fed posthaste, and Chase and Odelia occupying the bathroom to get themselves ready to face another day.