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"You’re half in love with nify that with a reply They started walking toward the café; Oscar trotted obediently beside them and seemed to knoait by the restaurant door Oliver patted his head and assured the terrier he’d get any leftovers

Eood idea to feed people food to a dog, but she doubted he’d listen If she had a dog, she’d feed hi food

Once inside the café, they slid into a red vinyl booth, facing each other Emma reached for the menu, which was tucked behind the napkin dispenser, and quickly decided on the ham-and-cheese o have you been flying?" she asked

"Why?" Once again, he sounded suspicious For heaven’s sake, did the hed "I don’t know It seeood conversation starter, that’s all"

"I’ interviewed," he said curtly "Besides, I have a couple of questions for you"

She smiled at the waitress who poured her coffee, then relaxed in the padded vinyl seat "Wait a minute You can askabout you? Is that fair?"

"Fair doesn’t matter I’m your ride home--or I will be"

"So you think I owe you for that? Oh, never u have you been with The Exah to know I’ obituaries"

Oliver frowned "That’s the only thing Walt lets you write?"

"For the o he let " Eht was a reed, to put itter for a clear, concise summary, not a chapter from War and Peace "What I want is a real story," she told Oliver in a fervent tone, "soether

"It’s a start"

"Yes" Once again, he was obviously trying to restrain a s to write about Earleen Willia that over "I don’t know for sure She’s a complex woman She’s had a number of difficult relationships with men, and--"

"You don’t date much, do you?" he broke in

Emma stared at him "Who says?"

"Phoebe"

"You know Phoebe?" Either her friend had been holding out on her, or Oliver was lying If Phoebe knew him, Emma was positive she would’ve said so earlier

"We’ve had a couple of conversations about you," Oliver aders

E across the table, she grabbed his wrist "Please don’t do that"

He grinned; he seemed to do a lot of that around her "You can’t keep your hands offup and walking out She would have, too, but their food hadn’t been delivered yet Her stomach won out over her pride

"How do you know Phoebe and when did you talk to her?"

"We er than ed "I stopped in at the office after your visit to the airfield and asked about you Casually, you know Phoebe sang like a canary"

Emma refused to believe it Phoebe had never mentioned this supposed conversation

"She said the two of you were hired at the saives?"

"What do you ed open "You’ve got a lot of nerve!"

"Men are scu in theI’m a serious writer--well,a ‘serious’ writer means you don’t have time for relationships?"

E "At present, no--not that it’s any of your business"

"Why not?"

"Are you always so nosy, or is this expressly for my benefit?"

"Both" He picked up his fork and studied the tines with every appearance of interest

To Emma’s relief, their plates arrived just then The waitress set the bill facedown in the middle of the table

Emma spread the paper napkin across her lap, looked over her meal and lifted her fork By the time she’d taken two bites, Oliver had wolfed down half his sandwich She glared at hily

"What?" he asked, apparently perplexed

"Nothing," she said, knowing it would do no good to explain

He lanced across the table at her "If I asked you out on a date, would you go?"

"No," she said without hesitation She didn’t mean to be rude but she could read hiain Besides, she wasn’t ood at relationships

"Why not?" Oliver pressed

Eroaned "Listen, I’--" she almost choked on the word "--and you’re not unattractive…"

"In other words, you think I’m cute"