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Just as Joy turned on the television and plopped down in front of it, the doorbell chimed This was not the time for company Joy had never felt less sociable in her life

She walked over to the door and checked the peephole

Ted Griffin

Groaning, she twisted away from the door and closed her eyes It would take a better woman than she was to deal with hiain Joy didn’t dare ive any indication she was home When she was calm and in control of her emotions, then and only then would she talk to the man who didn’t seem to know his own mind

Eventually he left, but Joy knew she hadn’t fooled him He’d been as aware of her on the other side of the door as she was of hi when she arrived at the office, a dozen red roses awaited her The card read simply "Ted" She kept them on the corner of her desk for the first hour, then decided she couldn’t look at them and not think of him Of course, she couldn’t look at her pencil holder and not think of Ted, but that was beside the point

She would have liked to make an excuse and disappear for the afternoon, but that was the coward’s way out The sooner she told him what had to be said, the better

Joy was in the business office when he arrived Through the plate-glass , she saw him walk into the foyer It would only be a matter of minutes before he tracked her down Instead she followed him

"Hello," she said evenly, in the long hallway leading to her office "Were you looking for me?"

Ted whirled around, and it looked as if he were hard-pressed not to reach for her right then and there Not that she would have allowed it Not this tiot my flowers," he said He moved into her office and sat down as if this were his second hoht they looked very nice in the welco area," she said "They weren’t necessary"

"I wanted to explain about last night"

"No," she said firmly, and crossed her arms over her chest, "I’d rather you didn’t" He see her index finger "Please, it doesn’t nored that, because as i off a potentially devastating relationship "Actually I’m pleased you stopped by I wanted to talk to you"

"I want to talk to you, too About our date, I was thinking--"

"There isn’t going to be any date"

"That’s not what you said earlier"

Joy se her mind Please, Ted, just leave it at that"

He shook his head "You keep forgetting I don’t take ‘no’ for an answer"

"This tiain" She aze, her eyes cool, her voice calm and controlled "I mean it, Ted Kindly stay out of my life"

Maureen couldn’t believe she slept so late Ten o’clock on a Saturday er than she could reht have lazed in bed even longer if the phone hadn’t rung "Hello," she answered on the tail end of a heady yawn

"Moht Are you sick or so is the sound of yourexquisitely lazy"

"Lazy?"

"I’m still in bed"

A shocked silence followed "Bed! Mo"

"I know," Maureen said dreaain "I feel wonderful"

"Good," Karen said excitedly, "because we’ve got a surprise for you"

"A surprise?" The "we’ve" part of the conversation didn’t escape her notice

"A really fabulous surprise You’re coet me, aren’t you?"

"Of course"

"Don’t come until after four, understand? That’s really important"

"After four Why?"

"That’s the surprise part I don’t want to ruin it so don’t ask me a lot of questions because I really want to tell you and if I do Paula will be real disappointed and Thom too" She lowered her voice substantially "But don’t eat a big lunch, okay?"

"All right, all right" Maureen struggled to a sitting position "Now before we hang up, tell ht?"