His 1-800 Wife by Shirley Hailstock

dissolve. She couldn't do that. She wasn't in love. She needed time.
    Reversing again, she backed out of the space and headed for the exit. She looked both ways but not in the rearview mirror. Pulling out onto the road, she never saw Jarrod come out of the building and stare at her retreating taillights.
     
    ***
     
    Jarrod pulled into Catherin's driveway moments after she stopped her sporty BMW. He parked next to her car and jumped down from the Jeep. By the time she cut her engine, he was standing at her door. He pulled it open, bent down and put the teddy bear he had in his hand in front of his face.
    "I hear chocolates make you feel good."
    Catherine got out of her car but didn't say anything. He peeked around the brown-and-white bear. He offered her the box of chocolates he held in his free hand.
    "What's the matter? Is my information wrong?" He went behind the bear again. "It's not chocolates. It's Cracker Jack's." He peeked at her, this time pro­ducing a single box of Cracker Jack's from behind the bear." I always did get my C's mixed up. You aren't Catherine at all. You're Crystal. Or is it Chantel?"
    She crossed her arms and smiled. Jarrod lowered the bear.
    "That's it," he encouraged. "Smile some more."
    Catherine burst into laughter.
    "I'd nearly forgotten the side of you that's silly, impractical and always ready to make me smile."
    Jarrod stepped forward, dropped the bear on the roof of the car and hugged her. He was silly over her. When Audrey called and said Catherine left upset, he was concerned. Then she arrived and left his office with­out coming inside. He rushed after her, remembering her love for Cracker Jack's and chocolate.
    "How did you know I needed cheering up?"
    "Radar," he said, closing the car door. He handed her the teddy bear and chocolates, and together they went inside her house. "Audrey called me at the office. I saw you come and leave. Anything happen you want to tell me about?"
    Catherine dropped the bear on the coffee table in her living room but opened the candy. She took out a piece and popped it into her mouth. "Nothing happened, really. I feel silly thinking about it."
    "Tell me," he said.
    "I don't want to tell you. That's why I couldn't come into the office."
    Catherine dropped down on the sofa, slipping her shoes off and tucking her feet under her. Jarrod sat down, leaving enough room between them to keep from crowding her.
    "I'm probably the only one you can tell." He paused." Just pretend it's raining outside, that there's a raging thunderstorm taking place and we're alone."
    That was the scenario they had from the past. They talked to each other, and Jarrod knew the boundaries. He knew when to kid her and when to take her seri­ously. He knew how to keep her secrets, and she would keep his. If they'd started this engagement differently, they would be a compatible couple.
    "It isn't raining," she said.
    "You're hedging."
    Catherine took a deep breath and exhaled. "Audrey and I were in the bridal shop. I put the dress on."
    "Your wedding dress?"
    She nodded. "I never expected to feel. . ." She stopped. "It was all so surprising." She got up and paced, as if she needed to collect her thoughts. "The salesclerk and seamstress kept turning me around, adjusting this and that. Audrey hovered like a mother hen and I never really got a look at myself. Then they all moved away, almost as a group, and I was alone, standing on that pedestal, staring at a stranger."
    "A bride."
    "A wife," she corrected him.
    Almost a wife, he thought. That frightened her. Jarrod knew something about marriage frightened her. She hadn't completely told him what it was, but he could tell something had driven her to using a 1-800 phone number to find a man willing to marry and divorce her. Suddenly seeing herself in the role of wife must have scared her. She'd fight it, run away from it. Yet she'd come to him. Why? Because he represented the other half of her equation?
    "I'm sure you looked beautiful," he told