Part 119 (1/2)

That whole episode with him in her office had shaken her

badly. She knew her reactions had been strong and probably

as harmful as his, but then what could he expect? She won-

dered again if perhaps he simply wasn't the man she'd

thought he was. Rebecca had insinuated as much in her last

email message. Or perhaps Jed didn't actually love her, not

the way she loved him. Maybe it was all for the best to find

these things out now before their relations.h.i.+p progressed, or

digressed, any further. On the other hand, perhaps this was

all just a great, big misunderstanding; a problem that could

be resolved with some serious effort from both of them.

Maybe she should just give the whole thing some time to

cool down and sort itself out. She tried to take comfort in

Shakespeare's words, ”The course of true love never did run

smooth.” Besides, she chided herself, didn't she have enough 186Melody Carlson

on her plate right now? Here she was running the paper and

what suddenly appeared to be a boarding house for home-

less men. Not to mention she had guests coming for

Christmas. She looked at the days of December left on her

calendar and actually gasped. Why, she hadn't even taken

the time to do her Christmas shopping yet!

Barbara Harris came to dinner the following night, and

while Leah and Jed were missed, the others still enjoyed a

pleasant evening. It was plain to see that Barbara was

growing quite fond of young Michael. She even mentioned

how she saw a lot of her Steven in him, jokingly saying that