“Surely you’d know that about her," Kelsey suggested slowly, “if you’ve gone out a while.”
He shook his head with a rueful smile. “But what if I don’t see her, say, at work. Or with her friends. I don’t know. People aren’t always what they seem.”
“No,” she agreed, “but you can usually tell the important things.”
“What about you?” he asked. “Did you know everything about your husband before you married him?”
A sensation of alertness ran along her nerve endings, but Stewart was taking a bite of his sandwich, his attention apparently focused on keeping the pastrami from slipping off the bread.
“I knew him pretty well,” she answered, reassured by his apparently casual interest.
“So there weren’t any big surprises? No skeletons in the closet?” he asked, picking up his drink.
“It’s only been three weeks,” she said with a laugh.
“Of course,” he said, his blue eyes twinkling. “The really big surprises don’t come till later, I’ve heard.”
“How reassuring,” she said with the quirk of a smile.
“I love my girlfriend,” Stewart said, “but what if she turned out to be someone I couldn’t respect? What if she had no principles in her work? It might be hard to stay with someone who isn’t honest, someone I couldn’t really trust.”
“That would be hard,” Kelsey agreed, her throat feeling tight.
“I mean, what if you found out your husband owned a factory in Asia and worked little children twelve hours a day? Wouldn’t that bother you?”
“Of course,” she said, “but he wouldn’t—“
“No, no, he wouldn’t,” Stewart agreed quickly. “But you see my point. Integrity is integrity. You can’t have much of a marriage without it.”
Kelsey swallowed the dry lump of bread, his words echoing in her head.
The guy had a point. They weren’t just talking about children in Asia, either.
It didn’t matter that hers wasn’t a real marriage. She didn’t want Jared to sacrifice his honor just to get a better contract. Regardless of how it would affect others, that wouldn’t be good for him.
She couldn’t let herself fall in love with him, but she cared about him. Was her caring misplaced?
***
Kelsey sat down at her desk.
“Seems like we haven’t talked in forever,” Amy said, scooping a stack of papers off a chair and sitting down.
“I’ve been swamped since I got back,” Kelsey admitted. “First the wedding and the honeymoon. I’m finally getting back to my normal work pace.”
“Mmmm,” Amy said, blowing on her coffee to cool it. “Everything overdue, as opposed to the usual amount of stuff overdue.”
“That’s it. How are things going with you?”
“Good,” Amy said, smiling. “Thanks to you for falling in love with Jared.”
“Thanks to me?” Just the words “falling in love with Jared” sent prickles over her, but Kelsey was determined not to let her sister see her reaction.
“Doug is much more…,” Amy appeared to grope for a word, “responsive. He’s almost ready to realize he’s always loved me.”
“Really?” Kelsey searched her sister’s face. “So, things are still going well between you two?”
“Very well.” Her smile turned smug.
“Well, good. Good. I’m glad.” Kelsey shuffled the stack of paper in front of her. “He’s been a fool not to be interested in you before.”
Amy giggled. “Last night, we talked again about moving in together. We’re definitely considering it seriously.”
“Really? You’re really going to move in together so soon?” Kelsey couldn’t help exclaiming. “Is that wise? I mean, you just started really dating.”
“I know.” Amy shifted her coffee cup in her hands. “But we’ve talked about it. He’s really gotten over you. Heck, we even bought a couch together.”
“A couch?” She knew her question sounded bewildered.
“Remember I’ve been looking for a new couch for a while?”
“Sure.”
“Well, I didn’t want to buy one Doug didn’t feel comfortable on, not now that we’re together. So I asked him to go shopping with me.”
“And he did this voluntarily?” Kelsey asked, her tone dry.
Her sister laughed. “Yes, eventually. Then, out of the blue, last week he actually offered to pay for half of it and started talking about how we should move in!”
“Wow. Doug’s pretty tight with his money,” Kelsey commented, starting to feel relieved. “He must really be serious. I don’t think he’s ever lived with anyone before.”