The Perfect Christmas Read Online Free Page B

other side of the table to do the same for Cassie.
    “Since when have you acquired gentlemanly manners?” Cassie asked.
    Jokingly Shawn checked his watch. “About five minutes ago.”
    “Perfect timing.”
    “I’m dying to hear how everything went this afternoon,” Angie said, her fork poised over the salad. “How was the meeting with…Dr. Dodson?” She glanced toward Shawn as if she wasn’t sure she should say any more.
    “It’s okay.” Cassie nodded. “He knows all about it.”
    Shawn rolled his eyes. “Personally I think she’s nuts. So, what’s the story with you and this matchmaker?”
    Angie ignored the question and returned her attention to Cassie. “Don’t keep me in suspense. What was your impression when you met him?”
    “He’s abrupt and ill-mannered, don’t you agree?”
    “That’s putting it mildly.” She turned to Shawn. “He rejected me. I didn’t make it past the initial interview. I’ll admit it was a blow to my ego but I felt I had to tell Cassie about him.”
    “I can’t believe he’d reject you.” Shawn looked genuinely outraged on Angie’s behalf. “I don’t understand why either of you would have any interest in someone who seems to enjoy insulting you.”
    “Why?” Cassie answered. “We’re getting desperate, that’s why. It’s not easy to meet decent men, you know!”
    “Not at our age,” Angie added.
    “See that picture of Jill and Tom?” Cassie said, pointing to her refrigerator. “She has the perfect life, the perfect family and is about to have the perfect Christmas. I want all that.”
    “Me, too,” Angie murmured fervently. “And so far I haven’t even come close.”
    Shawn blinked. “You two are actually serious?”
    “Serious enough to pay thirty thousand bucks to find the right man.”
    Shawn’s eyebrows shot up. “ How much?”
    Cassie didn’t feel like repeating it. “You heard me.”
    Shaking his head, Shawn muttered something about being in the wrong business.
    Angie sighed. “It’s a ridiculous amount of money, I know, but from what I understand, it’s worth every penny—if you’re accepted, that is. Now, Cassie, tell me about your meeting with Dr. Dodson.”
    Mentally reviewing the appointment, Cassie suffered more than a few doubts. “I don’t think I went over well.”
    “But you have a second appointment, right?”
    “Supposedly.” Cassie shrugged. “He said he’d call…?.”
    “Cassie, that’s great! Dr. Dodson read my application, took one look at me and said he didn’t have anyone who’d suit me.”
    That wasn’t precisely what Angie had told her earlier. Simon had apparently said she already held feelings for someone. If that was the case, Cassie didn’t have any idea who it might be. She wished she’d questioned her further, but at the time she’d been too interested in hearing about this matchmaker and now didn’t seem appropriate. Especially since Angie was obviously reluctant to talk about her own situation. The man in question must’ve been someone she’d met years ago, which was what Angie had implied. It certainly wasn’t anyone Cassie knew, and they’d worked together for six years.
    “Tell us what he said,” Angie urged.
    “Simon was pretty rude,” Cassie said between bites of her salad. She added another layer of crushed tortilla chips to the lettuce.
    “How?” Shawn asked. “I want specifics.”
    “Well, he didn’t seem to like a single thing about me. Not my body type, not my choice of clothes or the color of my suit.”
    “I love that suit!” Angie cried.
    “I did, too,” Cassie said, immediately noting that she’d used the past tense. Hard as it was to admit, he was right about that. She would’ve preferred it in a soft robin’s-egg blue, but the only available color had been navy.
    “Didn’t he have anything nice to say?” Angie asked.
    “Well…he did mention that my hairstyle suited me but it needed more length. That was as close to a compliment as he