Marrying Mallory (3 page)

“I heard what Josh said. I’ll let you feed our growing boy.
Tell him hi for me. I have to go.”

After Toby hung up, she glanced at her cozy kitchen,
remembering how three years ago they’d remodeled it together. They had replaced
the old kitchen carpet with a lovely hardwood floor. The new cabinets were a
bleached wood with beige granite counters. Their only disagreement occurred
when she insisted on white kitchen appliances and Toby wanted stainless steel
ones.  

Thirty minutes later, Josh ran to open the door for Heather.
She’d called before Mallory had started cooking to see if it was okay to drop
in and bring pizza.

While Heather got the plates out of the cupboard, Mallory
poured the drinks. Coke for Heather, milk for Josh and water for her. She’d
love to have a Coke but the pizza alone had enough calories without adding
more.

Heather sat down and opened the pizza box. She placed two
slices on a plate, passing it to Josh.

“Come eat with us again, Heather,” Josh said. “I like you
sitting in Daddy’s chair.”

Her poor little boy
. It’d been several months since
the divorce, but obviously Josh still missed his daddy sitting at the table
with them. She prayed quickly and silently,
Dear Lord, please help Josh to
adjust to our divorce.

Heather smiled at Josh. “I don’t like to eat pizza alone,
and you two appreciate good food.”

She nodded. “We should do this again except I’ll buy the
pizza. Hey, Toby said Samantha’s mom was admitted to the hospital. She was in a
car accident. They’re keeping her while they do more tests.” 

“I hadn’t heard about Samantha’s mom.” Heather took a sip of
Coke. “I was in surgery for hours.”

They chatted for a few moments about how much Heather liked
being part of the surgical team, but it was hard standing for hours at a time.

Josh finished his third piece of pizza. “I’m stuffed. May I
be excused?”

“Yes, you may.”

Once Josh was parked in front of the TV, Heather turned to
Mallory. “Josh looks so much like Toby except for his hair being a lighter
shade of blond.”

“Toby’s hair was that light at that age. It darkened later
in high school.”

“Josh’s so cute. He’ll be a ladies’ man someday.”

“That’s scary.” She laughed. “I don’t think I want Josh to
grow up.”

“My sister dreads the teenage years, but you both have lots
of time.”

“How’s Kari feeling?” Heather’s sister was expecting her
second child in June. 

“She has the usual bouts of exhaustion that comes with
pregnancy, but she’s been healthy.”

Mallory wiped pizza sauce off her lower lip. “I wanted
another baby but Toby didn’t.”

“Is everything okay with Toby?” Heather asked. “I know you
were worried about him.”

“Since practice was canceled, I asked him on the phone. He
said it could wait. His voice didn’t sound hopeless like it did on Friday
night. But I know something has changed in his life or is about to.”

“I’m sure you two will get some adult time together and get
to talk about it.” Heather paused for a moment. “Guess who I saw today at the
hospital?”

She broke off a piece of crust and said, “Let me see. It
must be someone I know. You need to narrow it down a bit…female or male?”

“A handsome male and he asked about you.”

“Geez, don’t keep me in suspense. Who was it?”

“Reverend Jeremy Turner. And he’s still single.”

She’d gone out with Jeremy once or twice before he’d entered
the seminary. Funny thing, she should’ve been thrilled at Jeremy’s interest in
her. From the time she’d been a little girl, she had wanted to grow up to be a
teacher and a minister’s wife. But she’d fallen in love with handsome Toby with
his sexy piercing gray eyes and his dark blond hair. At one time, he’d smiled
at her as if she’d been the only woman in the room for him. “Did you tell him
I’m divorced? I doubt he’ll want to date me now.”

Heather nodded. “Don’t get mad but I gave him your phone
number. This might be your chance to be a minister’s wife. I don’t think that
he’d ask for your number if he thought you being a divorced woman could be a
problem.”

She shrugged. “I’ll talk to him if he even calls, but I’m
not sure about dating again. What if I fall in love? It doesn’t seem right for
me to get married a second time. Even though my first marriage failed because
of Toby’s adultery, doesn’t mean I should try again. I never told you or
Elizabeth but when I went out with Jeremy, I kept thinking maybe God did have
Jeremy in mind to be my husband. I mean I had prayed to be a minister’s wife,
but I had already met Toby at college. Jeremy hadn’t started college and I was
already in my second year. At the time Jeremy being two years younger seemed
like a big deal to me.”

“I’d forgotten he’s younger than us. But it’s not important
now with you both being in your thirties.”

“There was another stupid reason which I hadn’t wanted to
mention back then. Because I was self-conscious about my big nose, I noticed
Jeremy’s. I figured if we actually got married someday, our kids would have big
noses like us.”
What if God had
meant for her to marry Jeremy and she
hadn’t listened to Him? But out of her marriage to
Toby, she’d been
blessed with a wonderful son.

“I think he’s attractive and he has so much charisma. I bet
a lot of women in his congregation would love to go out with him.” Heather
wiped her lips with a napkin. “Jeremy told me how he called you a week before
your wedding.”

She laughed. “I was afraid to tell you and Elizabeth about
his phone call. It was a big surprise to hear from him and an even bigger one
when he asked me if I was sure that I didn’t want to be a minister’s wife.”

“Well, apparently he never got over you.”

“You didn’t tell Elizabeth about seeing Jeremy, did you?”
She took one look at Heather’s guilty face and knew she had. “Great, you did. 
Now Elizabeth will try to get me to go out with Jeremy.”

“I wish I had guys interested in me.”

“You have and will again. The right one didn’t come along
yet.”

Heather sighed. “Thanks for not mentioning my broken
engagements. I’m thinking of trying one of those online dating services. What
do you think?”

“A teacher at my school did online dating and she ended up
marrying a guy she met on the Internet. They’ve been happily married for almost
three years.”

“Would you sometime help me pick a photo to post?”

Maybe Heather wouldn’t need to spend money and sign up for
online dating. She wondered if Heather could be interested in dating Jeremy
herself. Her friend had definitely noticed how attractive Jeremy was today. She
wouldn’t mention the possibility now but definitely would steer Heather in
Jeremy’s direction. “Sure. I have some cute pictures of you. We can do it
tonight. It’ll be fun.” 

Heather grinned. “If you ever change your mind about going
out, you might try signing up on a dating site too.”

“Hey, did you and Elizabeth dream up this online dating to
get me interested in it?” She wouldn’t put it pass Elizabeth to put Heather up
to it.  

“No, it’s not a ploy to get you signed up. I want to meet
someone soon.” Heather sighed. “But Elizabeth has another plan for you. I might
as well warn you that she’s going to call you soon about having a dinner party.
She’s inviting Jeremy. Why shouldn’t you have a fun evening and reconnect with
an old friend?” 

“It’ll be nice to see Jeremy, but he might not be looking
for a chance to hook up with me. Just because he asked about me doesn’t mean
he’s interested.”  

Why couldn’t her friends let up on the dating issue?
Instead they put wasted effort into arranging a party for the sole purpose of
fixing her up with Jeremy. They knew that she didn’t want to remarry.

Heather gave her a broad smile. “I bet your
great-grandfather is up in heaven rooting for Jeremy to be your next husband.”

“I’m not sure he’d want me to marry Jeremy now, but since
great-grandfather was a minister you could be right. He might think Toby had
his chance to be saved during our marriage. One good thing about marrying a
minister is prayer and Bible study would be part of your daily life. I think if
Toby and I had prayed and read the Bible, we’d still be together. Maybe that
wouldn’t have been enough, and he might have cheated on me anyhow. I do wonder
if I could’ve forgiven him for his affair with Lacey if we’d still be
together.”
But according to the Bible,  I had the right to get a divorce
because Toby committed adultery.

Heather stood and walked to the dishwasher. “You were so
broken when you found out about the affair. I think it’s better that you two
decided to get divorced.”

“And now Toby is already interested in Samantha. I’m hoping
Josh will adjust soon to the divorce. It’s been hard on my little boy.” She paused
for a moment, wishing Toby had been faithful and they’d still be married for
their son. “But I’m happy that I can do something about my nose.”

“I can’t believe how Elizabeth and I never suspected you
were self-conscious about your nose.”

Mallory watched Heather put Josh’s plate and hers in the
dishwasher. “I didn’t want to draw attention to my nose. And there wasn’t any
point to me talking about it when I didn’t have the money to do anything about
it. I told my mom before I went to college how I wish I could have something
done to my nose. She told me that I was beautiful just the way I was. Of
course, right after that, she said how outward beauty was valued too much and
how inner beauty was the most important thing.”

Heather closed the dishwasher. “I still don’t think you need
rhinoplasty done but if you go ahead with it, I’ll loan you the money. You’ll
need your money to get your master’s in educational administration. Don’t you
still want to be a principal?”

She would never borrow from a friend but appreciated
Heather’s offer. “That’s sweet of you but I’ve put becoming a principal on the
back burner. Josh is little yet and I like having the summers off so I can be
home with him.”

“I admire you for teaching at a private Christian school. I
know the pay is considerably less than what you’d make at a public school. If
you ever need any money, let me know.”

“Thanks, Heather.” She grinned. “I might take you up on your
offer if everything we need to do for Elizabeth’s wedding costs too much.”

“When is your appointment with Dr. Whitman?”

“This Friday. Someone canceled their appointment so I could
get in sooner. I take it as a sign that I’m doing the right thing. I was afraid
I’d have to wait too long for an appointment. Plastic surgery’s popular these
days. Liposuction, tummy tuck, chin implants, lip enlargement, breast implants—”

“Maybe I should have a boob job.” Heather looked down at her
chest. “I’m so flat.”

“You aren’t flat. You don’t need to change anything.” She
squeezed Heather’s arm. “And breast implants pose some risks that can lead to
complications.”

“Okay, Doctor.”

Mallory rolled her eyes. “Well, just because you’re a nurse
doesn’t mean you know everything.”

Heather grinned. “Nurses know more than doctors.”

“I hope Friday comes fast and not just because of my
appointment. I need to talk to Toby.” She’d asked her mom to watch Josh while
she went to her appointment. Her mom could entertain Josh until Toby came to
pick him up for the weekend. If possible, she’d tried to get home in time to
catch Toby before he left with Josh. She needed to find out what was going on.

And it better not involve Samantha. She didn’t want to hear
about her ex’s girlfriend. Especially when she had no one special in her life.

Chapter Three

Dr. Seth Whitman’s office was located in Toledo so Mallory
left on Friday as soon as the school buses left the parking lot. She threw her
briefcase on the seat and before getting into her Honda, she waved to her mom
and Josh. Her mom’s hair shone bright blonde in the sunlight
. I can’t get used
to my fifty-three-year-old Mom being a blonde
. Her mom had done what a lot
of women do when they start getting a lot of gray hair; she switched her
natural hair color of brown to blonde.
When I get to be that age, I can’t
imagine becoming a blonde. I’ll either just go gray or color my hair its
natural brown color.

She was grateful to her mom for leaving work early and
getting Josh at school, so she could leave before rush hour traffic. According
to Map Quest, she should allow forty minutes to get to the doctor’s. 

Thirty-five minutes later, she saw the sign with Dr.
Whitman’s name on it in front of an impressive building with four colossal
white columns. As Mallory pulled in a vacant spot between a Mercedes-Benz car
and a Honda Pilot SUV, she felt maybe it was a mistake seeing a plastic
surgeon. Here she was parking her dented Honda with 225,000 miles on it next to
costly vehicles. Obviously, she should get a new car instead of a brand new
nose. A couple of weeks ago, Toby went with them to Josh’s game and when he’d
rolled down the window, the handle had fallen off in his hand.

He’d said, “Mallory, you need to get a better car. It won’t
hurt you to make car payments for once.”  

With a quick door slam, she decided to concentrate on the
reason she had to spend lots of money on plastic surgery. She could drive her
clunker for another year. Getting  a new nose would be worth the exorbitant
price.

A fireplace was in the two-story luxurious entry room.
Elegant chairs, lamps, and two white loveseats furnished the room. As she
filled out her medical form, she glanced at the walls. She squinted her eyes
and saw a framed article with the headline
Top Doctor
in Rhinoplasty
Surgery
. She leaned closer and read, 

Due to his ability to sculpt a ‘Natural Look’, Doctor
Seth Whitman is the number one choice among both physicians and patients in
northern Ohio.