Dear Cupid Read Online Free Page A

Kate sank into the other chair. “She put me on probation.”
    “Probation?” Linda frowned.
    “That’s better than outright canceling my column.” Kate shrugged.
    “Cancel you!” A militant light flashed in Linda’s eyes. “That’s absurd. If not for you, Gwen wouldn’t even have an online magazine.”
    Kate hid a smile at her friend’s vehement reaction. They’d known each other barely three years, yet Linda was her staunchest supporter. In fact, they’d met when Linda had written to her asking for advice on how to attract the eye of the building contractor who was remodeling the bank where she’d worked at the time. She’d claimed that every time she saw him with his mile-wide shoulders and tool belt slung low on his trim hips, her heart melted right to her toes. Yet if she tried to talk to him, he just stared at her as if she were an idiot.
    Little had Linda known that Jim was also writing to Cupid, pleading for advice on how to ask out the pretty bank teller who looked so delicate that the mere thought of touching her with his big, callused hands scared the hell out of him.
    If not for Cupid, they both claimed they never would have made it to their first date, much less gotten married. When they finally figured out the other one had been going to the same source for help, they’d laughed until their sides ached, then invited Cupid to the wedding.
    Kate had been delighted by the invitation. While it wasn’t the first or last she’d received, the wedding had been the closest to where she lived so she’d decided to attend. The three of them had been fast friends ever since.
    “How can Gwen even think of canceling you?” Linda asked, eyes blazing. “After everything you’ve done for her. Why, you practically gave her the idea of starting the magazine.”
    “It’s business.” Kate made a valiant attempt to look as if she didn’t care. In truth, the current strife between her and Gwen made her stomach hurt almost as much as it had during her divorce. Because it didn’t feel like business. She and Gwen had been friends since they’d roomed together in college. “Gwen says my responses to letters have become more of a forum for male-bashing than romantic advice.”
    “Male-bashing!” Linda sputtered. “That’s ridiculous. I’ve never known anyone who appreciates men more than you do.”
    “That may have been true, once.” Kate glanced off toward the lake, fighting a sense of hopelessness. “Lately, though, I’ve had a hard time believing that romance ever leads to anything but heartache?”
    “What about Jim and me? Is that how you see us?”
    “Heavens, no!” Kate turned back. “Seeing the two of you so happy together is the only thing that keeps me from losing faith completely. The problem is ... I can’t dash off pithy suggestions to women with serious problems anymore. I know the point of my column is to attract readers to Gwen’s magazine, and thereby help her sell more lingerie and perfume ads, but I keep wishing it could be something ... I don’t know, more. I mean, how can I, in good conscience, tell some woman whose husband verbally abuses her to indulge in chocolate bonbons and a long, hot bubble bath? Those things won’t make her problems go away.”
    “No,” Linda agreed, “But reading your column, which is never that trite by the way, might make her believe that love does exist, and that she deserves to go after it.”
    “I wish I could believe that as easily as I used to.”
    “Well, what about the women whose only marital problem is boredom in the bedroom? Linda raised a brow. “Let’s face it, Kate, you have some very clever ways for couples to avoid that trap.”
    A short, bitter laugh escaped her. “Too bad I didn’t take my own advice.”
    “Kate  ...” Linda growled.
    “You’re right.” She held up a hand to forestall a lecture about blaming herself for her divorce. “I’m sorry.”
    Linda sipped thoughtfully at her tea. “Have you considered