Dear Cupid Read Online Free Page B

what you’ll do? I mean, if Gwen really does cancel Dear Cupid?”
    “I could always go back to school,” Kate said, only half joking. Growing up as a professor’s daughter, she’d always been more comfortable in the academic world than in the real one. Which was part of the reason she’d never had a “real” job; she’d practically made a career out of going to college. “Maybe I could major in something useful this time, like psychology.”
    “Psychology?” Linda laughed. “Since when is that a useful degree?”
    “Well, it’s more useful than the other things I’ve majored in, like art history or medieval poetry, especially if one wants to get a job as a counselor.”
    Linda waved the comment aside. “You’re already a counselor of sorts.”
    “I meant a legitimate counselor,” Kate clarified.
    Linda cocked her head to study her. “You don’t sound too thrilled about being a ‘legitimate’ counselor.”
    Kate realized her friend was right; she wasn’t thrilled at the idea of doing anything but writing her column. Not only did it allow her to be home for Dylan, but she enjoyed hearing little snippets of people’s lives, getting to know a few of them beyond that first letter, feeling that her advice had in some small way helped them find happiness. Lately, though, she’d started to feel like a fraud. What right did someone with a failed marriage have to give advice on romance to anyone?
    She shook her head to dispel the sense of gloom. “I’m more worried about how I’ll afford tuition if I do go back to school, not to mention little things like food and rent. I don’t exactly have a plethora of job skills.”
    “Well ...” Linda smiled. “There is one thing you could do.”
    Kate narrowed her eyes. “Linda Davis, what are you thinking?”
    “That you could come to work for me.”
     “Absolutely not.” Kate rose in a rush that startled the deer.
    “Why not?” Linda asked.
    “Because—” Kate paced before the rail. “It is not your responsibility to provide me with a job. Good heavens, you’ve given me a place to live for next to nothing and you baby-sit Dylan all the time for free. I’ve been a total leech since I moved out here, but I draw the line at taking your income?”
    “Would you quit!” Linda laughed and set her tea aside. “You won’t be taking my income. Wife for Hire has generated more work than I can handle right now. And what with the baby coming, I couldn’t possibly take on another account. You’d be helping me, Kate. I mean that.  Truth is, I need you.”
    Kate studied her friend’s face. She couldn’t quite picture the Queen of Efficiency needing help. Still, Linda did have a baby coming ...
    “It wouldn’t have to be long-term,” Linda continued, as if sensing her weakness. “You could simply try one account, see how you like it. Once I’m back up to full speed, you can quit, no hard feelings.”
    “What exactly would I have to do?” Kate asked warily.
    “You mean, you’ll take the job?”
    “Maybe. But only if it doesn’t involve anything remotely like bookkeeping.”
    The fear was legitimate, since Wife for Hire offered services that ranged from picking up dry cleaning to balancing the family checkbook. In the year since Linda had started the business, Kate had seen her walk dogs, shuttle kids to soccer practice, organize dinner parties, and decorate Christmas trees. The variety of work had a certain appeal, and Kate could easily understand why her friend preferred it to being a bank teller.
    “Actually,” Linda said as she pulled a slip of paper from the pocket of her maternity shorts, “I’m not sure what this job will entail. The call just came in this morning. He said he’s a bachelor and, next to working moms, they make the best clients.”
    “Why, you little snake,” Kate accused good-naturedly at the sight of the note. “You had this in mind before you even came down here, didn’t you?”
    “It never hurts to be