Operation Date Escape

worked to hide the fading mark. “A real ha ha moment.”
    “I hate to say I told you so, but─”
    “You warned me,” Kelsie finished for her.
    “Tried to at least,” her friend said with a smile. “Something tells me you’ll be sticking to light beer or wine coolers from now on.”
    Kelsie nodded. “You’ve got that right.”
    He ather popped her head into the room. “Sorry to interrupt, but Kelsie’s mom is on line one.”
    “Is something wrong?” Kelsie asked worriedly.
    “No. She just said she needed to ask you something if you weren’t busy.”
    “Oh, damn.” That meant her mother was up to her favorite past time - matchmaking. “Tell her I’m with a patient.”
    “Too late,” the receptionist said with a frown. “She already asked and I told her your patient had just left and your next was a no-show.”
    Kelsie looked to Nanci for help.
    “Don’t look at me. She’s your mother. Thank goodness for that. If I were you I’d take the call in Andy’s office.”
    With a groan, she headed back to his office to see what her mother wanted. Settling into the oversized leather desk chair, she reached for the phone.
    “Hi, Mom. What’s up?”
    “Hi, honey. I had to leave early this morning so I didn’t have a chance to call and see how your night out with Nanci went. Make any new friends?”
    “We didn’t pick up any men if that’s what you’re asking. We had appetizers and a few drinks and then went home.” Make that a few too many drinks.
    “I had hoped you might have met someone last night,” her mother said with a disappointed sigh. “You didn’t wear that high-neck blouse you always like to wear. The color doesn’t—”
    “Mom, I have to get back to work ,” Kelsie muttered, in no mood to hear about her clearly unsexy fashion choices.
    “Alright. We’ll talk more tonight. Maybe over dinner.”
    “Can’t. ” Thank goodness. “I have patients scheduled until eight.”
    “You work too hard. How are you ever going to find Mr. Right working some of the hours you do?”
    “Bye, Mom.”
    “Bye, honey.”
    She hung up with a groan.
    “What’s wrong?” Doctor Andy asked as he stepped into his office.
    “What else?” she replied. “My mother. She’s pushing me past my mental limits.”
    “It’s their job ,” he told her with a grin. “My mother used to make unannounced visits to my apartment when I was in dental school to do my laundry, dishes, whatever needed cleaning. She’s a clean freak.”
    Was he for real? “How can you compare that to what my mother does?”
    “You seemed to be missing the key word in my story – unannounced . One day she walked in on me and a girl I was dating at the time.”
    “And that’s a bad thing?”
    “We were in bed.”
    “No,” she gasped.
    “Yes,” he said with a chuckle. He walked over to stand at the window. “I don’t know who was more shocked. Her or us.”
    “ Oh my God, how embarrassing,” she groaned. “What did your mother do?”
    He turned, leaning back against the windowsill , arms crossed. “She grabbed my dirty clothes basket and announced she would be doing my laundry back at her house. She told me I could pick it up there whenever I had time. It was the last time she ever did one of her impromptu housecleaning runs to my place. You should try it.”
    She snorted. “Are you serious? H ave my mother find me in bed with a guy?”
    “Okay, maybe not the best way to get her to back off.”
    Kelsie shook her head. “Not at all. My mother would be ready to marry me off to the guy.” Sighing softly, she stood and rounded his desk, pausing at the door. “If you don’t mind my asking, whatever happened to the girl your mom walked in on you with?”
    “I married her.”
    “Your mom walked in on you and Lisa?” Okay, so maybe she wasn’t the only person in the world who had to deal with awkward situations brought on by a parent.
    “Kelsie, ” Nanci said, joining them in the doorway, “Mrs. Jenkins is here.”
    She glanced down at her watch and then back at her friend. “She’s early.”
    Nanci nodded.
    “Well, back to work.” She turned to Andy who was settling in behind his desk. “Thanks for the talk.”
    “Any time.”
    “You okay?” Nanci asked as she walked with her down the hallway toward the waiting room door.
    “ I’ve had better days.” Take away her mother’s endless prodding to find a man, her Ultimate Colada hangover, and Cole’s ability to make her do something so