Worth the Risk_ A Contemporary - Megan Hart Page 0,5

appointment for seven-thirty. Ms. Whitehead had assured her the escorts were all extremely punctual. Except, it seemed, for Hal.

It wasn't too late to cancel. She could just pay for her food to go and walk away before he even showed up. Bubbe and Zayde's anniversary week wouldn't start until next weekend. She had plenty of time to think up some excuse as to why her phantom fiancé was absent from yet another Alster family gathering.

The problem was that she was running out of excuses. Last Thanksgiving had seen her in the Bahamas with her college roommate, Kasey Arlin. Hanukkah had been too far away from Christmas last year for her company's annual break to coincide, and New Year's had been spent with her brother Elijah's family. Their tiny house barely confined Eli and Sarah's rambunctious four kids, so dragging a boyfriend along would have been out of the question, even if she'd really had one to drag.

Now it was already October again, with another round of expected family gatherings looming and no real reason not to show up with her alleged boyfriend in tow.

"Bring him, bubbeleh, for the week," Bubbe Esther had told her every time they spoke on the phone. "What...he's so busy he can't meet his future grandmother-in-law?"

It wasn't that Laila didn't want a boyfriend. In theory, having a companion was a great idea. But when it came right down to it, Laila didn't have the patience or desire to give herself to anyone the way Ian had forced her to give herself to him. It frightened her to take that risk again, though she knew it unlikely she'd end up with a man as manipulative and demanding as Ian Soloman. Still, she hadn't been able to do more than share a single date with any one man in the three years since Ian's death.

It drove her family crazy, and they never ceased pestering her about her love life. Finally, in desperation, Laila had promised her grandmother that she would arrive at the Poconos resort with a man. Once Bubbe got on the phone with Laila's mother, the news spread like wild-fire through the family. They were all expecting to meet him.

If she showed up without him--suffice to say they'd never leave her alone about her love life again. No, the simplest thing, she'd decided was to bring "her man" along and stage a spectacular break up. That would buy her some time. Then when someday, finally, she really did have a boyfriend to bring home, they'd all be so relieved they wouldn't bother picking him apart.

She checked the clock again. Eight o'clock. If he wasn't here in fifteen minutes, she'd take it as a sign from above that she wasn't meant to have a LoveMatch.

She finally caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye. He stood in the Coffeehouse's corner doorway, his glasses steamed from stepping from the chilly October air into the heated room. His head swayed side to side, looking for her.

Something about him seemed so familiar. His stance, the way he combed his hair, the way his hands tugged nervously at his jacket zipper. There was more to it than merely having seen his picture, but Laila couldn't quite figure out what it was.

He took off his glasses to rub them with the tail of his shirt. Recognition startled her into knocking over her teacup. It was the man from yesterday. The one who'd knocked her over in the alley.

"Oh, no," she muttered. It was useless to hope it wasn't him because, when he slipped his glasses back on his nose, his face matched the photo in Ms. Whitehead's binder.

As the tea dripped off the table and her earthenware mug clattered loudly on the floor, the sound caught Hal's attention. She saw him take another quick glance around the room, then head straight toward her. Mopping up the spilled drink with a pile of napkins, Laila kept her head down.

"Uh--Miss Alster?"

She took a deep breath and wiped her fingers with the soggy napkin. "Yes. And you must be--"

"Harold--Hal." He slid into the chair across from her and kicked her cup halfway across the room as he did so. "Uh--sorry."

"I can get another one." How long was it going to take him to recognize her?

He shrugged off his jacket and settled himself on the red vinyl seat, nervously clearing his throat. "I apologize for being late. " He stopped abruptly, as though someone had clapped a hand across his mouth. "You!"

"I could