"I think he's attracted to me. Maybe it's because I'm not clingy. I could be clingy, but I'm forcing myself to give him plenty of room. Don't you agree that's the smart thing to do?"

"You are not sucking me into this discussion."

"I know he has gorgeous football groupies hanging all over him, but I think he might be growing out of that stage of his life. I get the sense that he's maturing."

"Don't hold your breath."

"You think I'm being stupid, don't you?"

"Tinker Bell, you've redefined stupid. For a woman who's supposed to have a head on her shoulders-"

"Shhh… Here comes Celeste."

Heath and Celeste had a boring discussion about the economy, a topic that always disheartened Annabelle. If the economy was good, she felt as though she wasn't taking proper advantage of it, and when the economy was bad, she couldn't see how she'd ever get ahead. She let the discussion drag on for the full twenty minutes before she put an end to it.

After Celeste left, Heath said, "I wouldn't mind hiring her, but I don't want to marry her."

Annabelle didn't think Celeste had liked Heath all that much either, and her mood brightened. Unfortunately, only temporarily, because her next candidate, a public relations executive, showed up right on schedule.

Heath was his normal charming self-respectful, interested in everything she had to say, but unwilling to take it any further. "Great taste in clothes, but I make her nervous."

For the rest of the week, Annabelle pulled out the stops, introducing him to a filmmaker, a floral shop owner, an insurance executive, and Janine's editor. He liked all of them but wasn't interested in dating any of them.

Portia got wind of the dating blitz and sent two more socialites. One drooled all over him, which he hated but Annabelle got a kick out of. The other disliked his lack of pedigree, which infuriated Annabelle. Next Portia insisted on setting up an introduction at the Drake for morning coffee. Heath finally agreed, so

Annabelle took advantage of the time slot to schedule a former classmate who taught adult night school.

Annabelle's candidate was a dud. Portia's wasn't. Portia had insisted on the morning meeting, Annabelle discovered, because she'd lined up WGN-TV's newest evening anchorwoman, Keri Winters. Keri was gorgeous, accomplished, and polished-too polished. She was Heath's female counterpart, and together they were slick enough to float an oil tanker.

Annabelle tried to put an end to the agony after twenty minutes, but Heath shot her the evil eye, and Keri didn't leave for another half hour. When the coast was finally clear, Annabelle rolled her eyes. "That was a waste of time."

"What do you mean? She's exactly what I'm looking for, and I'm asking her out."

"She's as plastic as you are. I'm telling you, it's a bad idea. If you ever have kids, they'll come out of the birth canal with Fisher-Price stamped on their butts."

He refused to listen, and the next day, he called Ms. News at Nine to set up a dinner date.

Chapter Eighteen

Two weeks passed. Between getting ready for her wine and cheese party and brooding about Heath and Keri Winters, Annabelle lost enough weight to zip up the periwinkle blue mini she hadn't been able to wear all summer. "Go put some clothes on," Mr. Bronicki growled the night of the party when she came downstairs wearing the mini, along with a slinky ivory top.

"You're the hired help," she retorted. "You're not allowed to criticize."

"Showin' yourself off like a hussy… Irene, come out here and look at this."

Mrs. Valerio poked her head in from the kitchen. "You look very nice, Annabelle. Howard, come help me open this olive jar." After she'd started seeing Mr. Bronicki, Mrs. Valerio had dyed her hair Woody Woodpecker red, which matched the crimson sneakers she wore tonight with her Sunday best black dress.

Mr. Bronicki, spiffy in a long-sleeved white shirt, followed her into the kitchen. Annabelle moved to her office, where she'd converted her desk into a serving table with Nana's blue-and-yellow-plaid tablecloth and a gorgeous centerpiece of garden flowers Mrs. McClure had donated. Nana's charming pottery plates from the 1960s held the cheese and fruit. Mr. Bronicki had volunteered to answer the door and pour the wine while Mrs. Valerio kept the platters replenished. By shopping carefully and soliciting help from her seniors, Annabelle had managed to bring the evening together on budget. Even better, she'd picked up two more male clients through her new Web site.

Focusing on business didn't do much to erase the images of Heath in bed with Keri, but she did her best. The news that the WGN anchorwoman and the city's top sports agent were an item had recently hit talk radio, including the morning's top drive-time show, where disc jockeys Eric and Kathy had begun running a Name Their Weird Baby contest.

The doorbell rang. "I hear it," Mr. Bronicki grumbled from the kitchen. "I'm not deaf."

"Remember what I told you about smiling," Annabelle said as he shuffled past.

"Haven't been able to smile since I lost my teeth."

"You're funny as a box of Depends."

"Respect, young lady."

Annabelle had been worried people wouldn't mix, and she'd asked Janine to help. Her friend was the first to arrive, followed by Ernie Marks and Melanie Richter. Within an hour, Annabelle's tiny downstairs rooms were packed. Celeste, the University of Chicago economist, spent a lot of time talking to Shirley Miller's godson Jerry. Ernie Marks, the quiet elementary school principal, and Wendy, the vivacious Roscoe Village architect, seemed to hit it off. Annabelle's two newest clients, discovered through her Web site, clustered around the stylish Melanie. Unfortunately, Melanie seemed more interested in John Nager. In light of Melanie's having once married a man with a fetish for disinfecting doorknobs, Annabelle didn't think John the hypochondriac was her best match. The evening's most interesting development, however, came from an unexpected quarter. To Annabelle's surprise, Ray Fiedler latched onto Janine right away, and Janine didn't do one thing to shake him off. Annabelle had to admit that Ray's new haircut had done wonders for him.

By the time the last of the guests left, she was exhausted but satisfied, especially since everybody wanted to know the date of the next party, and a stack of her brochures had disappeared. All in all, Perfect for You had enjoyed a very successful night.

As Heath and Keri's courtship entered its third week, Anna-belle stopped listening to talk radio. Instead, she followed up on the connections her clients had made at the party, tried to dissuade Melanie from seeing John, and signed another new client. She'd never been busier. She only wished she were happier.

A little before eleven o'clock on a Tuesday night, the doorbell rang. She set aside the book she'd been reading and went downstairs to find Heath standing on her porch, looking rumpled and travel weary. Although they'd spoken on the phone, this was the first time she'd seen him since the night he'd met Keri.

He took in her loose-fitting white cotton tank-no bra- and blue cotton drawstring pajama bottoms printed with pink martini glasses holding tiny green olives. "Were you asleep?"

"Reading. Is something wrong?"

"No." Behind him, a taxi pulled away from the curb. His eyes were red-rimmed, and a hint of stubble clung to his tough guy's jaw, which, sicko that she was, only made him more ruggedly attractive.

"Do you have anything to eat? Nothing but pretzels on the plane, even in first class." He was already inside. He set down his carry-on suitcase and a laptop. "I planned to call first, but I fell asleep in the cab."

Her emotions were too raw for this. "All I have is leftover spaghetti."

"Sounds great."

As she took in the lines of fatigue in his face, she didn't have the heart to turn him away, and she headed for the kitchen.

"You were right about Keri and me," he said from behind her.

She bumped into the doorjamb. "What?"

He gazed past her toward the refrigerator. "I wouldn't mind a Coke if you have one."

She wanted to grab him by his white shirt collar and shake him until he told her exactly what he meant, but she restrained herself. "Of course I was right about you and Keri. I'm a trained professional."

He loosened the knot on his necktie and unbuttoned his collar. "Refresh my memory. Exactly what kind of training have you had?"

"My nana was a superstar. It's in my blood." She was going to scream if he didn't tell her what had happened. She grabbed a Coke can from the refrigerator and passed it over.

"Keri and I were too much alike." He propped his shoulder against the wall and sipped his Coke. "It took half a dozen phone calls just to schedule lunch."

The gray cloud that had been following her for three weeks swept off to spoil somebody else's life. She withdrew an ancient powder blue Tupperware container from the refrigerator, along with what was left of the lunchtime Whopper she hadn't felt like finishing. "Was the breakup tough?"

"Not exactly. We played phone tag for so long we had to do it by e-mail."

"No broken hearts, then."

His jaw set in a stubborn line. "We should have been great together."

"You know my opinion about that."

"The Fisher-Price theory. How could I forget?"

As she cut up her leftover hamburger and mixed it with the spaghetti, she wondered why he hadn't phoned her with the news instead of showing up in person. She slid the plate into the microwave.

He wandered over to inspect the yellowed diet plan she'd stuck to the refrigerator when she'd moved in. "We didn't sleep together," he said, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on a low-carb fish dinner.

She reined in her joy. "Not my business."

"Damned right it's not, but you're nosy."

"Hey, I've been too busy building my empire to obsess over your sex life. Or lack thereof." She resisted the urge to do a little soft shoe as she grabbed a pot holder, pulled out the plate, and set it on the table. "You're not my only client, you know."

He found a fork in the silverware drawer then sat down and studied his plate. "Is that a french fry in my spaghetti?"

"Nouvelle cuisine." She reached into the freezer for the carton of Moose Tracks ice cream she hadn't felt like touching in three weeks.

"So how is business?" he asked.

As she pried off the lid, she told him about her party and her new clients. His smile held genuine pleasure. "Congratulations. Your hard work is paying off."

"It looks like it."

"So how are things with you and lover boy?"

It took her a moment to figure out who he was talking about. She dug into the Moose Tracks. "Better all the time."

"That's funny. I saw him at Waterworks a couple of nights ago in a lip-lock with a Britney Spears wannabe."

She excavated a ribbon of chocolate sauce. "All part of my plan. I don't want him to feel suffocated."

"Trust me. He doesn't."

"You see. It's working."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "This is only one man's opinion, but I think you were better off with Raoul."

She grinned, stuck the lid back on the container, and returned the ice cream to the freezer. While he ate, she washed a saucepan she'd left soaking in the sink and answered more of his questions about the party. Considering how tired he was, she appreciated his interest.

When he finished eating, he brought his plate over. He'd devoured everything, even the french fry. "Thanks. That was the best meal I've had in days."

"Wow, you have been busy."

He retrieved what was left of the Moose Tracks from the freezer. "I'm too tired to go home. Do you have a spare bed where I can crash?"

She banged her shin against the dishwasher door. "Ouch! You want to stay here tonight?"

He looked up from the ice cream carton with a slightly puzzled expression, as if he didn't understand her question. "I haven't slept in two days. Is it a problem? I promise I'm too tired to jump you if that's what you're worried about."

"Of course I'm not worried." She occupied herself pulling the trash can out from under the sink. "I suppose it's okay. But Nana's old bedroom faces the alley, and tomorrow's garbage day."

"I'll survive."

Seeing how tired he was, she really couldn't understand why he hadn't waited until tomorrow and called with the news about Keri. Unless he didn't want to be alone tonight. Maybe his feelings for Keri went deeper than he was letting on. Some of the air leaked out of her happiness bubble.