Enchanted Dreams by Nancy Madore Page A

attention. "Go on," he said, narrowing his eyes dubiously.
    "I'm a realist." She shrugged. "But most women aren't. They stubbornly deny what is happening and ignore their inner voice that is crying out for attention—attention that can only be found in a new relationship. Now both of them are ignoring her and she really starts to deteriorate. Perhaps women are too sensitive. Perhaps our feminine egos are too fragile. But there it is. Many women just go with it, like that woman over there seems to have done. But you can see by looking at her that something is missing, right? You can see that the life has gone out of her? Probably she's moderately healthy otherwise, and lives a fairly normal life. But her femininity and passion are utterly gone."
    Dan snuck another glance at the woman and seemed dismayed to find her husband eyeing Maryanne yet again. "Why doesn't she leave that bastard?" he asked, perturbed.
    Maryanne laughed. "When she married him, it had probably already started. That's why women are so hot on marriage. They think it will bring his interest back. When it doesn't, I'm sure these women are devastated at first. That's why Cosmo sells so many magazines with nine hundred different ways to get his attention. But, by then, who knows? Maybe there were kids on the way, or perhaps she depended on him financially. And if you push a part of yourself aside for long enough, it will eventually die." She looked at him. "You see, he couldn't help that her loving him took all the intrigue away, and she couldn't help that having no power to intrigue made her unappealing. Both were simply responding to what was."
    "And you still date, believing this?"
    She laughed. "Like most women, I am a hopeless romantic."
    "Do you believe in love?"
    "I do! That's just it. But I think that sometimes love means letting go."
    Dan sat there for moment, thinking. "You know," he said, "what I'd like to do is prove you wrong. I really would. But in order to do that, I'm assuming I'd have to come up with some evidence. Maybe find some shmuck out there who's actually still enamored by the woman in his life. That's really what we're talking about here, right? She wants to feel special. She wants him to treat her like she's special, even though the instinct inside him is saying, 'Been there, done that, losing interest,' right?" He waited for her to nod her head. "I think there are men out there like that. Men who are more interested in the woman they're with than any other women."
    "Well!" said Maryanne, impressed. She couldn't help finding his optimistic, I-would-like-to-fix-this attitude extremely attractive. "You thinking it and it being true are different things," she reminded him.
    "Okay, but, come on now," he said in an extremely reasonable, almost reproving tone of voice. " Your thinking that you're right doesn't necessarily make it true, either."
    And in that moment Maryanne knew that she was hooked. What she was going to do about it, she hadn't yet decided. But what she had discovered in him so far—his intelligence, his open-mindedness and now, his strength of character—made him suddenly seem irresistible. She knew that her instincts had already singled him out. And in that instant, in that sudden moment of realization, she felt joy—but only for that single instant. For in the next, she had already begun to mourn the inevitable loss.
    "Touché," was all she said.
    As if he already sensed his victory, Dan settled back in his chair and relaxed. Was it just her imagination, wondered Maryanne, or was he, too, already aware of it?
    "Mmm," Dan murmured thoughtfully. "So now all I have to do is find a man who is smart enough to override this…instinct, as you call it, and continue to show an interest in the woman he's with. Is that it?"
    "Well, that would definitely be a good start."
    "Mmm," he said again. His lips twitched to hold back a slight smirk that was struggling to be set free on his features. "Where could I find such a man?"