Love.com by Karolyn Cairns

I’ll back off and stay out of it.”
    “I’ll see someone if this doesn’t work. I’ll even let your husband refer me to one of his colleagues.”
    Joan chuckled and shook her head. “Those guys are more screwed up than you are! Whatever! Ok, fine, so you’re going to do this? Ok, we have to get you date ready.”
    “Date ready?”
    Joan shrugged. “A make-over wouldn’t hurt. It’s my treat. You could use one, by the way.”
    “Yeah, I haven’t been so good to myself .”
    “Em, it will all get better in time. There is no quick fix to take your mind off your feelings right now.”
    Emily thought of her own personal quick-fix. He was six foot-three and smoking hot; one big tool that she’d like to use to hammer away at her pain. Ian was good for taking her mind off everything but him. The whole thing was crazy. She knew it even as she allowed it; knowing it pushed everything else away. She was getting really good at pushing things away she didn’t want to think about; using his image to hold off the inevitable pain.
    Ian made her laugh with tales of his life back in Chicago; spoke of the places he’d travelled to. She could see his expression change when he spoke of his family.
    His mother passed away when he was in college. He had an older adopted sister he hadn’t seen in years. She reasoned she saw longing there while he talked of his past. Did he wish he had someone to go home to? Did he even want that for himself?
    At thirty -three years old; Ian was at the height of his career. The fact he represented Ambidor during these negotiations told her how favored he was. He stayed in the best hotel in the city during his stay; his huge expense account paid for by his company.
    She knew from Evan , that unlike most men in his position, Ian didn’t throw money around to impress anyone. He didn’t have to. He charmed people with his direct, honest stare.
    He made six figures, but earned it by being at Ambidor’s whims when it came to putting out fires around the world. He was much more than a mere rep, Evan confided to her recently. Ian was more like a consultant to the huge pharmaceutical group. She was impressed by the fact he was self-made. He survived by his wits, his success evident.
    Evan said Ian could swing a golf club as good as any pro and never ran out of interesting conversations. He was disarming and witty; funny and down to earth. Evan said Ian had ‘game’; whatever that meant.
    Emily liked to think he was worth all the time she spent pining over him, thinking he had to be perfect to command such steady interest from all women. The women in her office were ridiculous in their attempts to get his attention. Ian was merely polite to them, and gently refused to meet them for a drink after work. She knew from Evan, Ian had a clause in his contract with Ambidor; restricting him from fraternizing with employees of any agency that represented them.
    It seemed unfair in her opinion, but it explained his obvious restraint in taking any of the women in the office up on their offers. Realizing he could lose his job if he gave into such temptation, made her understand why he avoided social situations while here in Sacramento.
    Evan and Ian were friendly outside of work, but even Evan didn’t know a thing about Ian’s personal life; if he was seeing someone while in Sacramento. Evan assured her a guy like Ian had a woman in every city, chuckling appreciatively in admiration.
    It cut Emily to the quick to think of him as some sleazy womanizer. Her Ian , as she’d begun to think of him, would never treat a woman so callously. Her Ian was the epitome of male perfection, good and kind. The man was growing to sainthood in her mind. He could do nothing wrong. These thoughts were dangerous and distorted. She was referring to men, for God’s sake! When did one ever achieve such an exalted status?
    Her father left her mother when she was four; leaving his wife and two daughters for his secretary. While Emily