Read It's Just Love for Free Online

the parking lot
was Doctor Gage Middleton, PhD, a self-help guru. What a jerk. Cute—but still a
jerk.
    And she was the final piece of the puzzle, the love-potion
witch. The garish finale—in full regalia—to a serious discussion by
professionals. The other three had spoken in low, measured tones, making points
based on research, backed up by their multiple degrees.
    She should have slammed the door in Tom’s face when he came
to invite her here. If he ever darkened her doorway again, she’d find that toad
spell and make it work. Or maybe he’d make a better newt. She should have gone
to college, despite her mother’s aversion for traditional education.
    * * * *
    “Now that we’re all here, we can begin our panel
discussion,” said Harry Montclief. “Let me throw out a topic, something simple
you should all be able to answer. What is love?”
    Esther straightened her wig, which had slipped a little
back, showing the net covering her real hair. Smooth bob, right. “I’m so
glad you asked, Harry. As I tell my clients, their parents are the best judges
of who they can find happiness with. That is why they come to me. So the
children can meet someone their mother and father find acceptable. This leads
to harmony in the family and often successful business liaisons as well.”
    “Children? I assume you mean single adults who take their
parents’ wishes to a ridiculous extent.” The host leaned forward and stared at
her. “I asked, what is love?”
    “Oh,” she responded. “Love will come in time, for most
people. But I stand by my business and my clients have a success record that
almost nobody can match. They get married and they stay married. Young women
need guidance and young men need to be guided back into the path their fathers
intend for them. Historically, many cultures find my method successful.” She
nodded and leaned back.
    Was she serious? She wanted to bring back the tradition of
allowing others to select one’s spouse?
    “I’m sorry,” Coral said, unable to control her tongue, “but that’s
how the royalty of medieval Europe operated. Marry a girl, get a province.”
    “Exactly.” Esther nodded, a narrow-lipped smile brightening
her sallow face. “You understand then.”
    Coral tried to think of a coherent response, a way to
present her opinion to people better educated than she, but Martel beat her to
it. “Woman, are you crazy? That’s how those old royals ended up as
hemophiliacs. They just married one another until the gene pool went to hell.”
His voice rose in pitch. “And what does that have to do with love?”
    The matchmaker fixed him with a stare. “It’s better than
what you do, setting up men for disgusting sessions of…” Her tone dropped. “…sex.”
    “And what is wrong with sex?” Martel leapt to his feet,
joined by Esther. They stared at one another with contempt.
    “Sex is for procreation,” she spat. “You pervert, with your
clients groping at one another like perverts, like you! Two men together, you
disgust me!”
    “Who you calling disgusting?” he roared. “You wish you could
find a man who’d lay a finger on you, you old, dried-up—”
    The neatly-suited woman shrieked and grabbed at Martel’s
dreadlocks. They fell to the floor, shouting epithets and throwing punches
while Coral stared, Harry grinned, and Gage’s jaw dropped. Was it a put-up
scene? Nothing she’d seen before indicated these two would resort to
violence…and with so little provocation. But when Esther clawed Martel’s face,
the dripping blood shocked her.
    “We’ll be right back after this commercial,” said the host,
and a pair of young men raced onto the stage to separate the combatants. A
string of drool trickled from Esther’s mouth, and the formerly hip-attired
man’s shirt was shredded. “Thanks for coming on the show, folks. Follow these
guys to the gate.”
    Esther gaped, her wig hanging from the back of her head, her
jacket missing buttons. “We have to