"i'll just have coffee."

as soon as the waitress was gone, alex introduced the two women. "bambi, carol. carol, bambi."

"i'm pleased to make your acquaintance," bambi said formally, holding out her hand. carol thought she'd never seen longer nails. they were painted a fire engine red and were a good inch in length.

"alex and i have sons the same age," carol explained. her coffee arrived, and she quickly took a sip to disguise her uneasiness.

"eat your dinner, alex," bambi instructed. "there's no need to let our evening be ruined by carol's problems."

"yes, please," carol said hurriedly. "by all means, don't let me keep you from your meal."

alex reached for the steak knife. "is peter trying out for track this year?"

"he wouldn't miss it. i'm positive that's the only reason he's managed to keep his grades up. he knows the minute he gets a d, he's off the team. who knows what'll happen next year when he takes chemistry."

"jim's decided to take chemistry his junior year, too."

"i took chemistry," bambi told them. "they made us look inside a worm."

"that's biology," carol said kindly.

"oh, maybe it was."

"i need to apologize for the way i blew up this afternoon," alex continued. "i felt bad about it afterward. yelling at jim in front of his friends was not the thing to do. it's just that there are times my son frustrates me no end."

"don't worry about it. i feel the same way about peter when he does something i've specifically asked him not to do." feeling guilty for excluding bambi from the conversation, carol turned toward her and asked, "do you have children?"

"heavens, no. i'm not even married."

"children can be extremely wonderful and extremely frustrating," carol advised bambi, who seemed far more interested in gazing lovingly at alex.

"jim only has one chore around the house during the week," alex went on to say. "he's supposed to take out the garbage. every week it's the same thing. garbage starts stacking up against the side of the refrigerator until it's as high as the cabinets, and jim doesn't even notice. i end up having to plead with him to take it out."

"and two days later he does it, right? peter's the same."

alex leaned forward and braced his forearms against the table, pushing his untouched steak aside. "last week, i didn't say a word, wanting to see how long it would take him to notice. only when something began to stink did he so much as-"

"pass the salt," bambi said, stretching her arm between carol and alex and reaching for it herself. she shook it over her salad with a vengeance, then slammed it down on the table.

apparently alex felt contrite for having ignored his date. he motioned toward her salad. "bambi's on a diet."

"i am not fat!" bambi cried. "you said so yourself."

"i...no, i didn't mean to imply that you needed to be on a diet, i was just...making small talk."

"well, if you don't mind, i'd prefer it if you didn't discuss my eating habits."

"where's the protein?" carol asked, examining bambi's plate of greens. "you should be having some protein-eggs, lean meat, that sort of thing."

"who are you?" bambi flared. "jenny craig?"

"you're right, i'm sorry. it's just that i'm a nurse, and i work with pregnant women, and nutrition is such an important part of pregnancy that-"

"are you suggesting i'm pregnant?"

"oh, no, not in the least." every time carol opened her mouth, it seemed she made an even worse mess of the situation. "look, i think the auto club might need some help finding me. if you'll both excuse me, i'll wait outside."

"you should," bambi said pointedly. "you're over thirty, so you can take care of yourself."

carol couldn't get away fast enough. the rain was coming down so hard it was jitterbugging across the asphalt parking lot. standing just inside the restaurant doorway, carol buried her hands in her pockets and shivered. she hadn't been there more than a few minutes when alex joined her.

before she could say anything, he thrust his hands in his own pockets, sighed and said, "i gave her money for a taxi home."

carol wasn't sure how to respond. "i hope it wasn't on account of me."

"no." he gave her another of his warm sensual smiles. "it was a blind date. i should've known better than to let myself get talked into it."

"i went out on one a while ago, and it was a disaster, too." it got worse the longer she was single. her friends seemed to believe that since she'd been alone for so many years, she should be willing to lower her standards. "how long have you been single?" she asked alex.

"two years. what about you?"

"thirteen."

he turned to face her. "that's a long time."

"so peter keeps telling me. according to him, i'm about to lose it and need to act fast. i haven't figured out precisely what it is, but i have a good idea."

"jim keeps telling me the same thing. between him and barney-that's the guy who arranged this date-they're driving me crazy."

"i know what you mean. my brother's wife calls me at least once a week and reads me ads from the personal columns. she's now progressed to the internet, as well. the one she picked out last week really got me. it was something like-male, thirty-five, dull and insecure, seeks exciting, wealthy female any age who's willing to love too much. likes string cheese and popcorn. if you can do sudoku for dummies, i'm the man for you."

"maybe we should introduce him to bambi."

they laughed together, and it felt natural.

"give me your car keys," alex said suddenly. "i'll check it out and if it's something minor, i might be able to fix it."

"i don't think it is. when the engine died, it sounded pretty final." nevertheless, she handed him her key ring and stood under the shelter while alex ran across the parking lot to test her car. she stood on her tiptoes and watched him raise the hood, disappear under it for a few minutes and then close it and come running back to her.

"i think you're right," he said, rubbing the black grease from his hands with a white handkerchief.

"excuse us, please," a soft feminine voice purred from behind carol. bambi slithered past them, her arm looped through that of a much older gentleman. she cast carol a dirty look and smiled softly in alex's direction before turning her attention to her most recent admirer. "now, what were you saying about your hot tub?"

the two were barely out of earshot when alex started to chuckle. "it didn't take her long, did it?"

"i really am sorry," carol felt obliged to say. "i feel terrible...as though i personally ruined your evening."

"no," he countered. "on the contrary, you saved me. by the time you arrived, i was trying to figure out how long my patience was going to hold out. i had the distinct impression that before the evening was over i was going to be fighting her off."

carol laughed. it didn't require much imagination to see bambi in the role of aggressor. come to think of it, carol had dealt with a handful of bambi's male counterparts over the years.

the rain had diminished and it was drizzling when the auto club van arrived. alex walked the driver to carol's car, and together the two men tried to determine what was wrong with her faithful ford. they decided that whatever the problem was, it couldn't be fixed then and there and that the best thing to do was call a tow truck.

carol agreed and signed on the dotted line.

"i'll give you a lift home," alex volunteered.

"thanks." she was already in his debt; one more thing wouldn't matter.

within minutes, they were sitting inside alex's car with the heater running full blast. carol ran her hands up and down her arms to warm them.

"you're cold."

"i'll be fine in a minute. if i wasn't such a slave to fashion," she said with self-deprecating humor, "i would've worn something heavier than this cotton jacket. but it's the same pale green as my slacks and they go so well together."

"you sound just like jim. it was forty degrees yesterday morning, and he insisted on wearing a shirt from last summer."

they smiled at each other, and carol was conscious of how close they were in the snug confines of alex's sports car. her dark eyes met his warm gray ones. without warning, the laughter faded from alex's lips, and he studied her face. after viewing the damage earlier, carol knew her hair hung in springy ringlets that resembled a pad used to scrub pots and pans. she'd done the best she could, brushing it away from her face and securing it at the base of her neck with a wide barrette she'd found in the bottom of her purse. now she was certain the tail that erupted from her nape must be sticking straight out.

a small lump lodged in her throat, as though she'd tried to swallow a pill without water. "you never did get your dinner, did you?" she asked hastily.

"don't worry about it."

"listen, i owe you. please...stop somewhere and let me treat you. it's after nine-you must be starved." she glanced at her watch and felt a blush heat her cheeks. it'd been longer than she could recall since a man had unsettled her quite this much.

"don't worry about it," he said again. "i'm a big boy. i'll make myself a sandwich once i get home."

"but-"

"if you insist, you can have me over to eat sometime. all right? when it comes to dinner, jim and i share the duties. a good home-cooked meal would be welcome."

carol didn't have any choice but to agree, and she did so by nodding her damp head briskly until she realized she was watering the inside of his car. "oh, sure, i'd like that." she considered saying that she came from a large italian family and was an excellent cook, but that would sound too much like the personal ads her sister-in-law, paula, insisted on reading to her.

"you do cook?"

"oh, yes." once more she held her tongue. whereas a few moments earlier she'd been cold, now she felt uncomfortably warm. her hands were clammy and her stomach was filled with what seemed like a swarm of bees.

they chatted amicably on the rest of the drive to her house. when alex pulled into her driveway, she turned and smiled at him, her hand on her door handle. "i'm really grateful for all your help."

"no problem."

"and...i'm sorry about what happened with bambi."

"i'm not," he said, then chuckled. "i'll give you a call later, all right? to check on your car...."