She ran into Collin White again that night at the gym, and they chatted easily as they rode the bikes. He told her what law firm he worked at on Wall Street and that he was a litigator. It was an important firm, and his job sounded interesting to her. And she told him where she taught. He had heard of the school. They talked about nothing in particular, and when they got off the bikes, he surprised her and asked her if she wanted to go for a drink across the street. She looked as big a mess as she had before, and couldn’t believe that he’d ask her anywhere or want to be seen with her. He asked her again as though he really meant it, and she nodded, put on her coat, and followed him across the street, wondering why he’d want to have a drink with her.

They both ordered wine, and she asked how his sister’s shoulder was after the snowboard accident.

“Painful, I think. Those things take a while, and you can’t do much with a shoulder, except time. She was lucky she didn’t need surgery when it happened.”

He asked more about the school where she worked then, and why she’d gone into teaching, and about her family. She told him she had a sister who was seven years younger, had just graduated from USC the previous June, and was getting married in five months.

“That’s pretty young,” he commented, looking surprised. “Especially these days.” He had told her he was thirty-six, and she said she was twenty-nine.

“I think so too. Our parents got married at that age, right out of college, but people did that more then. Nowadays, nobody gets married at twenty-three, which she will be in June. I was hoping she’d wait, but she won’t. It’s all about the wedding. My whole family is temporarily insane,” she said with a rueful grin. “At least I hope it’s temporary. They’re driving me nuts.”

“Do you like the guy she’s marrying?” he asked, looking at her closely, and Victoria hesitated for a long time, and then decided to be honest. “Yes. Maybe. Well enough. But not for her. He’s very domineering, and opinionated for a young guy. He doesn’t let her open her mouth and thinks for her. I hate seeing her give up her personality and her independence just to be his wife.” She didn’t say that he had a huge amount of money, and didn’t think it appropriate to do so. And that wasn’t the point. She wouldn’t have liked Harry any better for Gracie if he’d been poor. The money made him pompous. But his own personality made him controlling, which was what Victoria didn’t like about him. She wanted more for Gracie than that.

“My sister almost married a guy like that. She dated him for three years, and we all liked him, but not for her. They got engaged last year, she was thirty-four, and she’s all wound up about getting married and having babies, and she’s scared to death she’ll miss the boat. She finally realized what she was getting herself into, and they broke up two weeks before the wedding. It was a mess. She was really upset, and my parents were great about it. I think she did the right thing. It’s tough for women,” he said sympathetically, “at a certain age, that time clock starts ticking like a bomb. And I think a lot of women make bad decisions because of it. I was proud of my sister for bailing out. You saw her here. She’s thirty-five, and she’ll find the right guy, hopefully in time to have kids. But she’s better off alone than with the wrong guy. It’s not easy to meet good people,” he said thoughtfully. Victoria had a hard time believing that a woman who looked like his sister didn’t have ten men running behind her waving wedding rings, or at least wanting to date her. “She hasn’t met anyone since they broke up,” he added, “but she’s over it, and she says she won’t go back to him. Thank God she woke up.”

“I wish my sister would,” Victoria said with a sigh. “But she’s a kid. She’s twenty-two, and she’s all excited about the dress and the wedding and the ring. She’s lost sight of what’s important, and I think she’s too young to get it. And by the time she does, it’ll be too late, and she’ll be married to him and sorry as hell.”

“Have you said that to her?” He looked interested in what she said.

“Yes. She doesn’t want to hear it and gets all upset. She thinks I’m jealous. And believe me, I’m not.” He believed her. “And my parents are no help. They’re big fans of the match, and they’re impressed by who he is.” She looked pensive then. “And he’s a lot like my father. That’s a tough one to fight.”

“You’re swimming upstream on that one,” he said wisely. “All you can do is say it and leave it at that. And maybe it’ll work for her. You never know,” he said philosophically. “People want different things and not always what we think they should have, or want for them.”

“I hope it works, but I doubt it,” Victoria added, looking sad for her sister.

“Are you two very different? Other than the age difference.” He got the feeling they were. Victoria appeared to be a smart, sensible woman with her feet on the ground and a good head on her shoulders. He could tell just by listening to her. And her younger sister sounded flighty, young, and spoiled to him, and maybe headstrong and impulsive too. He wasn’t wrong.

“She’s more like my parents,” Victoria said honestly. “I’ve always been the odd man out. I don’t look like them, think like them, or act like them, or want the same things. Sometimes it sounds like we didn’t have the same parents. We didn’t actually, because they treated us very differently, so her life experience and her childhood were completely different from mine.” He nodded as though he understood, and she had the feeling that what she was saying wasn’t unfamiliar to him.

He looked at his watch then and asked for the check. “I’ve enjoyed talking to you,” he told Victoria, as he paid it. “Would you like to have dinner sometime?” he asked with a hopeful look as she stared at him. Was he crazy? Why would he want to go out with her? She thought he was much too good for her. “Like next week?” he added more precisely. “Just something easy, if you’d like that.” He didn’t want to snow her with a fancy restaurant. She was a kind person and easy to talk to. He wanted to spend a real evening with her, getting to know her, not show off and try to impress her. He wanted to know more about who she was. He liked what he’d heard so far. And he liked her looks, even with her bruised face.

“Yes, of course, I’d like that,” she blurted out when he looked as if he expected an answer. She didn’t add “Why?” She could only assume that he wanted to be friends, and liked having someone to talk to. This was obviously not a date.

“How about Tuesday? I’ve got a partners’ meeting Monday night.”

“Of course … yes … sure …” She felt like an idiot burbling at him.

“Could I have your number or your e-mail?” he asked politely, and she jotted them down and handed them to him. He put them directly into his phone, and slipped it back into his pocket with the piece of paper, and thanked her. “I’ve really enjoyed meeting you, Victoria,” he said pleasantly, while she tried not to focus on how handsome he was. It was too unnerving.

“Me too,” she said weakly. This was very odd. She liked him, but she thought a man like him shouldn’t even be talking to her. He should have been with some drop-dead-gorgeous beauty, like his sister, who had no dates. Go figure. The world was too strange.

They left each other in front of the gym, and she walked home, thinking about him and trying to figure out why he had asked her to dinner. She told Harlan about it when she got home, and explained that it wasn’t really a date, he just wanted to be friends.

“How do you know that?” Harlan looked surprised by what she said. “Did he say so?”

“Of course not. He’s too polite. But it’s obvious. You should see the guy. He looks like a movie star, or a business mogul, or an ad in GQ. And look at me.” She pointed to her workout clothes. “Now you tell me, would he date a woman that looks like me?”

“And he was wearing black tie at the gym?”

“Very funny. No. But guys like him don’t date women like me. This is friendly, not a date. Trust me. I know. I was there.”

“Sometimes romances start out that way. Don’t rule it out. Besides, I don’t trust your interpretation. You don’t know shit. All you know is your parents telling you that you’re not deserving, you’re not worthy, and no one will ever want you. Believe me, tapes like that play so loud, you can’t hear anything else. Even when it’s clear otherwise. I’m telling you, if this guy has any brains at all and eyes in his head, he knows you’re smart, funny, a good person, bright as hell, good looking, have fucking unbelievable legs, and he’d be the luckiest man in the world if he got you. So maybe this guy is no fool.”

“It’s not a date,” she insisted again.

“I’ll bet you five bucks it is,” Harlan said firmly.

“How will I know if it is?” She looked confused, while Harlan pondered the question.

“Good point, since your radar is out of whack and you have no decoding skills. If he kisses you, obviously it’s a date, but he won’t if he has any manners, on a first date. He sounds smarter than that. You’ll just know. If he asks you out again. If he looks interested. If he makes nice little gestures, touches your hand, looks like he’s enjoying you. Oh fuck, Victoria, just take me with you, and I’ll tell you if it’s a date.”

“I’ll figure it out for myself,” she said primly. “But it isn’t.”

“Just remember, you owe me five bucks if it is, by any of the aforementioned criteria. And no cheating. I need the money.”

“Then start saving, because you’re going to owe me five bucks. It’s not a date.” She was sure of it.

“Don’t forget your new nose,” he teased her. “That could swing the vote.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” she said, laughing. “The second time he saw me, I had bruises all over my face and two shiners, and I wasn’t wearing makeup.”