Reluctant to invest too much in this conversation, I banter “I’ve always been afraid I’d have a heart attack and you wouldn’t try to revive me.”

Her blue eyes, round as two dimes, twinkle mischievously.

“It would depend on how you did. You’re not that old.”

I take another pull at the water. We are having quite a randy chat for friends.

“Aren’t you still a Holy Roller or whatever?” I ask rudely, but wanting to know. Over a year ago through an odd combination of circumstances I saw Amy at a service of the largest fundamentalist church in Blackwell County. I was in attendance as part of my preparation for defending a murder case; Amy was there apparently because she wanted to be. My girlfriend at the time had astounded me by joining the church, causing irreparable harm to our relationship.

“Nope,” she says, apparently not offended. She smiles.

“I’m still searching though.”

“Aren’t we all?” I respond tritely, but relieved. My own search is a little closer to home. For the most part I gave up on religion after Rosa died of breast cancer.

“So, your place or mine?” I kid, forcing her to be serious.

She giggles deliciously.

“Aren’t you still seeing Rainey McCorkle?”

Some women love to flirt if they think you’re safe.

“Rainey and I could never work things out,” I say truth fully.

“We haven’t gone out in months.” Occasionally, she phones to ask about Sarah. Sometimes, I hear a wistfulness in her voice, but basically, she has decided she needs to find a man with fewer warts. For my part, I want someone who needs fewer certainties.

Amy removes her leg from the rail and gives me a dazzling smile as she heads down the steps to the track.

“Well, give me a ring sometime.”

“I will,” I call after her, deciding to break my selfimposed vow not to go out with women as young as Amy. Since they haven’t exactly been lining up outside the house, it has been an easy pledge to keep. I decide to go home, though I’ve hardly worked out. If she compares me with some of the guys circling the track, she could easily change her mind.