Mel laughed but then turned serious. "You're a remarkable woman."

"No, I'm an ordinary woman with two cats," she said, leaning forward to kiss him. "You must have just grown up without cats."

"Without dogs, too," he said, being a bit pathetic.

"Don't start with me about dogs! Training Willard took longer than potty-training a male child."

He chuckled and said, "Want to go for a little drive?"

"To your apartment?" Jane asked with a gleam in her eye.

"We could drop in there. After all, I need to thank you again for dinner."

When she got home later, she saw that Shelley's kitchen light was still on. The phone was already ringing when Jane came in the door.

"What did Mel tell you?" Shelley asked.

"I don't remember," Jane said dreamily.

"You were at his apartment tonight, weren't you? But get a grip on yourself and come back to real life. Tell me what he said."

Jane took a deep breath, cast the latter part of the evening out of her mind, and recounted what he'd said before the cat episode.

Fifteen

Early the next morning Jane took the cats and Willard out in the yard and sat contentedly watching them while she had her first cup of coffee and one of the three cigarettes she allowed herself per day. She wished she could quit entirely, and often forgot to smoke one of them. In bad winters, she seldom braved the weather outside to smoke more than one, but three a day was better than twenty.

When she went back inside, the answering machine had a message from her sister, Marty. She sighed. Marty called her only when she couldn't remember where in the world their parents were, and it was always for financial help. So she'd call Jane, and after listening to silly pleas that fell on Jane's deaf ears, Jane would give her the current telephone number for their parents. One time Marty asked if she could use Jane's calling card account, to which Jane replied that she most certainly could not.