“Lorna, I thought you liked him,” Freda said despairingly.

“I do.”

“And you can’t tell me you weren’t attracted-”

“He’s very good-looking,” Lorna agreed.

“Well, then?”

Lorna sighed, her thick dark lashes suddenly shielding the vulnerable cloud-gray of her eyes. “Couldn’t you see the way Johnny looked at Hal when he came to pick me up? He didn’t like him, Freda. And Hal just isn’t kids-oriented.” Lorna hesitated. “Maybe further down the road, Hal might even have offered a ring, but I have a feeling the next day he’d have been looking into boarding schools.”

“Lorna, he couldn’t have spent more than an hour with the boy! You can’t live your entire life through Johnny. With your looks, you’ve got a right to be picky, but honey, you’re downright impossible. And that boy needs a father before you ruin him completely. Someone has to have the courage to land a good one on his backside occasionally.”

“I know that. In principle, I’ll even grant that Johnny needs a masculine influence. The problem is that the men who make good fathers turn me on like dead dishrags. Say, Freda, are you going home soon?” Lorna inquired politely. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t covered the territory before.

“Obviously, I might as well.”

Lorna slipped down from the counter and finished her wine, setting the mug down by the sink. “You were a sweetheart to watch the two of them.”

Freda moved to the back door. “It balances out, you know that. Brian’s here more than he’s home.” She paused with her hand on the doorknob and turned back to Lorna. “You don’t still have Johnny’s father on your mind? Lorna, you’ve got to trust again. Everyone isn’t like that Whitaker clan-”