“You’re not involved in another relationship at the moment?” he asked carefully.

I wondered if he had to wear the collar on dates.

“No, not for a while. In fact, I went to the wedding of my last relationship a few months ago.”

Suddenly Aubrey Scott smiled, and his big gray eyes crinkled up at the corners, and he looked good enough to eat.

“What would you like to do? The movies?”

I hadn’t had a date since Arthur and I had split. Anything sounded good to me.

“Okay,” I said.

“Maybe we can go to the early show and go out to eat afterward.”

“Fine. When?”

“Tomorrow night?”

“Okay. The early show usually starts at five if we go to the triplex. Anything special you want to see?”

“Let’s get there and decide.”

There could easily be three movies I did not want to see showing at one time, but the chances were at least one of them would be tolerable.

“Okay,” I said again. “But if you’re taking me out to supper, I want to treat you to the movie.”

He looked doubtful. “I’m kind of a traditional guy,” he said. “But if you want to do it that way, that’ll be a new experience for me.” He sounded rather courageous about it.

After he left, I slowly finished my drink. I wondered if the rules for dating clergymen were different from the rules for dating regular guys. I told myself sternly that clergymen are regular guys, just regular guys who professionally relate to God. I knew I was being naive in thinking I had to act differently with Aubrey Scott than I would with another date. If I was so malicious or off-color or just plain wrongheaded that I had to constantly censor my conversation with a minister, then I needed the experience anyway. Perhaps it would be like dating a psychiatrist; you would always worry about what he spotted about you that you didn’t know. Well, this date would be a “learning experience” for me.

What a day! I shook my head as I plodded up the stairs to my bedroom. From being a poor, worried, spurned librarian I’d become a wealthy, secure, datable heiress.