"Nice to meet you too," she said with a thick Southern accent.

We shook hands and I put my other hand over hers, squeezing tight for a long moment. She smiled some more and I was falling instantly in love.

"Where did you find this lovely thing," I said softly to Lizzie as I continued to stare at the young vision of loveliness from the South.

"That's a long story, not very interesting," she said. "Let's just say that our paths crossed. I've taken her under my wing at the moment."

"Why is that? Has she fallen out of some nest or something?"

"Yeah, you could say that. Monica," Lizzie said. "She ran away from home. Had a pretty terrible life there, she tells me. She's come to the big city to try and make it as a model. I think she's got what it takes, don't you?"

"Oh yes… yes indeed she does," I said. "I think she could work out just fine. Look at that hair, those eyes, the cheekbones perfection!"

"I agree with you," Lizzie said with a deep sigh.

We were both staring at the girl and she shifted about self-consciously. But at the same time she was preening. She obviously enjoyed the attention she was getting even if she didn't know quite what to do with it when she got it.

I was trying to decide what to do about this situation, whether to go for the girl right away or see what was happening between her and Lizzie. Someone so young and delicate falling into the sexual clutches of Lizzie, though, seemed grotesque to me and I just reacted badly to the whole idea of it. But I couldn't tell Lizzie that. She was a friend. Not a great, lifelong friend or anything, but I didn't want to actively insult her. The thing was, I wasn't so sure that she was even after her that much. Lizzie liked them young and beautiful, like so many others did, but she had a realistic attitude about who she could attract and she didn't go beyond that very often, unless something just fell into her lap. The question was whether that was the case here.