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  “There’s a picnic area on the north side,” Cal said. “I’ll meet you at the first table tomorrow at noon.”

  “Why do I feel like there should be a code word?” Min said, finally pulling away from him. “I’ll say ‘pretentious’ and you say ‘snob.’ ”

  “You want to know about Roger or not?” Cal said.

  Min looked back at Bonnie. If you didn’t know her, she looked detached, but Min knew her. Bonnie was glowing. “Yes.”

  “Good,” Cal said. “Let me see your shoes.”

  “What?” Min said, and Cal looked under the table. She pulled her foot out, and he looked down at her open-toed high-heeled mules, laced across her instep with black leather thongs that contrasted with her pale skin and bright red toenail polish. “Liza calls them ‘Toes in Bondage,’ ” she said helpfully.

  “Does she?” Cal sat very still, looking at her toes for a long moment. “Well, that’s made my evening. See you tomorrow at noon.” He pushed back his chair and left, taking his Scotch and her rum and Diet Coke with him.

  “Okay, I couldn’t hear the part at the end,” Liza said, leaning over to her. “What was he asking you?”

  “I’m going to lunch tomorrow,” Min said, not sure how she felt about that. If he whispered in her ear again, she was going to have to smack him, that was all there was to it.

  “Where?”

  “Cherry Hill Park.”

  “Jeez,” Liza said. “Softball of the Rich and Famous. What time?”

  “Noon.”

  Liza nodded. Then she raised her voice and called, “Tony.”

  Min looked around for him and saw him at the roulette bar, handing Cal a ten-dollar bill. “I don’t believe it,” she said, straightening in outrage. The sonofabitch had bet on lunch and she’d fallen for it.

  Tony looked up, and Liza crooked her finger. He walked over and said, “You know, I’m not the kind of guy you can do that to.”

  “You and I are having lunch at noon tomorrow in Cherry Hill Park,” Liza said.

  “Okay,” Tony said. “But only because I’ve gotta coach a softball game there in the morning anyway.”

  “Good,” Liza said. “You can go now.”

  Tony shook his head at her and went back to the bar and Cal.

  “Well, at least he’s obedient,” Min said.

  “Don’t get any ideas about saying yes at lunch,” Liza said.

  “It’s lunch,” Min said. “In broad daylight. In a public park.”

  “You said you weren’t going to see him, and he still got you to lunch.”

  “I had a reason for that,” Min said, casting a bitter glance at the bar. Cal was still there, but now the brunette from Wednesday was there, too, moving closer to him in a blue halter top. That figured. Beast. “I’ll be fine, believe me, I know what he is.” She cast another look at the bar where Cal appeared to be sliding away from the halter top. Playing hard to get, the jerk.

  “Yeah, well, I’m watching your back just the same,” Liza said. “And if it hits the grass, Calvin’s going to lose a body part.”

  “Boy, you really don’t like him, do you?” Min said.

  “I think he bet Tony he could get that lunch date,” Liza said.

  “I think so, too,” Min said.

  “See if you can do something horrible to him tomorrow,” Liza said.

  “Already planning it,” Min said.

  After another excruciating Saturday morning forcing fourteen eight-year-olds to play baseball against their better judgments, Cal was not in the mood to put up with Min, but he grabbed his cooler from the car, stopped by the charity hot dog stand for the main course, and went to meet her at the picnic table he’d told her about. She wasn’t there, so he threw an old blanket across the massive teak table—Cherry Hill did not stint on the amenities—put the basket on it, and then sat on top of the table, feeling cheerful about being stood up. It was a beautiful day, the park was thick with shade trees, the kids were gone, and nobody was bitching at him.

  Then Min came into the park through the trees, following the curving crushed gravel path. She was wearing her long red sweater again, but this time she had on a red-and-black-checked skirt that floated when the breeze blew. Her hair was still wound in a knot on the top of her head, but her stride was long and loose as she came toward him, and the sun picked up glints of gold in her hair, and she smiled at him as she drew closer, and it suddenly seemed better not to have been stood up. And when he offered her his hand to help her up on the table, she hesitated and then took it, and her fingers were pleasantly, solidly warm as she boosted herself up beside him on the table.

  “Hi,” she said and he grinned at her.

  “Hi,” he said. “Thank you for coming.”

  “Thank you for inviting me.” Min dropped her bag on the bench below them. “Give me ten bucks.”

  Cal blinked. “What?”

  Min smiled at him, cheerful as the sun. “I was going to make your lunch a living hell, but it’s such a beautiful day, I’ve decided to enjoy it. You bet Tony ten bucks you could get me to lunch.”

  “No, I didn’t,” Cal said.

  Min’s smile disappeared.

  “Tony bet me ten bucks I could get you to lunch.”

  Min rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Give me ten bucks or I’m leaving you cold and you’ll have to give Tony his ten bucks back plus ten more because you’ve lost.”

  “I think I won when you said, ‘Yes,’ ” Cal said, suddenly a lot more interested in Min.

  “Try explaining that to Tony,” Min said.

  “Okay,” Cal said. “How about we split it?”

  Min held out her hand and wiggled her fingers. “Ten bucks, Charm Boy.”

  Cal sighed and dug out his wallet, trying not to grin at her. She took the ten, picked up her bag, stuffed the bill in it and then pulled out a twenty and handed it to him.

  “What’s this?” Cal said.

  “That’s the twenty you gave me for cab fare on Wednesday,” Min said. “I forgot to give it back to you.”

  “So now I’m up ten bucks,” Cal said.

  “No, now you’ve broken even. It was your twenty to begin with. I had no right to it since you didn’t get fresh.”

  Cal looked up at the sun. “The day’s young.”

  “I don’t see you making your move on a picnic table,” Min said. “In fact, I don’t see you moving on me at all, so tuck that away and tell me everything you know about Roger.”

  “I’m glad to see you, too,” he said, and her smile widened.

  “Sorry. I forgot your lust for small talk. And how have you been in the fourteen hours since we last spoke, eight of which you were sleeping?”

  “Fine. And you?”

  “Wonderful. How much of this before we get to Roger and Bonnie?”

  “You’re a very practical woman,” Cal said, and then Min pulled her legs up to tuck them under her and he caught sight of her shoes, ridiculous sandals made mostly of ribbons with a single bright red flower over the instep. “Except for your shoes.”

  “Don’t make fun of my shoes.” Min wiggled redtipped toes under the flowers. “I love these shoes. Liza gave them to me for Christmas.” She untied the ribbons and pulled them off and put them on the table behind her, patting the flowers before she turned back to him.

  “I can see why you love them,” Cal said, distracted by her toes, and then she pulled her skirt over them and he added, “They’re very Elvis.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “You are an Elvis fan?”

  “Best there is,” Cal said. “You, too?”

  “Oh, absolutely.” Min looked perplexed and then said, “Well, I guess it does makes sense. You are the devil in disguise.”

  “What?” Cal said, and then it hit him. “Elvis Presley?”

  “Well, of course, Elvis Presley,” Min said. “What other . . . oh. The angels want to wear my red shoes. Elvis Costello.” She shrugged. “He’s good, too.”

  Cal shook his head in disbelief. “