Read Anyone but You for Free Online Page B

too," Nina said. "I met my downstairs neighbor yesterday, and I was thinking about how much fun he looked and what great hands he had, and I swear, he can't be more than twenty-five. It's only a matter of time until I'm cruising the high schools."
    Charity sat up straighter, which made her black silk move against her curves. It was a shame there wasn't a man around to watch Charity move, Nina thought. The whole effect was sort of wasted on her and Fred.
    Fred was investigating the potato chip bag.
    "Downstairs?" Charity said, pushing Fred's nose out of the bag. "You didn't mention any guy downstairs. Who is he? What does he do? Is he married?"
    Nina tried to look quelling. "I told you. He's just a baby."
    "I like babies," Charity said. "As long as they're not mine. This could be good. Tell me about him."
    Nina glared at Charity and her black silk, a combination that could seduce any man of any age.
    "You're going to jump my infant neighbor?"
    "No," Charity said patiently. "I'm going to talk you into jumping your infant neighbor. If he's not married."
    "He's not," Nina said, slumping a little. "At least there was no ring, and he didn't mention a wife."
    Charity snorted.
    Nina gave her a severe look. "And you're not talking me into anything anyway, so just drop it."
    "Is he cute?" Charity asked. "What does he do for a living?"
    The image of Alex lounging at her table, broad-shouldered and confident, came to mind, but Nina evicted it at once. "Yes, he's cute. I have no idea what he does for a living. Probably something involving a small hat and French-fry oil. He doesn't look too focused."
    "That's wonderful." Charity sat back, so enthused she fed Fred a potato chip. Fred ate it cautiously since it wasn't a pretzel. "This is great. Make him your toy boy. If he's got some kind of McJob, you won't end up being a corporate wife, and since he's young, he'll still be interested in sex. This is perfect."
    Nina glared at her because the thought was so tempting. "It is not perfect. I'm not dating somebody who's fifteen years younger than I am. I'm not dating again at all, I like being free and not having to go to stupid dinners and dress up for somebody else's career, but if I was going to start dating again, it would not be this guy." She thought again of Alex, loose-limbed and long-fingered in her doorway and way, way too young for her. If she started dating him or, dear God, sleeping with him—she swallowed at the thought—people would say she was in her second childhood. People would look at them on the street and wonder what he saw in her. Guy would sneer. Her mother would roll her eyes. His friends would make jokes about Oedipus Alex. She and Alex would have nothing to talk about. She'd be obsessing over thinning pubic hair, and he'd be playing air guitar.
    Worst of all, if she slept with him, she'd have to take off her clothes and her mother was right: her body was forty years old. The whole idea was impossible.
    And he wasn't interested in her, anyway. Just what she needed, to start fantasizing about a man who thought of her as a mother figure and who just by existing would make her feel older than she already did. She'd end up literally working her butt off to try to look younger than she was instead of enjoying the freedom she had now. "It would be too humiliating," she finished. "Not Alex. Anyone but Alex."
    Charity grinned. "Why not? He's never seen your pubic hair before. He won't notice the thinning."
    Nina sighed. "And to think you're my best friend."
    "Damn right, chickie," Charity said, going back to the chips. "That's why I'm giving you this great advice. Break the kid's heart. He needs it for the growth experience, and it'll make you feel so much better about the divorce. Trust Aunt Charity. When it comes to romance, she knows. Besides, it'll make Guy crazy."
    Nina shook her head and changed the subject before Charity talked her into something stupid.
    "Forget Guy. My real problems are not with Guy or the infant