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just wasn't home when Allegra showed up, they'd both be going to Dubois.
    That was it! Lisa sat up in the slippery claw foot bathtub, bubbles and water sloshing over the side. She wouldn't be here! Allegra wouldn't hang around to wait for her, and she could be home by nine p.m. But where to go to wait out her little sister's arrival?
    Instead of a hoagie from Vito's, she thought she might treat herself to a better dinner. The Evergreen had good specials on Friday nights, with live music that didn't make her head pound. She'd be able to get a nice, quiet table and eat her dinner, then head home in time to slip into her fresh, clean jammies under her fresh, clean covers, and go to sleep.
    That eating dinner alone and going to bed early sounded like a lonely and sad way to spend a Friday evening did not escape her. Lisa sank back beneath the scented bubbles, trying not to frown. If Terry hadn't called off their date, they'd have spent the night like they usually did. Dinner and a movie, followed by a passionless kiss at the doorstep.
    It also did not escape her that the three months she'd spent with Deacon had been more intense, more exciting, than the past three months she'd had with Terrence. Just the thought of Deacon made her stomach tighten in the hot water. Her eyes flew open, but it was too late. His face had already filled her mind. Lisa groaned and slapped at the water.
    "Damn," she said aloud, in a tone that made fat Tabby turn her tufted ears in Lisa's direction. "What was I thinking?"
    Urging her father to hire Deacon had seemed like such a good idea yesterday. The Garden Shadd would benefit from Deacon's expertise, and she would have expiated some of her guilt by helping him get a job. Her guilt. The problem was, she could barely look at the man without remembering their last night together, and the promise of lovemaking never fulfilled.
    She groaned again and slipped completely beneath the water. It was quieter under there, so quiet she could hear the pounding of her own heart in her ears. Too bad she just couldn't stay under there forever, like returning to the womb.
    The water caressed her everywhere, its touch as gentle as a lover's. Gentle as Deacon's hands would have been had they made love that night three years ago. Sputtering, Lisa shot out of the water. Wouldn't anything keep her from thinking about it?
    She toweled off quickly, grateful for the chilly breeze sweeping in the open window. She needed some cooling down, all right. What on earth was wrong with her? She was acting like a jittery old maid.
    Which wasn't so far off the mark, she thought morosely. She slipped into a comfortable denim skirt and her favorite cotton pullover. Lisa finished dressing and ran a comb through her wet hair, glad she'd been letting it grow so it was easier to put up. A swipe of pressed powder and a slick of lipstick and she was ready to go, but she still stared at her reflection critically.
    She'd turn twenty-six in a few months, and what did she have to show for it? She still worked in her family's business, lived just a few blocks away from her parents, and wasn't married. Her boyfriend was more friend than lover, and the one man she'd thought she loved was back in town after getting out of jail.
    Damn. She was thinking about him again.

    * * * *
    Deacon's white shirt was too tight at the neck, and the black string tie strangled him even further. Even his black pants hugged his waist too snugly for comfort, but it wasn't worth complaining about. Tom Lee would just tell him to go out and buy his own uniform instead of using the one The Evergreen provided. Since Deacon wanted to keep his job at The Evergreen until he was sure The Garden Shadd was going to work out, he'd make do.
    It was a whole different world on the other side of the bar, he reflected as he watched Danny the bartender mix his drink order. Deacon had spent plenty of evenings down at the Evergreen, but always as a patron. Now that he was the one in the monkey