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seen better days. But
appearances could be deceiving. Never judge a warrior by his battle
gear. Chuckling, he turned the key and backed out of the lot.
    Janet, just in front of him, tooted her horn
and waved.
    o0o
    The first thing he did when he got home was
look up her address in the telephone book. He didn’t know how he
had managed to see her twice and still not know where she
lived.
    His fingers traced the Hs. There were several
pages, but he was not discouraged. When a man sets out to prove to
a woman that he is God’s answer to her prayers, nothing will stand
in his way.
    Grinning, he put the telephone book back onto
his cluttered desk and picked up the newspaper. Ignoring the
sports, he flipped to the entertainment section. The Atlanta Ballet
was in town. That had to be it. Gritting his teeth, he picked up
the phone and ordered a ticket. He half hoped the girl on the other
end of the line would say, “Sorry, we’re sold out.” But she didn’t.
She said his ticket would be waiting at the door.
    He stood and stretched. It was a good thing
he had soccer practice this afternoon. All that exercise and fresh
air might prepare him for an evening of puny music that sounded
like it was squeezed through a plastic straw. Even worse, grown men
would be cavorting around in tight silk britches.
    He went into the hall and plucked his
favorite baseball cap off the hall tree. God, Doc was cute when she
tried to flirt.
    o0o
    Janet went straight to Mr. Jed’s apartment.
He came to the door with a copy of the Wall Street Journal in his
hand. It made sense to her. According to Molly, her daddy had been
such a whiz at playing the stock market, he’d managed to retire two
years ago at the ripe old age of forty-eight.
    “Come in, my dear. This is a pleasant
surprise.” He opened the door wide, and led her into an expensively
furnished apartment that still managed to look inviting. “Did you
find that dog?”
    “I did.” She told him briefly about Harvey’s
condition and his other owner, Dan Albany. “Do you know him?”
    “He’s a friendly sort of fellow, Janet.
Dedicated, sincere, Molly would even say charming.”
    Janet could barely contain her laughter. She
wanted to say, “Stop the hard sell, Mr. Jed. I’m not planning on
buying him.” Obviously, Molly had already told her daddy about
Janet’s meeting with the
dreamboat,
and had him primed to
advance a romance. Molly was probably the most romantic one in
their group.
    “Half the women in Tupelo are trying to get
him to the altar,” Mr. Jed added. He was something of a romantic
himself. His membership in Match.com was proof of that.
    “No doubt,” she said. She wasn’t about to
ruin Mr. Jed’s Saturday by admitting that she had no intentions of
leading Dan Albany to the altar. She just wanted to teach him a
much-deserved lesson.
    Or did she? Remembering her ill-fated romance
with a Rob Jenkins, she almost cringed. She and Rob had shared
anatomy class, a dedication to medicine, and a love of ballet,
symphony and opera. She’d thought they were going to share a
future. Until he broke it off.
    Still, she forged ahead with her plan. She
was stubborn to the bone: when she set out to prove a point,
nothing could deter her, not even common sense.
    “I wonder if you could tell me where Dan
Albany has soccer practice?” she asked.
    “Hmm.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “Just thinking out loud.” Mr. Jed looked off
into space, and if Janet didn’t know better she’d say he’d lost his
train of thought. Was he thinking about her and Dan Albany or was
he thinking about his own cyber-romance?
    “Mr. Jed...”
    “Two o’clock. The practice field on the south
side of the school.”
    “How long will the practice last?”
    “Dan usually keeps the kids an hour,
sometimes just a bit longer.” Mr. Jed gave her one of his sweet
smiles. “My dear, I hope this means you’re making friends in
town.”
    “I love this town, Mr. Jed.”
    It was true, and just evasive