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mall. Finishing my Coke, I smashed the can flat because it made me feel powerful, and chucked it into the recycle bin.
    In the bedroom, I stripped off my work clothes and ripped what was left of my panty hose to shreds trying to get it unglued from my foot. Dumping the remains into the trash, I pulled on a pair of jeans and an oversized burgundy sweater. Since I was going to be trying on gowns, I pulled my hair back into a long ponytail and pinned it up, adding some lip balm for effect. Like that would really help me appear elegant as I tried on gowns.
    A bit depressed, I left my apartment, looked around carefully in the parking lot for strange men, and headed for Columbia Mall, which happens to be my and Basia’s favorite spot. It was Basia’s favorite hangout because they had a lot of clothes and shoe stores and she was the ultimate shopper. I liked it because they had not one, but two of the nifty stands that sell those fabulous hot cinnamon-sugar pretzels. I got to the mall before Basia for that very reason and was just licking the sugar off my fingers when she plopped down beside me on the bench.
    “Do you know how much saturated fat is contained in just one-third of that pretzel?” She looked at it in disgust.
    “If only that fat would go straight to my boobs.” I sighed.
    “I refuse to be jealous because I know you won’t be skinny forever. Do yourself a favor and come out of denial now. How many times have I told you that after reaching the big three-oh, your metabolism will slow down and you will get seriously fat if you keep eating like you do. That’s if you don’t have a heart attack first.”
    “Sticks and stones may break my bones.” Then I paused. “Speaking of breaking bones…” I quickly filled her in on what had happened to me in the garage.
    “Oh, my God. You’ve got to be kidding. It’s not safe anywhere these days. What the hell is going on with Darren Greening?”
    “That’s the million-dollar question. In return I might ask what the hell is going on with you and Xavier?”
    I clearly caught her off guard. Avoiding my pointed stare, she took off her hat and shrugged out of her coat. “How’d you find out?”
    “From Xavier, of course. Why all the secrecy?”
    “It’s no big deal.”
    “No big deal?” I repeated incredulously. “Are you nuts? This is Xavier we’re talking about. You know, the geeky guy you’ve never looked twice at before.”
    “Need I remind you, we’ve already been on one date?”
    “Yeah, a date I set up. A date you didn’t say one word about.”
    “And from that you presumed what?”
    “That you had no interest in him.”
    “Well, you were wrong. I had fun.”
    My mouth dropped open. “So you like him?”
    “For heaven’s sake, Lexi, this is exactly why I didn’t tell you. You’re too emotionally involved. Xavier is like a brother to you. I’m going on another date with him, period. If it doesn’t work out, I don’t want any additional grief from you.”
    “But I thought you were dating Lars,” I protested.
    Lars Anderson was Basia’s one-time karate instructor. A tall, gorgeous Swedish-American with hands licensed as killing machines. He owns a small karate academy in Laurel, Maryland to which I now belong, and where I’m literally working my butt off in Tae Kwon Do. Typical for the course, Basia took one lesson, quit and is now happily dating the instructor. They have a complicated past history, but jeez, these days, who doesn’t?
    “I am dating Lars.”
    My eyes widened. “You’re going to date both of them? At the same time?”
    “Why not? I’m not under a mutually exclusive contract with either one of them.”
    “B-but…do they know that?”
    “Don’t worry, Lexi, I can handle them both.”
    “Wow.” I let it hang at that. What else could I say? In terms of dating etiquette, I knew less than diddly, whereas Basia was the master. Besides, I was secretly in awe that she could juggle two guys.
    For a few minutes we sat