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so relieved she wanted to throw her arms around him and kiss him out of sheer gratitude.
    When the door slammed behind them, Theresa surprised herself by releasing a pent-up breath and bursting out with the last words she expected to say.  “Thank you.”
    He stuck his hands into his jacket pockets and chuckled. “No need to thank me. I was getting a little uncomfortable myself.”
    His admission surprised her, but the frankness definitely relieved some of the tension.
    “I can see I’ll have to talk with my little brother about decorum. I wasn’t exactly sure what to do!”
    “What did you used to do when that happened on double dates?”
    She was embarrassed to have to admit, “I’ve never been on a double date bef—” She stopped herself just in time and amended, “I’ve never been on one.”
    “Aw, think nothing of it. They’re both adults. He loves her—he’s told me so more than once—and he intends to marry her soon after his hitch is done.”
    “You amaze me. I mean, you take it all in stride.”  Heavens,  thought Theresa,  do couples do things like that in the same car with as little compunction as her brother showed and think nothing of it?  She realized suddenly how very, very naive she must seem to Brian Scanlon.
    “He’s my friend. I don’t judge my friends.”
    “Well, he’s my brother, and I’m afraid I do.”
    “Why? He’s twenty-one years old.”
    “I know, I know.” Theresa threw up her hands, exasperated with herself and uncomfortable with the subject.
    “How old are you, Theresa? Twenty-five, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “And I take it you haven’t done a lot of that sort of thing.”
    “No.”  Because every time I got in a car with a boy, he went after only the most obvious two things, never caring about the person behind them.  “I was busy studying when I was in high school and college, and since then. ..well, I don’t go out much.”
    They were ambling down a snowy street, feet lifting lazily as the streetlights made the surface snow glitter. Her coat was still buttoned high, and her hands were buried in its pockets. Their breaths created white clouds, and their soles pressed brittle ice that crunched with each step.
    “So, what did you think of the movie?” Brian asked.
    “It embarrassed me,” she admitted.
    “I’m sorry.”
    “It’s not your fault, it’s Jeff’s. He’s the one who picked it.”
    “Next time we’ll be sure to ask before we blindly follow him, okay?”
    Next time? Theresa glanced up to find Brian smiling down at her with an easy laziness that was meant to put her at ease, but that lifted her heart in a strange, weightless way. She should have answered, “There won’t be a next time,” but instead smiled in return and concurred. “Agreed.”
    They turned around and were heading toward the Gluek driveway when Jeff backed the station wagon onto the street and its lights arced around, caught them in the glare, and he pulled up beside them.
    “Would you two mind if we took you home?” Jeff asked when Theresa and Brian were settled in the back seat again.
    “Not at all,” Brian answered for both of them.
    “Thanks for understanding, Bry. And Treat, you’ll take good care of him, won’t you?”
    She wanted to smack her brother on the side of the head. Jeffrey Brubaker certainly took a lot for granted!
    “Sure.” What else could she have answered?
    When they pulled up at home, Brian opened his door and the light flashed on. Patricia Gluek turned around and hooked an elbow over the back of the seat.
    “Listen, a group of us are getting together at the Rusty Scupper on New Year’s Eve, and you’re both invited to join us. We plan to have dinner there and stay for the dancing afterward. It’ll be a lot of the old gang—you’ve met them all before, Theresa—so what do you say?”
    Damn it, does the whole world think it has to line up escorts for the wimpy little Theresa Brubaker who never gets asked out on dates?  But she knew