Linda was smiling and laughing at Mark's jokes when she caught herself. What am I DOING? she asked herself. He's only older than I am because of a wish! I need to stop this. She caught CJ moving out of the corner of her eye, but by the time she'd had a chance to turn in her direction, she saw her daughter off weighing a bunch of bananas.
Still smiling, Mark shifted gears. "Now that Catherine-Jane has stepped away," he said in a lower voice that made Linda's throat catch, "I can ask this, and I hope I'm not being too forward: Are you free a week from Friday night?"
Linda found herself nodding, completely drawn into Mark's eyes. She knew she should be breaking this off, but for the first time in years, she had those old feelings stirring in her. Anyway, she rationalized to herself, CJ will be at the slumber party that night. It didn't occur to her that CJ's week would be up by then.
Mark smiled a bigger smile, and Linda felt her heart melting. "Great!" he said. "I'm a little old-fashioned, so is dinner and a movie ok? I was thinking of that new Will Farrell comedy."
Linda smiled. She loved Will Farrell! She couldn't help herself or wipe that grin off her face. "Sounds like a plan," she said.
They chatted for a few minutes, and Catherine-Jane returned from what should have struck her mother as an incredibly long trip to weigh a bunch of bananas. Linda, however, was on cloud nine. She went through the rest of the trip robotically, until the checkout line, when CJ asked, "So, do you think Mr. Stevenson is dreamy or what?"
Linda was shocked. She seriously needed to think about this, and to talk to CJ about all of the implications of what was going on. She started unloading the groceries onto the conveyer, and while her attention was away CJ, who'd caught the look on her mom's face, reached her hand into the purse, grabbed the stone, and whispered...
