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the other. That s probably the one I would have picked if I d
been looking. She slipped the elastic string over her head.
That looks terrific. In fact, she looked dashing, especially
with her broad white smile.
As they made their way into the living room, Claudia s eyes
adjusted to the dim light and she spotted Sandy in the witch s
costume she had worn to school the day before. She waved and
grabbed Leo s sleeve to pull her past the crowd.
Sandy s eyes lit up with recognition and she set down her
snack tray. You made it! And look who you dragged in with
you.
Leo shouted over the music. I wouldn t miss one of these.
You d all talk about me.
We talk about you anyway, sweetie. Sandy gathered up her
long black skirt and stepped onto an ottoman to scream for quiet.
Someone killed the music and the crowd went silent. Everyone,
I want you to meet my new personal slave. Actually, she s my
intern this semester, Claudia Galloway.
Claudia felt herself redden under the attention, but she
managed to smile and hold up a hand in greeting.
I told her all of you were nice. Imagine that. She leaned
over and tugged Claudia closer. Now I hate to break your hearts,
but she doesn t play for our team.
The news was greeted by hisses and boos. We ll fix that,
someone shouted.
You re too late, Sandy continued above their laughter, lifting
Claudia s hand to show off her ring. Claudia here has a fianc.
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Somebody better tell Leo that. Claudia followed Sandy s
eyes to the red-haired woman she had seen on Leo s porch. Patty,
who wore a San Francisco Giants baseball uniform, gave her what
she hoped was only a playful sneer before shooting a lascivious
grin at Leo.
Let s go outside, Leo said, nudging her anxiously as the
music started again and people turned back to their conversations.
They passed through the sliding glass door and found a spot to
themselves in the corner of the deck. Sorry about that.
What was that all about? I thought you said Patty was a
friend of yours.
She is. But she s also notorious for saying whatever s on her
mind. Nobody takes her seriously.
Was it my imagination, or was she shooting daggers at me?
Claudia was beginning to suspect Leo and Patty had a history.
Leo propped her elbows on the rail and pushed up her mask
to rub her eyes, obviously flustered. I m pretty sure those were
meant for me, not you. When Patty brought the jack-o -lantern
the other night, she asked me to come to the party with her. She
sort of got her nose out of joint when I told her I was coming
with you.
You should have called me, Leo. You could have gone with
her instead. I would have understood that.
I didn t want to go with Patty. She has a& a different idea
about her and me. Don t get me wrong. She s a nice person and I
like her a lot. I just don t want to date her.
Ah. That confirmed Claudia s earlier suspicions that it was
Leo who wasn t interested in dating, or at least that she hadn t
found the right woman yet. Have you known each other long?
About four years. A bunch of us rode up to San Francisco
for Pride. We went out a few times after we got back. No spark
or anything, though, and after a while it started to feel forced.
I quit going out with her but she never stopped asking. Now I
think she just does it out of habit. She d probably fall over if I
ever said yes.
So she s just playing, huh? I m not going to walk out later
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and find a key scratch down the side of my car, am I?
No, she d never do anything like that. But an ambiguous
expression crossed her face, which Claudia took to mean that it
wasn t entirely out of the question.
Any other spurned lovers I need to know about? she
teased.
None, and just for the record, Patty and I weren t lovers. I
wouldn t do that with just anybody. I d have to feel something.
That s a pretty good rule to live by. She wondered if that
meant Leo hadn t had sex with anyone since Melissa. That was
four or five years ago. A lot of us like to think we re that way
but we don t exactly live our values, especially when it comes
to sex. Sometimes we even try to manufacture feelings after the
fact so we can justify our behavior& not that I m speaking from
experience or anything. She looked away and whistled with
exaggerated innocence.
You did that?
It wasn t that bad. But you know what they say about
men they want their lovers to have a lot of experience in bed
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