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By then it was already late Most of the people eren’t hopelessly tangled in rush hour traffic were probably sitting down to dinner by the time I drove 1-94 from Minneapolis across the Mississippi River into St Paul Certainly, there were a greatroo at 9:00 PM, was nearly filled with diners by the time I arrived, and most of the sofas, stuffed chairs, and se were occupied

I searched for Nina I wanted to see her before she left on her date I wasn’t sure what I was going to tell her "Please don’t go" came to mind Only I couldn’t find her

The bartender wavedfor the boss?"

"I alanced at my watch Maybe I still had time to intercept her

"No, she leftJust a minute" She went to the beer taps and poured a Su to bad-newsthe name Jenness, as she once instructed uy who took her to the charity ball"

I drank some of the beer

"Sorry," she said

"I already knew she had a date"

"I know"

"You know?"

"Nina’s been gru about you for two days now"

"How bad has it been, her gru?"

"Pretty bad"

"It wasn’tarrested?"

"She told you that, too?"

"When things are going well, Nina keeps her life prettybad, she kinda talks to herself out loud, if you knohat I uy she’s dating?" I asked

"Daniel Not Dan or Danny Daniel He’s an architect Has o by his clothes and car"

Snob, my inner voice said

"What does he look like?" I asked

"He’s about your size, your height and weight," Jenness said "I figure he ood shape but, I don’t know, he seems soft to me Like he’s never actually done any physical labor or played a contact sport"