“He wasn’t an old geezer?” Jan said, perking up.
“He was a young asshole,” Ashley told her.
“Hey, you never answered me, if he was cute or not,” Karen said.
Ashley hesitated, frowning slightly. She didn’t pay a ton of attention to everyone who came into Nick’s—she didn’t help out now anywhere near as much as she had done in years past. But she was usually observant. She noticed faces, because she loved to draw. And she usually remembered features very clearly. It seemed strange to her now that she had seen the man before and really not taken that much notice of him.
“I would never describe him as ‘cute,’” she assured Karen.
“Too bad. I was thinking there might be someone hot and new at Nick’s to observe,” Jan said sadly.
Ashley was silent for a minute.
“Hey, she didn’t say that he wasn’t hot,” Karen observed.
“I don’t think he’s the type I’d want to take an interest in,” Ashley said.
“Because he was rude?” Jan asked. “It didn’t sound to me as if you were in the mood to be Miss Manners yourself.”
Ashley shook her head. “I wasn’t rude. All right, yes, I was rude. Maybe I should even have apologized. But I was just in a hurry, and he startled me—even scared me there for a few seconds. He’s just…dark.”
“Dark? Hispanic, Latin, Afro-American?” Karen said, confused.
“No, dark, as in…intense.”
“Ah, intense,” Karen said.
“Well, I mean, he’s dark, too. Dark-haired, dark-eyed. Tanned. Apparently likes boats, or water, or the sun.”
“Um. Sounds sexy. The dark type.”
“Did he have a bod?” Karen demanded.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Maybe I’ll start hanging around Nick’s more,” Karen said.
“Oh, right, like you need to go looking for men,” Jan said.
“Yeah, I do. Who do I meet at a grade school? You’ve got it made, because you stand up in front of hordes of people in great outfits and sing. You’re the one who doesn’t need to go looking for men.”
“Looking is easy. They’re all over. Finding good ones is tough,” Jan said.
“Well, forget Nick’s, then. Don’t all the psychologists say never to look for a date in a bar? You’re supposed to meet them by bowling or something,” Ashley said.
“I hate bowling,” Karen commented.
“Then bowling probably wouldn’t be a great way for you to meet a guy,” Jan observed. “There you have it, how not to date in a nutshell. Put the three of us together, and we can really solve the major problems in the world,” she said ruefully.
“Hey, I solve the problems of six-to ten-year-olds on a daily basis,” Karen reminded her. “I’m responsible for molding the minds and morals of the future voters of a country in need of the best next generation in history. Ashley spends her days learning how to shoot and deal with the scum of the earth. This weekend, I think we should leave the serious stuff behind and worry about the next best serious stuff—our tans and the size of our butts.”
“We won’t set our goals too high,” Jan said. “If we can just find a few strangers who have bathed and are halfway articulate and don’t mind a few minutes on a dance floor, we’ll call it social triumph. I need a cookie.”