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He dipped a spoon into the sauce, tasted it, and looked pensive.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's delicious," he said. "Just enough garlic, too?'

I laughed.

"I just followed a cookbook."

"Well, you followed it very well," he said. He gazed around the kitchen and stared at the back door. Star's repair of the rebroken door wasn't very good. It still looked quite chipped and battered around the lock. I saw the way his eyebrows tilted toward each other as he wondered.

"We should get back to the party," I said. "I'll just let this simmer."

"Sure," he said. "How long have you lived in this house?"

"All my life."

"It's cozy," he said, "but the pictures and some of the decorations surprise me?'

"Yes. My mother and I just did some of it because we got bored with how the house looked?'

He nodded and gazed up the stairway.

"How many bedrooms?"

"Two," I said.

When we looked into the living room, we saw that slower music was being played and everyone was dancing closely. Misty looked very happy and gave me an impish little smile as she tightened her embrace around Chris. For a long moment Stuart and I remained in the doorway, watching.

"How did you all meet?" he asked. "You're all going to different schools and live in different parts of the city, right?"

Once again butterflies of panic fluttered in my chest. There were just too many lies floating around us. One or the other was bound to crash and send up question marks and create suspicions. The best thing to do, I concluded, was stay as close to the truth as possible.

"We all had the same therapist," I told him. "Doctor Marlowe?'

"Oh?' He nodded and looked at them. "I saw a counselor too, after Dad's death. Did it help you?"

"Yes," I said.

"Me too?' He smiled. "It's good to have someone to talk to," he said, "someone who really listens?'

I nodded.

"You wanna try it?" he asked, nodding at the dancers.

"I'll be clumsy," I said.

"So will I. We'll be a perfect couple," he said. He smiled, but with such sincerity, I lost my inhibitions in a moment. It was as if he could fill me with confidence simply by directing those hazel eyes at mine. Our eyes locked as if we were both about to journey through them into our very souls, touching each other deeply before retreating like two people who suddenly snap out of a hypnotic state.

He gently took the crutches from me and placed them against the wall. Then he put his arm around my waist and held me as if he would keep me from falling off the edge of the earth. I never would have thought it, but I actually forgot I had a cast on my leg. We moved about the room with almost as much grace and ease as the others. I saw how the girls were all gazing at us, each with a soft, happy smile o her face. None matched the smile on my face, however.

When the music changed and became upbeat, we didn't retreat. We were all swinging and laughing. In fact, I became so involved with my dancing, I nearly forgot about the meatballs. Stuart reminded me.

"I'm one of those men who could be won over with food," he whispered.

I laughed, but he looked like he really meant it. He and I then returned to the kitchen and prepared the sandwich platters.

"We're a team," he declared. "You make them up and serve them."