Got Your Number

tongue—the only thing Angora had ever taken charge of was Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.
    Angora lifted her chin. "I don't need Trenton—I can get a man any time I want one."
    With her golden good looks, her cousin never had a problem attracting men, but inevitably, her insecurities manifested in some way to have them running in the opposite direction: too prim, too needy, too snobby, too virginal. "Getting" a man was not Angora's problem, nor any other woman's for that matter. Keeping him—now there was the rub.
    "In fact," Angora continued. "I can find someone better looking, someone who's great in bed."
    "And you would know?" Roxann asked gently.
    "Yes." Angora twirled her hair around her index finger—a dead giveaway that she was lying. Then she sighed. "No."
    "Don't sound so forlorn."
    "Roxann, how many thirty-two-year-old virgins do you know?"
    Roxann swerved, then corrected. "You're still a virgin?"
    "I knew I shouldn't have said anything."
    "No, no...I'm surprised, that's all, since you're so pretty and since you've been engaged."
    "And since I'm so old?"
    "We're the same age."
    "You didn't answer my question. How many thirty-two-year-old virgins do you know?"
    "Well...I don't have many close female friends, but I'm sure..." She trailed off helplessly. "Okay, I don't know any thirty-two-year-old virgins."
    She pulled a small pink packet from her purse. "A wedding-night gift from Mother—condoms."
    "Not ready to be a grandmother just yet, is she?"
    "No." She pulled one out and read the label. "These things are made of lambskin."
    "Sheep intestines."
    "Huh?"
    "They're made of sheep intestines. But 'lambskin' is more marketable."
    "Oh, that's gross."
    She shrugged. "They're the best, as far as sensation is concerned. My hat's off to Dee."
    "For knowing?"
    "For letting you know that she knows."
    "Ah. Well, the only thing that Mother harped on more than my laugh lines and my waistline is sex—she said she'd cut me out of her will if she found out I didn't wait until my wedding night." She stuffed the condom grab bag back into her purse.
    "How would she know?"
    "My gynecologist."
    "What?"
    "I've been going to the same gynecologist since I was fifteen, and she told me he would tell her if ever...you know."
    Roxann ground her teeth. "Angora, that's not only immoral, it's illegal. Your physician can't reveal your... status to anyone, not even to Dee. Surely you know that."
    "Mother's laws supersede all others."
    How could she rationalize with a woman whose world had been skewed by a selfish, overbearing mother? "Angora, there's nothing wrong with being a virgin at your age, but it should be because of your own convictions, not your mother's."
    Angora angled her chin. "You're so right. I think it's high time I change gynecologists. And broaden my sexual horizons."
    "You're entitled," Roxann agreed, simply because Angora couldn't carry off the label of "promiscuous" if she wore it on a sash.
    "Maybe I'll sleep with someone scandalous," she murmured. "Maybe...a bad boy. Or an older man." Angora produced a foxy smile. "Maybe I'll sleep with Dr. Seger. Cross another item off my life list."
    Roxann's stomach jumped, but she attributed it to last night's unfortunate choice of drink. "That's an interesting possibility."
    "Are you going to bid on him at the bachelor auction?"
    "I hadn't thought about it." Liar, liar.
    "Let's go and buy ourselves a man."
    "On my budget, the man would have to be made out of rubber."
    But Angora was warming to her plan. "How long will it take for us to get to campus?"
    "Driving straight through, I figure around fifteen hours."
    She bounced up and down in the seat, dislodging her crown. "Let's take our time and cross off a few items on our life lists along the way!"
    Roxann tried to conjure up some enthusiasm, but failed. "Angora, we don't have to abide by some silly list we made when we were little more than children." Besides, it was too disconcerting to see how many of the things that had once been important to her had been left undone.
    "Oh, come on—it'll be fun," Angora coaxed. "Just like old times."
    Except as she recalled, the "old times" weren't that fun for either of them. She squinted. "What did you have in mind?"
    Angora lifted the collar of the faded flannel shirt. "The first order of the day is to go shopping, of course."
    Of course.
    Her cousin waved vaguely toward the map lying on the seat between them. "So find a route that will take us by a mall, preferably one