Got Your Number

lady for two thousand dollars!"
    This time the applause was for her as she walked forward to claim her prize and say her name. She managed a little wave in Roxann's direction, who returned a watery smile, but Angora directed all her attention to Dr. Carl, who escorted her up the stairs and off the side of the stage.
    "Aren't you Roxann's cousin?" he asked.
    "Uh-huh."
    "I'm sorry, I don't remember your name."
    "Angora. Angora Ryder."
    "Right." He smiled, a glorious display that stole her breath. "Did you buy me as a date for Roxann?"
    She frowned. "No. I bought you as a date for myself."
    He looked her up and down, lingering on her breasts and legs, highlighted nicely in the blue Diane Von Furstenberg dress. "Did you go to school here?"
    "Yeth." Her tongue felt thick.
    "Did I ever have you?"
    "Once, but it wasn't very memorable."
    His eyebrows went up. "Have you been drinking?"
    "Absolutely."
    He laughed. "Well, a bite to eat will sober you up. I thought we'd have dinner, then go dancing."
    "Thounds nithe."
    "Should we say goodbye to Roxann?"
    "Nope."
    He looked disappointed, but shrugged. "Okay, then off we go. Two thousand dollars is a lot of money. I hope you don't regret this in the morning, um—"
    "Angora."
    "Right. Angora."
    She tucked her hand under his arm and melted into his shoulder. "I won't."

Chapter Sixteen

    ROXANN TRIED TO KEEP a smile on her face for the rest of the auction, and eagerly accepted Nell's invitation to dinner afterward, although she had to admit she was hoping she'd see Carl, if for only a few minutes. And Angora's behavior was puzzling, to say the least. If she didn't know better, she'd think her cousin was planning to follow through on her joking comment about losing her virginity to Carl.
    "My treat," Nell insisted as they were seated in a booth at a restaurant called Utopia a few blocks away. "For the Alumni Homecoming Queen."
    She blushed and smiled down at the box holding the crown they'd presented to her. "That was incredibly embarrassing, considering..."
    "Considering?"
    She pressed her lips together, then sighed. "Considering I've been thinking about giving my notice to the organization."
    Nell's smile faded. "I see."
    "Are you disappointed?"
    Nell shook her head. "This is your decision, Roxann. May I ask why?"
    She sipped from her water glass and shrugged slowly. "I'm tired of the schedule. Ready for a change."
    Her mentor arched an eyebrow. "Ready to settle down?"
    Another sip. "Maybe. Someday."
    "Ah, your biological clock is ticking."
    Items for her life list flashed before her eyes. Have a daughter. Be a good mother . "I still haven't decided about the mothering gig."
    "But you'd like to get married."
    "Maybe. Someday."
    She lifted her glass and smiled over the top. "Do you have someone in mind?"
    "No."
    "I wondered if you were still carrying a torch for Carl after all these years. You two parted on such a bittersweet note."
    "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought of him often over the years."
    "I could tell tonight that he was glad to see you."
    "He seemed surprised when I saw him today. You didn't tell him I was coming?" '
    She shook her head. "Carl's path and mine rarely cross these days. He's so involved with the administration and with the church, he does very little teaching."
    "That's what he said." Roxann toyed with her napkin. "He also said that he's never married all these years."
    "No." Nell laughed. "Why is it that men who don't marry are even more intriguing, while women who don't marry are simply old maids?"
    "I don't think of you as an old maid."
    The professor shrugged. "I don't mind, really. But it isn't nearly as fulfilling as the feminists made it sound thirty years ago."
    "You have your career."
    "Yes, I do. But my career can't keep me warm at night, can it?"
    Roxann blinked. She'd always thought of Nell as an asexual person, uninterested in base pastimes like romantic love.
    "Oh, yes, I'm a woman." Nell laughed, but her laugh turned into a cough, which grew in severity until people around them stared. "I'm sorry." She gasped into a handkerchief.
    "You're ill. We should go."
    She shook her head and drank from her glass. "I'm fine. Just a cold from the change of weather." But her hand trembled violently.
    The waiter arrived with flat bread and hummus. They ordered soup and salads. Nell still looked a tad blue, and Roxann wondered if one of the woman's imagined ailments had truly materialized. She was trying to think of a diplomatic way to inquire when