Keli pictured Tya’s cousin, she’d met a couple years previous, good looking enough, but with average abilities and a bland personality.

“It is. I haven’t seen him for awhile, but we’ve always been close so that’s why I said I’d get him a date with you.”

“Me? A date with me? You told him I’d go out with him?”

“I’m afraid so. Please don’t hate me, but I told him it was all set.”

She felt her jaw muscles tighten, but she put her best foot forward. “I could never hate you, Ty, but why me?”

“It’s my fault. I kept bragging about you, how fabulous looking you are and what a darling shape you have and…two weeks ago he asked for a photo, so I emailed him some pictures.”

This wasn’t making sense. “But why would he need pictures, he met me two years ago?”

“Oh, you’re thinking of Cousin Antoine. This is another cousin, great looking and smart as a whip.”

“And he wants to go out with me?”

“Yes, He kept pestering me to get a date with you and I kept putting it off. Four days ago, I…ah, told him the date was a done deal and you were looking forward to it.”

All of a sudden, feeling faint, she pulled a chair out from the table, sat and paraphrased what Ty had said, very slowly, “Let me get this straight, you told him I really…looked…forward…to…our…date?”

“Unfortunately, and he made reservations at a fancy restaurant and bought tickets for an expensive play. He wants to make an impression. I wanted to call you and tell you, but I knew what I did was wrong and by then I became scarred shitless to tell you. Until now…now I’m out of time.”

Her heart jumped into her throat. At least it felt like it did. “Hold on! Wait a minute, what does ‘out of time’ mean—?”

“Your dinner reservation is for six-thirty.”

Panic struck. “Six-thirty!” She glanced at her watch—a quarter to five. “Tonight!” she screamed, “Girl, how could you do this to me? Maybe I can hate you after all.”

Ty began to blubber. “I’m sorry, sob, I know I shouldn’t have done it, sob, but it was one of those things. sob I can’t explain it.”

“If dinner is at six thirty, what time will he be here?”

“I don’t know, but it’s downtown so I suppose forty-five minutes to an hour ahead of time.”

Absolute terror replaced her panic. A strange man would be here in less than an hour to take her out. Calm down and think. “Ty, I don’t hate you, but I am really, really pissed at you. Now, I don’t have much time, since I have to get ready, give me the condensed version. Tell me everything about your cousin you can think of in two minutes, starting with his name.”

“His name is Phillip Gordon, but he goes by Gordy. He’s two years older than us, stands a shade over six feet, and like you, he has a glorious bod and…let’s just say you won’t be disappointed. He attended UCLA on a football scholarship, received a Bachelor of Science degree, is supposed to be some kind of wizard and works his wizardry in the research and development department of some avant garde, hi techie company.”

When Ty paused to catch her breath, Keli said, “Sounds impressive. I need to get ready now. Just tell me, is he nice?”

“Oh yes. Gordy is the warmest, sweetest person. I adore him.”

“Okay, good. I gotta go.”

“Keli?”

“What?”

“There’s one more thing I should tell you.”

“I’m listening. Hurry please.”

“Gordy is light skinned.”

“That’s all right. I have to go. Goodbye.