“I… have to buy a coat. I don’t have a coat to wear.”

“So wear your sweatshirt. This isn’t no fancy dress ball we’re going to. This is a bingo game, for crying out loud.”

Kate meekly pulled the sweatshirt over her head. “I don’t know if this is such a good idea. I’ve never been to a bingo game. I wouldn’t want to slow you down.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll get you all fixed up.”

They ran into Dave on the sidewalk in front of Kate’s house.

Kate looked from Elsie to Dave. “Is this a setup?”

Dave widened his eyes in exaggerated curiosity. “Going someplace?”

“We’re going to a bingo game,” Elsie told him. “You can come if you want.”

Kate rammed her fists into her hips. “I’m not going if he’s going.”

“Her nose is outta joint,” Elsie told Dave. “What’d you do to her last night?”

“Nothing.”

“Well, no wonder,” Elsie said. “When I was her age I got grouchy when somebody did nothing to me, too.” She looked at Kate’s little compact with the bashed-in rear bumper and dented side fender, and she looked at Dave’s Porsche. “I never arrived at a bingo game in a Porsche before.”

“Then we’ll take my car,” Dave said. “I know how you feel about missed opportunities.”

“I thrive on missed opportunities,” Kate told them. “In fact, I’m going to miss this one.”

Dave wrapped an arm around her and pushed her forward. “You’re going to pass up a bingo game? Hard to believe. You’d better think it over.”

“I’ve thought it over!”

Dave opened the car door and pushed Kate in. “Think about it some more.”

Elsie slid in next to Kate and shoved her toward the driver’s side. “This car’s really something, isn’t it? Real leather. Smooth,” she said, running her hand over the dash.

Kate moved onto the console, straddling the gearshift. “Someone needs to sit in the little back seat. We don’t all fit up front.”

“Sure we do,” Dave said. “It’s nice and cozy.” He strapped on his seat belt, turned the ignition, and shifted into first, his hand snaking up the inside of Kate’s left thigh. “Good thing we’re such good friends,” he whispered. “I’d hate to have to shift up a stranger’s leg.” He accelerated slightly and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Are you ready for me to shift again?”

Kate gasped and flattened against the back of her seat when she realized where second gear was going to land him. “Don’t you dare…” Too late.

When he moved to third she had to grit her teeth to resist the temptation to grab his hand and put it back where it had been. “Is this bingo place far from here?” she managed to ask.