“Or breakfast either,” I lied.

We finished with our meal. Johnny insisted on paying, which I found to be very old-fashioned and charming. I might be a modern liberated woman, but it was nice to be treated to an evening out every now and again, especially since my big hunger pangs led to so many big bills. It was another point in his favor.

Once the check was squared away, we went out through the restaurant’s side exit. We stood there in the warm twilight, listening to the cheery carousel music from the park. Now came the tricky part of the evening. Did I really want to invite Johnny back to my apartment? Sure, we’d made out at the wedding and shared a steamy kiss earlier this evening, but did I want to go the rest of the way? Was I ready to do that? Especially with someone I’d known only two days? It had seemed like a terrific idea at the wedding, but now, I wasn’t so sure.

Oh, I liked sex, and I wasn’t ashamed of it. I’d had my share of ill-advised, torrid affairs in college, including a couple of one-night stands. But with Travis, sex had come to mean something else entirely. It had been making love, sharing my body with someone who cared about me as much as I cared about him. Not to mention the fact that we’d been together five years. I wasn’t sure I knew how to be with anybody else. My hand crept to my engagement ring. Or if I even wanted to, sex or no sex. There was always selffulfillment, so to speak.

“How about a stroll through the park?” Johnny suggested.

“That’d be nice,” I said, relieved I wouldn’t have to make a decision just yet.

We crossed the street and entered Paradise Park, one of Bigtime’s biggest tourist attractions. The park featured just about every carnival ride and game in the known universe. H o t M a m a

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A carousel, Ferris wheel, ring tosses, water guns, strength tests. Even now, after nine in the evening, thousands of people crowded into the park to eat funnel cakes, get dizzy and sick on the spinning rides, and try to win overpriced stuffed animals for their honeys.

The air smelled of popcorn and grease. Still hungry, I got the biggest cone of cherry-flavored cotton candy the vendor had. The pure, spun sugar melted on my tongue and quieted my stomach. There was nothing better than sugar for a quick boost of energy. That was why I kept an emergency stash of PEZ in my desk at work.

Johnny and I wandered arm-in-arm through the park, just another couple taking in the sights and sounds. To my surprise, he seemed content to stroll along the gum-littered pavement alongside the harried parents, shrieking children, and bawdy vendors. All the other men on the society circuit would have blown up like a balloon if they so much as scuffed their polished wingtips. They would have sneered in disdain at the noisy families and demanded that the park be closed down just for their visit. Not Johnny.