“. . . that’s why it’s so hard for me to tell you I’ve made a mistake.” He looked down at her hand.

“A mistake?”

“I’ve been leading you toward something I thought was right, but I’ve only recently realized that it’s not.”

She sat up straighter in the tiny chair and permitted herself the first flicker of hope. “It isn’t?”

“Sharon, I’m sorry. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the two of us in the past few days. . . .”

“Yes?”

“This is all my fault. I’m old enough to know myself better and not make this kind of mistake.”

She was afraid she’d expire from the suspense if he didn’t get to the point soon.

“As special as you are, and you are special— As important as this relationship has been to me . . .” Once again, his voice trailed off.

“Dan, are you dumping me?”

He looked horrified. “God, no! It’s nothing like that. We’re friends. It’s just—”

“You are! You’re dumping me.”

His face fell. “I feel like a heel for leading you on. I got caught up with you and the kids and everything. You’d think I would have figured out by now what I want out of life. I’m sorry I had to put you through my mid-life crisis.”

“No, no, it’s fine! Really. I understand.” She could barely hold back her glee. “I guess I’ve known for a while that we weren’t right for each other, but I didn’t know how to talk to you about it. I’m glad you came to see me, and I appreciate you being honest with me. Most men wouldn’t have put themselves through a confrontation. They would have just stopped calling.”

“I couldn’t do that.”

“Of course you couldn’t.” She wasn’t able to control the smile that was spreading over her face.

He began to look amused. “Don’t you want to cry or hit me or something?”

She didn’t always get his jokes, but she understood this one. “I guess you can tell that I’m a little bit relieved. I’ve been feeling sort of crazy these past few weeks. You’re every woman’s dream man, and I knew I should fall in love with you.”

“But you didn’t.”

She shook her head.

“Sharon, I can’t believe I’m going to do this, but I wasn’t exactly expecting this conversation to turn out so well. Yesterday, a friend of mine asked me about you. At first I thought he was just curious because he knew you were my guest at the game on Sunday, but then I realized he wanted to ask you out himself.”

“The one thing I’ve learned the past few months is that I’m not comfortable with athletes.”

“Perfect.”

She couldn’t understand why he was smiling.

Still grinning, he rose from the small chair. “My friend’s not much of an athlete. He plays basketball, but just between the two of us, he’s pretty pathetic.”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s Ron McDermitt, our general manager.”