“Hey, if Arnold were here, he’d be eatin’ his heart out,” said Jimmy, unfazed by Carter’s teasing. He looked over his shoulder. “So what do you think the problem was with this teacher of yours?”

“I dunno,” shrugged Carter. “But you had to see it. One second everything’s all fine and dandy, and then the next—whoosh! I don’t know how to explain it, but it was like the guy stuck his head in the icebox and freeze-dried his face. I mean, it felt like the temperature in the room all of a sudden dropped fifty degrees.”

“Yep,” Jimmy nodded. “Like I said, you definitely struck a nerve. I’ve got an uncle like that. Nicest guy in the world, talkative, funny—that is, until he gets pissed off about something.Then all of a sudden he turns into Mr. Freeze. Doesn’t say a word, but you better duck because one of his looks can take your head off.”

“That’s just the way it was yesterday,” nodded Carter. “The guy reacted like I said something about his mother. I actually felt kind of bad about it after. I mean, I kind of like the guy. He’s tough, but he’s all right. I didn’t mean to insult him.”

“Bah, don’t worry about it,” huffed Jimmy. “Guys like him and my uncle are all the same. They just get moody and miserable sometimes for no reason.”

“Maybe,” said Carter with a shrug. He lay back onto the bench and stared up at the bar resting on the rack. “But for a second there, I thought I was going to have to find a new Italian teacher—and that would have put a major hole in my plans.”

Jimmy came over to spot Carter for his next set of bench presses.

“You’re still dizzy over that broad?” he said with a click of his tongue as he took his place at the end of the bench near Carter’s head.“What’s that all about, anyway? I still haven’t been able to figure it out.”

Carter started to reach up toward the bar, but then let his arms drop down to his sides. He lay there for a moment, staring into space.

“Let me ask you something,” he said at last to Jimmy. “Have you ever been standing someplace, maybe out on a sidewalk in the city, and you look up and see a really sharp-looking girl looking at you from the window of a bus or a car, or maybe she’s just walking by with someone else?”

“Yeah, sure,” said Jimmy.

“And she just mesmerizes you, right?” Carter went on. “And suddenly you think,Wow, could she be the one?”

“The one what?” said Jimmy.

“The one,” said Carter. “You know what I’m talking about—that one girl you’ve been waiting for your whole life.”