Decker smiled at her, asking for approval without asking her directly.

She let out a small laugh. “Have fun, boys.”

Decker smoothed his mustache, tried to figure out how to say what was on his mind. “You know, as a kid I didn’t always have the swiftest of judgment.”

Rina didn’t answer.

“Even our forefathers weren’t immune,” Decker continued. “The commentaries tell us that Joshua married Rahav the whore—”

“Oh, Peter, don’t get biblical on me. You don’t have to justify what you did.” She laughed again. “You mean I wasn’t the first?”

“Hate to tell you, kid,” Decker said.

“And all this time, I thought Cindy was hatched parthenogenetically.”

Decker said, “She was hatched just like your boys.”

Rina smiled, lowered her head, her eyes suddenly drifting away.

Decker had seen the look before—sweet nostalgia for her late husband—and it bothered him. The first time he and Rina had slept together, she’d been extremely shy. Decker had known part of it was modesty, but he’d mistakenly thought that part of it had been innocence. After she’d become used to their nakedness, it had become painfully obvious to Decker that he had no new tricks to teach her. Suddenly, the roles had reversed, and now she was the one playing him like a virtuoso; all she’d needed had been a little practice to get her fingers nimble. As a matter of fact, he ranked Rina as one of his best, sharing the spot with such notables as a Vegas call girl and a twenty-five-year-old nympho named Candy he had once busted on a soliciting charge.

Rina’s expertise really bothered him.

It also put her late husband, Yitzchak, in a completely different light. Until he and Rina had sex, Decker had always assumed that the soft-spoken Talmudic scholar had lived a boring, modest life. Now, Decker found himself wondering about the duality of the guy. A Jewish Superman—a studious bochar by day, a stud by night.

Rina certainly knew her way around a man’s body. And Decker knew there had been only one other man in her life. He was dying to ask her what Yitzchak had been like, but knew that was just the old ego begging for reassurance.

Unsolicited, she had told Decker he was wonderful. But everything he did she said was wonderful. Decker hoped his lovemaking wasn’t as mediocre as his woodworking.

The faraway look still held fast in Rina’s eyes. Decker’d had enough. He said, “You want to come with us?”

“Huh?” Rina answered.

“Yoo-hoo, space cadet.” He waved his hand in front of her eyes. “Want to come with us to the park? It’s not a great offer, but I bet it beats peeling potatoes.”

Rina said, “Sure. Why not?”