It was kind of like a movie, now that she thought about it. Shy boy finally gets up the courage to meet the girl he's been worshiping from afar. Picks the most romantic place he knows, a place with soft lighting and gentle breezes and . . . Jenny shook

her head and smiled. She was getting carried away. First she had to meet the guy. Then she*d see if this meeting had Hollywood potential.

She was sure he'd be there already, very visible, but as she picked her way through the low bushes and scattered rocks toward the bottom of the bluff, she didn't see anyone waiting for her. He couldn't be hiding, she thought. Nobody was that shy. Could he have changed his mind?

She stopped walking and looked behind her. Hers was the only car there. She listened, hoping to hear another one coming, but everything was quiet. She looked toward the rimrocks again, and picked out the place he'd told her to come to. It was easy to spot, an enormous flat-topped rock right in the middle of the center section of the U-shaped bluff. It was about ten or fifteen feet up, but very easy to get to. He said she couldn't miss it, and she didn't. What she missed was someone sitting on it, waiting for her.

He'd decided not to come. No he hadn't; he'd just gotten held up or something; stop jumping to the bleakest conclusions and give him a chance, at least. Jenny argued back and forth with herself a few more times, and then finally started walking toward the rendezvous point. She couldn't beUeve he wouldn't show up, but even if he didn't, she felt comfortable. Which was, strange, considering the way she'd always felt about the rimrocks. Maybe it was just the time of day. Or maybe she was just so tired she

didn*t have the energy to worry about anything. Whatever it was, she decided to climb to the rock and wait. For a while.

She reached the flat-topped rock in about fifteen minutes, using her usual climbing method of skirting every boulder in the way and walking up the gullies instead. Her stomach was back to normal and rumbling; she wished she'd eaten more than the warm cheese and apple. But maybe he'd bring a picnic. Food was always a good icebreaker.

The rock was still warm from the sun. If it had been soft, Jenny would have stretched out on it and closed her eyes. She was really tired. A single day wasn't long enough for everything that had happened. The things she'd gone through should be stretched out over a couple of weeks, at least.

But she didn't want to think about that. Later, when she wasn't so fuzzy-headed, she'd decide what to do. Right now, she just wanted to keep her mind empty and let her secret admirer fill it with whatever he wanted.

She wasn't wearing her watch. When she left the house, it had been almost six-thirty. He'd called at six. Anytime within the next hour, he'd said. The hour must be almost up. She sat cross-legged on the warm rock and looked down below. Her car was still all by itself, a dusty brown shape among the lengthening shadows.