Except there never was that chance, and after a while she stopped trying to make excuses. For an English teacher of considerable and ponderous girth, Wyeth could really dance. So could the other men who claimed her one after the other. Angie knew how to dance, too, for the simple reason that all four grandparents had been avid ballroom dancers. Through her childhood and much of her high school years they had dragged her to every competition on the East Coast.

When the band finished its set and left the raised stage to take a break, Angie was breathless and laughing when she looked up to see John standing at the edge of the crowd. He was still dressed as she had seen him last at the alumni reception, but he had loosened his tie and had a long-necked beer bottle in one hand.

Tony came up and draped an arm over her shoulders. “Aren’t you glad you didn’t rush away?”

Angie shot him a warning look that didn’t even register.

“Get this,” he was saying. “John brought Jude Parris with him.”

Angie had been ready to disavow any interest in John Grant, but this last piece of news took her by surprise. “Jude Parris? At the Hound Dog?” And then: “The reunion. I didn’t even think about it: she’s an alumna.”

“Who’s Jude Parris?” Wyeth asked, looking interested.

“Rivera’s adviser from Smith,” Angie answered absently. She caught sight of the table where Jude sat with Rivera and Meg and—she sighed—John. Wyeth was looking in the same direction.

He said, “Judith Parris? Author of Man of Pain?”

Angie thought, Oh, shit.

Wyeth said, “She’s got a new book coming out, I forget the title.”

Tony said, “Studies in Sexual Indiscretion,” and Angie punched him, hard enough to make him yelp. He rubbed his arm and scowled at Angie, but he spoke to Wyeth. “Hey, Urban Cowboy. Stay away from Jude Parris. She eats her dead.”

“John and Win look comfortable enough,” said Wyeth, and Angie saw that, indeed, John Grant and Win Walker had been induced to join Rivera, Jude, and Weepy Meg.

“I’ll come with you,” said Wyeth. “Is she one of the Savannah Parris girls?”

A half an hour later Angie had pretty much given up on ever getting away to be alone with John. There were eight of them crowded into a round corner booth, and somehow or another she had ended up between John and Tony, directly across from Win Walker and Wyeth Horton. Wyeth’s attention was mostly on Jude, but Win kept a close eye on Angie, and his expression was less than friendly. Of course, the last time they had talked to each other it had been in the presence of a loaded condom, which probably explained a lot.