* * *

Nina and Fred came running up the stairs two weeks later on a Saturday afternoon late in June, ready for their after-walk ration of one Oreo apiece, to find Charity sitting on the floor by their door.

"It's almost done, Neen." Charity scrambled to her feet and yanked her blue vinyl miniskirt down with one hand while she clutched manuscript pages in the other. "Only one more chapter to go. I've been working on it night and day, even at the shop.''

She hesitated, and Nina realized that she was nervous, she'd never seen Charity nervous before.

"It's going to be great," she told Charity, moving toward her.

Fred, already there, wiped his nose on Charity's black stockings as a show of support.

Charity looked down in distaste. "Don't they make anti-histamines for dogs? His snot problem is getting worse."

Nina took the manuscript from her. "It truly is going to be great. I've read the first chapters, and they're terrific, really interesting."

"I don't know." Charity clasped her hands together tightly. "I just don't know. After a while, the chapters all started to sound alike.''

Nina sighed in relief. She'd noticed that problem, too. "Well, it'll help in the rewrite if you make Jane learn something each time," Nina told her. "This is a first draft. You'll get it in the rewrite."

Charity looked at her. "You'd be tougher on a writer you didn't know, wouldn't you?"

Nina looked back at her, exasperated. "I am never tough during a first draft. You want me to beat you up, fine. But let's get the whole book done first. Then we can look at it and see where it needs fixing. I'll call you all the names you want then."

Charity shook her head. "I wish I knew somebody else to give this to. Another reader, you know? Somebody who doesn't know me like you do. You'd like it just because I wrote it."

Nina flipped through the manuscript, stopping at the ninth chapter title. "Oedipus Rat?"

Charity nodded. "That was Bob. He cheated on me with his mother. Told me he was too busy to see me and then took her to bingo. I thought it was A Sign."

Nina nodded with her. "Yes, I'd think that, too." She flipped through the pages again. "Did I miss something? Where's the chapter on your marriage?"

"It's in there," Charity said. "Keep looking. Chapter ten. It was tough to write."

Nina winced, feeling guilty because she was making Charity relive her one-year disaster. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Charity said. "The theme of that chapter is never marry a doctor because they're never home, and when they do come home they're too tired to have sex, so they watch television and go to sleep. This chapter alone is going to be worth the price of the book in heartache avoided."

Nina thought of Alex the night before, propped up against her couch, cheering while Harrison Ford found the ark of the covenant. "You're exaggerating."

"Oh, yeah?" Charity leaned against the door. "One night, in order to jump start my marriage, I met Kenneth at the door in the nude. He kissed my cheek, walked into the bedroom, crawled into bed and fell asleep. It's all in there. Chapter ten-The Naked and The Dead."

Nina started to laugh and then stopped herself. "Okay, you want some criticism? I don't know about these chapter titles. We may have to rewrite some." She tucked the manuscript under her arm and fished her door key out of her sweats' pocket. "And even though I do think this is great, you're going to have to make it a little more upbeat," she told Charity as she put her key in the lock. "We can take care of it in the rewrite, but some of this comes close to being bitter."

"That's because I am bitter," Charity said. "You really think it's too bitter?" She shook her head. "We need another reader on this. Somebody who doesn't know me at all."

Great, Charity wanted other readers. Now she was going to have to go door to door to find somebody for a second opinion. Nina started to shove her own door open and then stopped, remembering a door worth knocking on. "Wait a minute. How about if I get you several other readers?"

Charity looked cautious. "Who?"

Nina pulled her door closed. "Come on. You have to meet Norma." She started for the stairs, and Fred and Charity followed her up to the fourth-floor apartment.

"Norma, this is Charity," Nina said when Norma opened the door, and then she stopped while elegant Norma-dressed in olive cashmere and khaki linen-and over-the-top Charity-dressed in electric blue vinyl and silver lycra-sized each other up, came to their separate conclusions and smiled at each other. "Charity's written a book," Nina went on when it seemed safe. "Does your readers' group ever read unpublished manuscripts?"

"Well, we haven't before," Norma said. "That doesn't mean we can't start." She opened her door wider. "Come on in and tell me about it," she said, and Fred trotted in.

Fifteen minutes later, they were down the stairs again, and Charity had a new deadline.

"I can finish the last chapter by Thursday," she told Nina. "This is so great of Norma to do this. Can you get the copies run off if I get it to you by Thursday night?"

"Sure." Nina put her key in the door. "Norma can give them out on Friday and then the next Friday-" Her voice broke off as she opened the door and heard her television.

"We're out of Oreos," Alex called from the floor in front of the TV, and Fred went to join him.

Charity raised an eyebrow at Nina.

Nina lifted her chin. "I must have left the window open." She led Charity over to the couch. "This is Alex. Alex, this is Charity."

Alex turned from the TV. "Ah, the great author-" he began, only to stop as his eyes traveled up Charity's endless black-stockinged legs to her vinyl miniskirt and lycra tank top.

Seeing Charity for the first time was always an experience, Nina reminded herself. But seeing Charity from floor level would be mind-boggling. It wasn't Alex's fault that his chin was on his knees.

"I've heard a lot about you," Charity said, and Alex climbed to his feet.

"I haven't heard nearly enough about you," he said, and Nina wanted to kill them both.

"I'll go get the Oreos," she said to get away from them, and Alex turned back to her and said, "I told you, we're out."

"I moved them," Nina told him. "I was trying to make a space for the Crock-Pot because you keep bitching at me about it, and I moved them. And then there still wasn't enough space for the pot, anyway, but I forgot to move them back."

Alex shook his head at her. "Don't move things around on me. Stability is the foundation of any good relationship. One day it's moving the Oreos, and the next day it'll be the couch, and then where will we be?" He leaned closer to smile into her eyes. "We've got a good thing going here, babe. Don't screw up."

Nina's heart lurched sideways, but she did her best not to smile back. "I'll get the Oreos. You amuse Charity."

She headed for the kitchen, trying not to stomp, and then jumped when Charity spoke from behind her as she reached for the cupboard door.

"That man was flirting with you," Charity said, absolutely delighted.

"That man flirts with tree stumps," Nina said, absolutely disgusted. "You'll see. Go on back in there and sit down next to him."

"I don't want to see." Charity plopped herself down into a chair. "I'm through with men forever. Every time I see one, I want to spit." She grew thoughtful. "Except for Alex. He seems like a good one."

Nina dropped the Oreos on the table. "Then go for it."

Charity scowled at her. "You're not listening. I'm through with men. You're not. I think you should go after Alex."

"Don't be ridiculous," Nina said, feeling immensely relieved and immensely annoyed that she was feeling relieved. It didn't mean anything that Charity wasn't interested in Alex.

"I'm not being ridiculous." Charity picked up an Oreo. "I think you should seduce him."

"Seduce who?" Alex said behind her.

Charity dropped her cookie. "Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry." Alex crossed to the fridge, shoved the Crock-Pot back, opened the door and took out the milk. "Who is Nina seducing? I may be against this."

"I have a new date," Nina said, mentally kicking herself because now she'd have to dig up somebody to date. Digging up made her think of Charity's idea about digging up James Dean, and she grinned in spite of herself.

Alex leaned on the counter next to her and scowled at her. "Stop smiling. You do not have my permission to seduce this guy.''

Nina raised her eyebrows at him. "I don't need your permission."

"Yeah, you do." Alex reached behind her and got a mug out of the cupboard. "You're a mother. You have standards to uphold."

Charity frowned at him. "She's not a mother."

"Yes, she is." Alex nodded at Fred, who was sitting at their feet, giving them his best I-Need-An-Oreo-Desperately look. "Fred's at that difficult age."

Charity looked down at him. "Would that be the Age of Snot?"

Alex snorted. "Come on, Fred. They're being irrational, and Frasier reruns are on. Let's go watch Eddie." He picked up the Oreos, and Fred surged to his feet and trotted after him into the living room.

Charity looked at Nina. "That man is nuts about you."

Nina sagged against the counter. "Don't be ridiculous, you can't be ridiculous because I'm being ridiculous enough for both of us. I'm the one who made up a phantom date."

"Why don't you go out with him?" Charity said, jerkinng her head toward the living room, exasperated.

Nina folded her arms. "Well, for one thing he hasn't asked me."

Charity rolled her eyes. "It's the nineties. You're allowed to do the asking now."

Nina snorted. "Ask out a guy who's ten years younger than I am? Right. No."

Charity looked back over her shoulder toward the living oom. "You're nuts. He's perfect for you, and you're going to let ten years-"

"That's a lot of years, Char," Nina said. "And Alex isn't perfect for me. You know, he's not exactly mature for his age. His idea of intellectual entertainment is 'Mystery Science Theatre.' He has no serious thoughts."

Charity bit into an Oreo. "Sounds wonderful to me."

Nina sighed. "Well, actually, it's wonderful for me, too, for right now, but what happens if we do end up together and the lust part wears off and I'm stuck with an infant significant other?" Nina bit her lip. "Not that we'd ever end up together. We're too mismatched. I'm visibly older than he is, and it's only going to get worse. And there's my body." She stopped and swallowed. "Everything's lower and chunkier than it used to be. You should see the women he dates. They're young and beautiful and-" she made a face "-taut and perky, the whole Playboy bit. And you want me to flash him a body that has twenty more years on it than the ones he's used to? There's a limit to how long I can hold in my stomach."

Charity opened her mouth, but Nina overrode her. "And he's at the age where he's probably thinking about settling down. I'm at the age where I'm tired of settling down. I don't want to do the big-house bit again. I love this apartment. I love my life." She thought for a moment of her life, which included her big empty bed, a bed that grew bigger and emptier with every moment she spent with Alex. No. "We're fine as friends," she told Charity. "In fact, we're phenomenal as friends. But for the rest of our lives? When he's my age, I'll be fifty. Men still look great at forty, but I'll be fifty. I'll look old."

Charity frowned at her in disgust. "No, you won't. You're making assumptions based on the way things used to be. Things have changed. People don't get old at fifty anymore. Hell, the best-looking woman I've seen lately is Norma, and she has to be in her sixties."

"Seventy-five," Nina corrected her.

Charity spread her hands out. "Well, see. It's attitude that counts, not age. And I have to tell you, your attitude sucks. You might as well be eighty now, the way you're giving up on life."

"I'm not giving up on life," Nina said, stung. "I'm just not going to make a fool of myself over a younger man."

Charity pushed herself away from the table and stood up. "Nina, take it from me because I know this from experience. No matter what guy you end up with, you're going to make a fool of yourself. You might as well make a fool of yourself over somebody who's worth it. And Alex is worth it."