You see, cute is... well, it's like which one of you I'dwant to hug tight, maybe cuddle up to. And beautiful, well, that's thequality that makes you...just want to stare, that makes your heart beat alittle faster." I'd used a similar speech long ago, on Lisa, although inher case I told her she won in both categories. Here, I had a differentplan. "Now, both of you are both cute and beautiful. But Beth wins oncute, and Michelle wins on beautiful." "Really?" Michelle said. Her face was red,. I blushed every time I thought of her body above mine, and turned completely red when I thought about how I pushed her away. This was so beyond my comfort zone. I needed a distraction.So I drank coffee all day and buried myself in reading a current case. It was about a woman, Rose Sherman, desperately trying to get away from her stalker. Scary, compelling stuff. It infuriated me how lenient stalker laws were. He’d been terrorizing her for nearly a year before he finally broke into her apartment. She let go and asked me to get dressed so I could take her out to dinner and a movie, my treat. Everything was fine until it was time for me to leave. With a three-hour drive ahead of me and work the next morning, I started to realize the reality ahead of me. As we kissed goodbye she placed her hand on the device, claiming it as her property. She then placed a sealed envelope in my pocket asking me not to read it until I was home. As soon as I walked through the doors, I had a raging urge to. I’m returning your call.”“Hi. I was wondering if you might want to get a cup of coffee or something so we could talk.”“Sure, I suppose I can do that. When?”“What are you doing right now?”“Talking to you!” I chuckled, “But seriously, I just came back from karate and I’m sitting in pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. I don’t feel like going out tonight.”“What about Thursday sometime?” she asked.“How about mid-afternoon? Say 3:00pm at the coffee shop on Hyde Park just east of Woodlawn.”“See you then,”.