"I'm off work at 5:00. Will that be OK for you?"Ruthie nodded again.Mike could tell that she was nervous. What he did not realize was that she was tot...lly terrified, because he would be the first guy she had gone out with in over a year.Santa Cruz is one of a string of affluent towns that lie along the central coast of California, which also include Monterey, Carmel, and Big Sur. As a result of the local wealth, the process of big-box homogenization that has overrun the US has been slower to. “It was a holiday romance and the marriage didn’t last long but I stayed,” she told us. “I like it here. I have a partner and a son.”“We’re on holiday here too. Trying to see much of the real Portugal rather than concentrate on the tourist part.”“No children in tow?”Sue smiled. “They’ve grown up and are at university now.”The woman laughed. “Having some us time then?”Sue smiled, “You could say that.”“Oh?”“We’re over here staying with my boyfriend,” she said quietly.The woman stopped and looked. “If it helps, I also wish that only my babies would ever suck milk, from your boobs, too,” he said, hopefully.She stared at him.“You are such a prick sometimes!” she yipped. “Can I go, now?”He stepped aside.“I love you,” he said, helplessly.“I don’t know why, but I love you, too,” she growled.Then she marched past him and returned to Barbie’s room. She found two girls trying to get past Bob. She ducked under his arm.“I’m fine,” she said. “My stupid brother tried to apologize to me and that was. The other thing that he thought might be causing her concern was the infighting that went on amongst the faculty members of the college. He knew that if she were having trouble with a colleague she would never mention it to him. Glenda believed in looking after her own problems and decisions when it came to her job.There was another possibility, of course. It was there in the back of his mind, and he was consciously trying to ignore it, but it kept peeking into his thought processes; what if.