'I can get my own dates, Tony.'
'Whatever you say.'
'Okay?'
'Okay.'
They concentrated on their cheese omelets.
There were several large office buildings nearby, and dozens of secretaries in bright dresses paraded past on the sidewalk, going to lunch.
Flowers ringed the restaurant terrace and perfumed the sun-coppered air.
The noise on the street was typically that of L.A. It wasn't the incessant barking of brakes and screaming of horns that you heard in New York or Chicago or most other cities. Just the hypnotic grumble of engines. And the air-cutting whoosh of passing cars. A lulling noise. Soothing. Like the tide on the beach. Made by machines but somehow natural, primal. Also subtly and inexpressibly erotic. Even the sounds of the traffic conformed to the city's subconscious subtropical personality.
After a couple of minutes of silence, Frank said, 'What's her name?'
'Who?'
'Don't be a smartass.'
'Janet Yamada.'
'Japanese?'
'Does she sound Italian?'
'What's she like?'
'Intelligent, witty, good-looking.'
'What's she do?'
'Works at city hall.'
'How old is she?'
'Thirty-six, thirty-seven.'
'Too young for me?'
'You're only forty-five, for God's sake.'
'How'd you come to know her?'
'We dated for a while,' Tony said.
'What went wrong?'
'Nothing. We just discovered we make better friends than lovers.'
'You think I'll like her?'
'Positive.'
'And she'll like me?'
'If you don't pick your nose or eat with your hands.'
'Okay,' Frank said. 'I'll go out with her.'
'If it's going to be an ordeal for you, maybe we should just forget it.'
'No. I'll go. It'll be okay.'
'You don't have to do it just to please me.'
'Give me her phone number.'
'I don't feel right about this,' Tony said. 'I feel like I've forced you into something.'
'You haven't forced me.'
'I think I should call her and cancel the arrangements,' Tony said.
'No, listen, I--'
'I shouldn't try to be a matchmaker. I'm lousy at it.'
'Dammit, I want to go out with her!' Frank said.
Tony smiled broadly. 'I know.'
'Have I just been manipulated?'
'You manipulated yourself.'
Frank tried to scowl, but couldn't. He grinned instead. 'Want to double-date Saturday night?'
'No way. You've got to stand on your own, my friend.'
'And besides,' Frank said knowingly. 'you don't want to share Hilary Thomas with anyone else.'
