Rosetti and I laughed.

"I don't know what he thinks, and for that matter, I don't care and neither should you," I said. "He's a waiter in a restaurant. It's not like he'll be important in your life."

"We'll see what kind of service we get. You know, I've been to nice places like this where they've refused to wait on me and my friends or just avoided us altogether."

"Really?"

"Yes. And it wasn't too long ago. I was out with some friends at a chain restaurant just off the highway. We got seated, but sat there for almost forty-five minutes without a waitress in sight. When I approached the night manager about the poor service, he said they were busy, which was a bunch of bull, because half the restaurant was empty. So we left."

"That's terrible. Who would have thought that in this day and age, this kind of prejudice still existed?"

"I know, it's sad, but true," Rosetti said as she unfurled her silverware from its napkin cocoon.

"Maybe if I grew my hair longer," Rosetti said, checking her reflection in the back of her tablespoon.

"Rosemary, you're beautiful just the way you are."

Rosetti looked up, surprised. "Why, Dr. Caselli, you've never said that to me."

I felt my face flush. Awkward silence hung between us. I fidgeted with my napkin, while Rosetti played with her silverware. We both seemed relieved when our waiter arrived to take our order. Rosetti ordered the bleu cheese-crusted filet, and I ordered the salmon. We both ordered more wine.

"You know the last time I was here was with Sean. You were here too that night, with Linda. Remember?"

"Oh, yes, I do remember. Wow, that was a long time ago."

"How's Linda been?" I asked, cautiously treading on territory I wasn't sure I wanted to go into. "I haven't heard you talk much about her lately."

"Oh, I think our relationship is finally over," Rosetti said, fingering the stem of her empty wine glass.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I said, but my heart skipped a beat indicating that no, I wasn't the least bit sorry to hear of her impending break-up with Linda. I gathered my wits and quieted my heart and tried to act concerned. "What happened?"

"She went back to her husband."

"Husband? I didn't know she was married."

"Neither did I," Rosetti said with a chuckle. "But now that I look back, there were so many clues."

"Like what?"

"Like she could only come here every other weekend...and never on a holiday. I wanted to take her skiing in Vermont over Christmas last year. She said she couldn't go because she had to take care of her sick grandfather. Sick grandfather...right. I called her on Christmas morning to wish her Merry Christmas and some guy answers the phone...he didn't sound old or sick."

"Wow, I had no idea. I thought things were going pretty well between you two."

"Looks can be deceiving. I guess that's how it is when you're doing the long-distance thing. You never really know what's going on when you're not around. You know, Mina, for some reason, I can't seem to break this cycle of being attracted to women who are unavailable."

"How do you mean?"

"I always seem to go for the women with a lot of baggage or women who are attached to someone else. Why would anyone want to go through the aggravation of sorting through all that?"

The waiter brought our salads and second round of wine.

"I don't know, Rosetti. Obtaining the unobtainable seems a big turn-on for you. I would imagine that it's pretty exciting at first, but frustrating after a while." I took a sip of my wine, wondering if I seemed unobtainable to her.

"Speaking of frustrating..." Rosetti dumped her silver cup of Thousand Island dressing over her salad. "What's up with you and Regan?"

"Nothing's up with me and Regan. Remember, she has a husband and now a kid, too. Where in that equation do you see a place for me?" I took another healthy sip of wine.

"I still think she wants you back. I think it took this long for her to realize what she had."

I didn't respond. Rosetti rapidly stabbed another bunch of lettuce leaves saturated in thick orange dressing and shoveled them into her mouth.

"And if her marriage is on the rocks, who better to step in and rescue her and help raise her kid but you?" Rosetti munched a mouthful of salad. She always ate like it was her last meal.

"Ro, she didn't come back here because she wanted to be with me. She's married...to a man, which tells me that our being together in the first place was a mistake. Anyway, you know I don't want kids. Children are the biggest responsibility anybody can take on. I don't need any more responsibility in my life right now. And anyway, if I wanted kids, I would've stayed married to Sean."

"But what if the reason she did come back was to be with you? Would you take her back?"

Rosetti's frankness caught me by surprise. Why was she being so direct about this? Did it really matter to her that much? I set my fork down and thought about the question. Considering Regan's recent return and the undeniable emerging of my deeper feelings for Rosetti, I really needed to think this out.

"At this point, I don't know. I mean, I know I still love her. Heck, I prayed for five years that she would come back someday so we could be together, but now that she is back, I'm terrified of getting my heart handed to me in little pieces again. It's like the emotional part of me wants to rescue her from her idiot husband and take care of her and Tess forever, then the logical part of me wants to run away from her as fast as I can."

Rosetti's gaze lowered as did her voice. "Regan would be a fool not to try and put things back together with you. She's not going to find a better person in this world than you," Rosetti said, her face clouded with sadness.

The waiter brought our dinners, and suddenly, neither of us was very hungry. What had just happened here? Our evening out was supposed to be a break from all the drama we'd been going through, but it seemed to only add to it. First the awkward silence over my comment about Rosetti's looks and now this. Normally, we could talk about anything and everything. Now there seemed to be a pink elephant in the room that neither of us knew what to do with.

We picked at our dinners and split the house dessert specialty: volcano fudge cake that came with the meal. It was a piece of chocolate cake with a hole cut out of the center and filled with warm hot fudge and topped with whipped cream and a Maraschino cherry.

Rosetti plucked the cherry off the top of the cake and ate it. She held the empty stem between her thumb and index finger.

"You know, I once asked a woman out only because she could tie a knot in one of these with her tongue."

"You have tremendously high standards, Rosetti." I sipped my third glass of wine, enjoying the sensuous taste of wine and chocolate and the relaxing buzz it created. "I admire that in you."

"Thank you," she said proudly, twirling the stem between her fingers.

Rosetti was quiet again as she sat across from me mashing her piece of volcano cake down with her fork. Her dessert looked more like a chocolate pancake than a luxurious high-end dessert. Her silence was driving me crazy because it was so unlike her.

"Ro, you seem a million miles away. Is everything all right?"

"Huh?" She looked up from her pulverized piece of volcano cake.

"What are you thinking about?"

Rosetti straightened in her chair. "If you really want to know, last night, when I was sitting on that narcotics stakeout, I started thinking about my life and the fact that at any minute, something could go terribly wrong."

"Are you in some kind of danger you're not telling me about?"

"No, Mother Caselli, nothing out of the ordinary."

"Then what is it?

"I know this might sound stupid...but...I'm afraid I'm going to end up...alone," Rosetti whispered.

"Alone? You?"

Rosetti nodded.

"There's no way you're going to end up alone. You're a wonderful person. You have too much to offer some lucky girl to spend your life alone."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I know you. I know how charming you can be."

Rosetti laughed. "Charming?"

"Yes, charming. I've seen your performances. You've had women practically eating out of your hand. And you're a good person, too," I said, not wanting to give the impression that I thought Rosetti only had superficial qualities.

Rosetti shifted in her chair. She looked even more uncomfortable now than she did during dinner. "Mina..."

"What?"

"I've been thinking about this for a long time, and I don't know if this is the right time to tell you, especially now that Regan is back."

"Tell me what?"

"When I first met you, you know at the nursing home when you took care of my mom..."

"Yes...go on."

"I...I had a little...crush on you," she said tentatively, as if testing the idea.

"You did?" I was excited at the prospect that Rosetti may share the same feelings for me that I've been hiding from her.

"Actually, it was more than a crush, but when I found out you were married and who you were married to...then about Regan...I never did anything about it. And I'm glad I never did anything about it because we got to be such good friends."

"Oh. Yes, friends we are." My heart sank. Crap, I knew it was too good to be true.

Rosetti nervously played with her butter knife now since the waiter had removed the plate of mashed chocolate cake. She twirled the knife over and over. With each turn of the knife, the blade tip or the handle landed on the table with a rhythmic thunk. Finally, she looked up at me. Her gaze was as soft as a caress. "I guess I want to know why after all this time we never got together."

My breath caught in my throat. "I guess it just wasn't the right time for us. Like you said, when we met, my life was a mess between Sean and Regan. And then you were involved with Linda..."

"I see," Rosetti said, disappointment brimmed in her eyes.

My heart pounded. I felt like if I didn't take a chance and come clean with Rosetti about what I'd been feeling about her, I'd lose the chance forever. I reached across the table and covered her hand with mine. "But, Rosetti, I'm not married anymore and you are no longer with Linda."

"What about Regan?"

"Regan's not here. I'm willing to forget about Regan if you are..."

Rosetti smiled, and in that moment, it was settled. She'd come up to my place like so many times before, but this time not as a friend, but as my new lover. And we would see what would happen. The check came and we both went for it. I let Rosetti win only because she was carrying a gun and I didn't want things to get ugly.

Rosetti held my hand as she drove us to my apartment. Her hand was strong and gentle. I looked at our hands clasped together and felt a tingling in the pit of my stomach. Little was said between us as I'm sure her mind was reeling just as fast as mine was. In the parking lot of the apartment complex, Rosetti got out and opened my car door, something she'd never done before. It felt kind of weird and kind of nice. But once we got in my apartment, that's when things got really awkward. Rosetti, who used to roam around my apartment freely, as if it was her own, was now suddenly stiff and jumpy. She stood in the center of the living room with her hands stuffed into her pants pockets, appearing afraid to touch anything.

I walked over to the couch and sat down. Rosetti shyly followed.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concerned about her unusual behavior.

Rosetti nodded. "Yep, I'm fine." She nervously looked around the room. I was almost beginning to think that she was looking for an escape route. Maybe this wasn't going so well. The clock ticking above the couch was the only sound in the room. There was so much to be said, but neither one of us knew where to start. Neither of us had expected this to be so hard. What had felt so right in the restaurant and in my mind suddenly didn't feel right at all.

The phone rang and we both jumped.

I let it ring. This moment was crucial, a turning point in our relationship, and I didn't want anything to interrupt it.

"Aren't you gonna get that?" Rosetti said, fidgeting with a crease in her slacks.

I looked over at the phone. "No. Let the machine get it."

"What if it's something important? What if your mom's sick or if Sean's dad's in trouble?"

The answering machine clicked on before I could reach the phone.

"Mina, it's Regan. I'm sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could..." Her crying interrupted her words. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming to the hospital. Tess is in surgery...Jim left...I don't have anyone I can count on. I'm so scared she's not going to make it."

As I listened to Regan, I looked up at Rosetti and clearly saw the disappointment in her eyes. Rosetti nudged me to answer the call before Regan hung up.

"Regan, I'm here. Can you hold on a minute?" I then covered the phone receiver with my hand. Before I could say a word, Rosetti spoke up.

"Go, Mina...you know you have to go."

"Come with me," I said. "We have a lot to talk about."

"Don't you think me being there would make things a little uncomfortable? She never did like me much."

"But..."

Rosetti reached out and touched my face. "Your friend needs you. Go do what you do best. I'll be here when you get back. That's if you want me to be here."

"Yes, I do."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded.

Rosetti smiled.

I lifted my hand from the receiver. "Regan, I'll be there in about fifteen minutes," I said and hung up.

"I'll just crash here on your couch." Rosetti pulled the red and white afghan off the back of the couch. "Wake me up when you get back, okay?" she said as she snuggled in.