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Max had told Zelda that he was taking her to an upscale Mexican restaurant called La Loma Saturday night, after their first round of getting her dog familiar with him. So she dressed in a pair of black Capri pants and a white sweater set. She twisted her hair at the back of her head, held it there with chopsticks, and left a spray of ends at her crown. Then she applied blush, mascara, and lipstick - all slightly heavier for the evening.

Max came to her front door to pick her up this time, looking very spiffy in charcoal gray slacks and a black silk shirt with a banded collar.

He drove a red sports car and his manners were impeccable - he held the door open for her at the curb and again in the restaurant parking lot, and he even helped seat her when they were shown to a table.

“I recommend the margaritas and the green chili on anything,” he told her as they glanced over the menu.

Once they’d ordered, his attention was so focused on her that Zelda felt as if he didn’t realize there were other people in the place.

“So how’d I do today?” he asked.

Zelda knew he was referring to how things had gone with Charlie. “I think it went okay. Charlie stopped growling at you and showing you his teeth.”

“And he didn’t take off my hand when I tried to pet him at the end. Don’t forget that.”

“True,” Zelda agreed. Then she said, “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Feeling any warm, fuzzy feelings for my dog?”

Max laughed. A bit uncomfortably, Zelda thought. “As dogs go, I guess Charlie is...a dog.”

Zelda laughed at that even though the joke wasn’t heartening. “In other words I don’t have to worry about you fighting me for custody of him.”

“My lawyer is out of town.”

“And you haven’t been won over to the dog lovers’ side of the fence.”

He let that go unanswered and instead said, “What do we do with him tomorrow?”

“I thought we’d try a walk to the park, along with more of the stuff we did today. Charlie loves the park and maybe he’ll love you for taking him.”

Max looked dubious but he didn’t voice his doubts. He just said, “I promised to baby-sit my niece in the afternoon. Does Charlie hate kids, too?”

“He’s wild for kids. How old is your niece?”

“Four. And she likes parks, too.”

“I’ll bring a ball for her to throw for Charlie. They’ll both get a kick out of that,” Zelda said. “But for some of the time I should probably take your niece to the swings or something and leave you and Charlie to play catch so he connects you with having fun, too.”

“Ah, more doggy psychology. It takes a lot of work just to leave your dog overnight,” Max commented then.

“It didn’t used to.”

But Zelda didn’t want to go into that and she was spared the need when their food arrived.

Once their waiter had left, Max said, “Okay, no more dog talk. The day belonged to Charlie but tonight belongs to me.”

“Down, boy,” Zelda teased at the devilish wiggle of Max’s eyebrows.

But under the surface she was only too happy to have the subject of Charlie closed so she could get to know more about the great-looking guy she was with. The guy who seemed to make her every nerve ending come alive just with a glance of those gorgeous eyes.

Even though he still didn’t seem to care for her dog.

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