Pam shook her head repressively at her husband. “And we all know that one explanation is that the man doesn’t ask enough to face the usual percentage of rejection,” she summed up concisely. “We’re talking about the man Julian likes to call Dr. Monk.”
“Most men are monks compared to Julian,” Bob muttered when Jeff only snorted. “Jeff’s just more concerned with quality than quantity, aren’t you, buddy?”
“Since when are you two so interested in my love life?” Jeff asked them with rueful exasperation.
“Since you barely touched my special shrimp with snow peas, which happens to be your favorite Chinese dish,” Pam retorted. “Only a woman could make you lose interest in shrimp with snow peas. So who is she? Do I know her?”
Jeff shook his head. “I just met her a couple of weeks ago. Her name is Autumn.”
“Autumn what?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Oh,” Pam said slowly. “You don’t know.” She sat beside Jeff on her couch, staring at him with round brown eyes. “How’d you meet her?”
“She was the electrician who worked on my house when the storm knocked my service out. She came back yesterday to install an outlet in my den. I requested her specially yesterday, for all the good it did.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Bob asked, “You asked your electrician out for a date?”
“Yeah. But as I said, she turned me down. Flat.”
“And to think while I was trying to take care of my patients at the clinic, you were flirting with a pretty electrician,” Pam complained, her eyes sparkling with the enjoyment of teasing her co-worker. “Serves you right that
she turned you down.”
“I acted like an idiot the first time I met her,” Jeff moaned, touching his hand to his forehead. “Stuttered, stared, generally acted the fool. I wasn’t much better yesterday, though I did manage not to stutter.” He decided not to mention those kisses that had been almost as unexpected for him as for her. “She probably thinks I’m a not-very-bright chauvinistic jerk.”
“Chauvinist? You? Hardly,” Pam denied indignantly. “You’re old-fashioned in some ways, but only the nicest ways,” she added. “What was she…one of those women who gets insulted if a man simply opens a door for her?”
“Your Georgia accent is getting heavier, darling,” Bob murmured, not quite successfully hiding his smile.
“I’ll bet that’s it. She was a Yankee, right?” Pam inquired. “Used to Northern men who walk out of elevators first and open doors only for themselves.”
Jeff chuckled, his bad mood slipping away. “She’s from Arkansas, Pam. No need to drag out your Rebel flag. She just isn’t interested in going out with me.”
“Then she has no taste,” Pam proclaimed loftily. “Or she’s involved with someone else. Did you ask?”
“Yes. She said there wasn’t anyone else in particular.”
“Then what was her problem?”
“Give me a break, Pam. The whole ordeal was bad enough for my ego without rehashing it. Couldn’t we change the subject?”
Pam tugged thoughtfully at a curl of her frizzy brown hair. “Did I mention that we’ve got several fluorescent lights acting up in the clinic?” she asked finally, referring to the relatively small stucco structure the three young doctors had purchased when they’d first gone into partnership. There were advantages to owning their own building, but there were also many responsibilities—maintenance among them. “I think we need to call an electrician.”
“Pamela,” Jeff drawled warningly.
She widened her eyes in feigned innocence. “Well, we do,” she insisted. “We can’t take proper care of our patients with the lights blinking on and off.”
“So call someone. But not Autumn. I don’t think I could take rejection three times in a row.” He sighed exaggeratedly, knowing he would make her laugh.
He was right. “Poor baby,” Pam crooned when the laughter had died away. “Would a big slice of my cherry cheesecake make you feel better?”
Jeff grinned. “I’m sure it would,” he said eagerly.
“Hey, I could use some cheering up myself,” Bob added quickly.
“Put the baby to bed and I’ll cut you a slice,” Pam replied. She patted Jeff’s head maternally as she stood, though she was only two years older than his thirty-three. “Don’t you worry about a thing, Jeff, honey. Pam will take care of it.”