"No, he asked me out to dinner," Kiki replied slumped in the corner of the booth. To her left, Joe watched her push and pull her Spanish rice in bizarre patterns.

"Sounds like he wants to get laid," Joe said casually and then took a long gulp of his Pepsi.

"Yep," Gwen agreed.

Kiki could only sigh. Neither of them knew Josh as well as she did, or at least as well as she thought she did.

"He said he thinks Jane should be in a real family," Kiki said, awkwardly coming to his defense.

"So he does want a second chance," Gwen stated victoriously.

"And he want's to get laid," Joe chimed in.

Again, Kiki sighed her exasperated sigh and ordered another virgin raspberry margarita as the waiter began clearing the plates.

"Okay, we'll look at this a little more logically," Gwen said, trying to be serious. "We'll look at his pro's and con's."

Joe turned to Kiki as the waiter brought her drink. When he was gone, Joe asked, "How was he in bed?"

"Excuse me?!" Kiki asked, almost choking on her margarita.

"Everything is sex with you isn't it?" Gwen questioned Joe.

"You're one to talk," he replied and turned back to Kiki. "Comparatively speaking, I mean."

"Compared to who?" Kiki asked.

"To whoever else you have had sex with."

"Josh is the only person I've slept with."

"You didn't know that?" Gwen asked in mock disbelief.

"You're twenty years old and you've only been with one person?" Joe questioned, just to sure he was clear on the matter.

"You say it like it's a bad thing," Kiki answered, an indignant smile on her face.

"It's not," Joe relied quickly. "I'm just a little surprised. I mean, the way you talk...."

Joe trailed off as he noticed the glares he was getting from the two women he was with.

"Okay, before we take Joe out and beat him for being an ass - again - tell me all the good things about being with Josh," Gwen said with a playful smirk.

"Well, he is Jane's father. I can talk to him about anything. He knows what my mother is like and he's not afraid of Rose," Kiki began with optimistic conviction. As she continued, her tone took on a daydream quality. "I loved the way he'd kiss my neck. And put his arm around my waist when we were out. The way I felt safe at night with his arms around me. Just the way I felt when I looked at him."

As her list ended, Kiki sighed helplessly. Why did he have to seem so perfect - so right for her?

"And the bad things?" Gwen questioned.

"He cheated on me," Kiki replied in a small, dejected voice.

Joe spoke up at this point, showing his sincere and sensitive side. "I think you have already have you answer and you're just wanting someone else to tell you you're right. So I will. Don't take him back. I don't care how sweet and sincere he seems, if he did it before there is a damn good chance that he will do it again. And if he really wants you back and loves you the way he says he does, it'll take more than seven months to prove it."

As he finished, Joe looked to Gwen. She smiled approvingly and nodded in agreement. Turning back to Kiki, he smiled triumphantly.

"How did you get to be so smart at such a young age?" Kiki asked. Joe was only three years older than Kiki and four younger than Gwen. He was considered the middle child of their little family.

"Same as both you - screwed up child hood in a dysfunctional family!"

"Okay, so why can't you be straight?" Gwen asked taking a long drink of her beer.

"If I was straight, I would be too busy trying to the two of you in bed to be your friend."

"He's even honest!" Kiki announced in mock surprise.

"Oh well," Gwen said indignantly. "If I can't have Mr. Right, there's always Mr. Right- Now."

Gwen looked down to her pager which was softly buzzing. She excused herself and made her way to the payphones, leaving Joe and Kiki at the table.

"You know, this is so not what I pictured my life to be," Kiki stated as she finished her virgin margarita.

"What do you mean?" Joe asked.

"I always thought that when I was twenty I'd be away at some college, going to parties and living a normal life."

Joe leaned back in the booth and draped his arm around Kiki's shoulder. She rested her head just below his collar bone and closed her eyes a moment, waiting to hear his gentle voice comfort her.

"Honey, there is no such thing as a normal life. That was made up by sit-com writers. Everybody has problems that make them feel like they aren't normal, and in this world, that's the way things are. I mean, even the Brady Bunch kids had their problems. Let's face it, you cannot have that many people in that small of a house, one bathroom for six kids and not one of them come out of the experience gay."

Kiki burst out laughing as Joe finished his monologue with a perfectly straight face.

"Where did that come from?"

"I don't know, I just wanted you to laugh," Joe replied and gently squeezed her shoulders. "C'mon, let's go watch a nice violent movie. That'll cheer you up."

On Sunday, Kiki slept well past noon, enjoying the quiet. The quiet, however, only gave her mind time to wander, and it usually found its way back to Josh's dinner offer. Even after all the thinking and pondering she had done, she had not come up with a solid answer.

Finally, with less than an hour left before Josh would be there expecting an answer, Kiki had one. She would calmly and gently explain to Josh that it was not the right time for them to try dating each other again. She had even worked out the perfect speech for it in her mind.

A sense of self-confidence had been re-established in Kiki as she waited for Josh and Jane to arrive. Each time the monologue was repeated in her mind, the better it sounded. Maybe if she repeated it to herself enough, she might begin to believe it.

Then the moment of truth arrived. Kiki had been sitting on the porch swing, her denim covered legs pulled to her chest. As she kicked her legs off the wooden swing, she tugged at the long white sleeves of the thin cotton shirt. As Josh's blue Tercel came to a stop at the curb, Kiki put her bare feet on the cold ground and made her way down the flower-lined path.

Kiki felt her sense of purpose growing as Josh removed the infant from her car seat. Her speech continued to repeat itself in her mind as she silently waited for Josh to turn his attention to her. Carefully handing Jane to Kiki, Josh leaned back into the car for the diaper bag. As he closed the car door, Josh finally turned his attention to Kiki.

When he was looking at her, the words began to jumble in Kiki's mind and she fought to keep her thoughts straight. The two of them reached the porch steps, Kiki stood on the first step while Josh remained on the path.

"Well, have you decided? About what we talked about?" Josh asked, his eyes filled with hope, his expression a mixture of nervousness and anxiety. He looked like a little boy asking his parents to take him to Disneyland.

Kiki's mind went blank. Her speech dissolved as she looked down into his face. She still loved him, she couldn't deny that. No matter how much he had hurt her, she would always love him. It was that deep and undeniable love that made Kiki want to give him a second chance.

With a defeated smile, Kiki answered, "Okay. Dinner, that's it."

Josh's face immediately brightened. His face was covered with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. "How's Wednesday?"

"That sounds good, I guess," Kiki answered, a weak feeling growing in her stomach.

"I'll pick you up at seven-thirty."

With that, Josh turned and headed down the path, an obvious bounce in his step.

Kiki only sighed, her body sagged a little. She turned and forced herself up the last three stairs and into the house, silently asking herself "What have I gotten myself into?"