They had eaten on the patio, enjoying the warm summer air. They had moved closer to becoming friends. Howie grilled the steaks and some vegetable kebabs, while Natalie set the table and put out the salad. Over dinner, they talked about their childhood, exchanging warm stories from their past.

Natalie wrinkled her nose. She stood up and picked up some dishes. She went into the kitchen and set them by the sink. Howie followed her in with the rest of the dishes.

"I would have thought you would want an opportunity to..." Howie didn't quite know how to say this.

"An opportunity to what?" Natalie was genuinely bemused. She began filling the sink with water.

"Um...you know" Howie shook his head back and forth. "Um...get to know Ty better...."

Natalie laughed. "Me and Ty? Are you crazy? We could add Mandy to the cast of my next nightmare."

Howie felt strangely relieved by her comment. "I just thought...I don't know...you seemed interested..."

Natalie looked at him, raising her eyebrows.

"And so did he," Howie hastened to add. He picked up a towel and began drying the dishes.

"He's a good-looking man," said Natalie. "And he was very kind. But I didn't come here for that." She looked over at him. "And now that I know how scarce men are around here, I wouldn't be so foolish as to try and grab one of them." She paused. "It kind of makes you wonder, though. He'd be what, thirty?"

"Yeah, about my age, I think," said Howie, after pondering a moment. He wondered how old Natalie was.

"So how come no one has snatched him up yet? How has he managed to remain single?"

Howie laughed. "Well, if Mandy has her way, he won't be single for long!"

They laughed and finished the dishes. While Natalie was wiping the counter, Howie came back to it. "So why don't you want to go to the dance?"

Natalie sighed. "I can't dance," she admitted sheepishly, feeling her cheeks flame.

"You don't know how to dance?" asked Howie with a small smile of disbelief.

"No, I know how to dance. I know what you're supposed to do. I just can't. I mean, I'm no good at it. I have two left feet."

"Then don't use your feet," said Howie.

Natalie raised an eyebrow. "How does one do that...dance without using your feet?"

Howie turned and went to the stereo. He perused the CDs and pulled one out of the rack. "Come here," he said. He punched a button and music filled the air. It had a slight Latin flavor to it.

Natalie looked at him doubtfully. He grinned at her and beckoned her forward. "Seriously, come here."

Natalie approached him cautiously. What was he going to do? "Really, Howie, I'm a bad dancer. A bad, bad dancer."

"No such thing," he said, taking her hands. "Close your eyes. Go on, trust me. Close them." Natalie closed her eyes. "Good girl. Now move to the music. No...not your feet, just your body."

Natalie tried to do it, but it was hard. She kept taking little steps. She opened her eyes and grimaced at Howie. "I told you I was no good at this."

"Well, you will be when I'm through with you." He moved behind her and put his hands on her waist. He moved to the music, letting the rhythm move through his hands into her body. She started to sway.

"That's it," he whispered into her ear. The reaction that engendered in her psyche caused her to sway a little more. She pressed her lips together to stifle the whimper.

They moved together. "Relax," he whispered, which had the effect of making her stiffen. She wasn't thinking about dancing all that much anymore. Her movements became jerky and she lost the flow of the music. Howie moved up behind her. He took his hands from her waist. With his left hand, he picked up hers. He reached around her with his right and placed it on her abdomen. He stood behind her and pressed up against her gently, moving her body with his. "Just close your eyes and let the music move through you," he said softly.

So she did. And by the time the song ended, she was actually keeping the beat. They stood together for a moment in the silence, both of them somewhere else. A new song began. Howie let her go and moved to the fridge.

"See, you can do it. Would you like some lemonade?" He cleared his throat to remove the huskiness. He didn't offer wine. He didn't want to introduce intoxicants into this situation.

"That would be nice," said Natalie. Or we could just shove some ice cubes down my shirt, she thought. Feelings were starting up in her that she didn't want to have. She did not want to like this man. She did not want to...to want this man. She wanted to finish her book and go back to Manhattan. Go back to hating men, as a substitute for being hurt by them.

"Here you go. Ready for lesson two?" Howie handed her the glass, smiling sweetly.

Natalie sipped the lemonade slowly. What should she do? There was no way she would insult him by refusing the dance lesson. She would just have to steel herself and try to get through it without moaning out loud.

It turned out that it wasn't that difficult. Howie was very professional with her, like a teacher. And he was a very good teacher. And an incredible dancer. They danced for four songs before he would allow her to move her feet. After the second one, he let her go and moved around in front of her. He placed his hands on her waist. "Close your eyes," he said, "and feel the music." She closed her eyes because to look at him was too unnerving, too distracting. But with her eyes closed, she could concentrate on the music.

"Don't concentrate so hard," he told her. "Just feel it."

She opened her mouth to answer back but swallowed the retort. He was being very kind and not making any kind of sexual overtures. He was really just trying to teach her to dance and he was very good at it and very sincere. She swayed back and forth and let the music take over her mind and her body.

And then bit by bit, he let her move. He took her hands and pulled her toward him and then pushed her away. Forward and back. Forward and back. "Close your eyes," he would say, every time she opened them. "Don't think about it. Feel it."

Then he took her in his arms and moved her around the room...softly humming the song in her ear...feeling the music himself. Finally, they did one whole song without her stepping on him or tripping over her feet.

"Wow!" she said, "I can dance!" She threw her arms around him and hugged him. "Thank you!!"

"My pleasure," he said. But he stepped back from her abruptly.

Dammit! She had crossed the line. "Oh my, look at the time," she said, although she couldn't seem to focus her eyes on her watch. "I should be turning in. I'll want to get an early start tomorrow. I didn't do anything today..."

He grinned at her. "Well now, that's not exactly true. You put the universe back in the right order."

"That's right," she said, "and I learned how to dance. Pretty big accomplishments. Both of them."

"So will you go, then? To the dance?" said Howie.

"Sure," said Natalie. "It will be my gift to the community."

He looked confused.

"All those girls that will get a dance with you... They will be in my debt forever."

Howie blushed and ducked his head. "Aw, come on..."

"And Howie?" she said, suddenly serious.

"Yes?"

"Dance with the wallflowers first."

"Wallflowers?"

"You know, the girls that never get asked to dance. The ones that sit hopefully on the sidelines watching the Mandys of the world dance every dance. There's nothing for you to lose here. Will you do that for me?"

Howie looked at her. He wondered if she considered herself a wallflower or a Mandy. She was a fine looking woman but that didn't mean that she hadn't been an awkward teenager. When they had been sharing childhood stories earlier, she had changed the subject every time high school had been mentioned, so he figured it hadn't been the best of experiences for her.

"Were you a wallflower?" he asked, the words out of his mouth before his brain could stop them.

She nodded and her eyes went far away. "Too many big words," she whispered to the wall.

"Pardon?" said Howie. knowing that she hadn't really been speaking to him, but wanting to hear the explanation anyway.

She came back to the present and smiled at him sadly. "They were afraid of me," she said. "The guys...they all thought if they tried to talk to me, I'd...I don't know...want to discuss Einstein's Theory of Relativity or recite from Shakespeare or something. My guy 'friends'..." she made quotation marks with her fingers, "...you know, the boyfriends of my girlfriends, they kept saying to them, why don't you ask Natalie, whenever a party or whatever would come along...but they all said, 'what would we talk about?' The guys would tell them. Baseball. Talk to her about baseball." She shrugged and moved her hands through the air in a 'what the hell' gesture. "It's okay, don't feel sorry for me. I hit my stride in college."

Howie smiled at her. Yes, he bet she had. College guys weren't afraid of big words.

"But Howie..." she continued.

"Yes?"

"Wallflowers first."

He nodded.