The date ended far too soon for Natalie, and Ralph paid the bill and walked her to her motel room. "I had a wonderful time," he told her. "I'd like to see you again before you head back home."

"I'm here for a couple of weeks, so we'll have plenty of opportunity." Suddenly Natalie felt tremendously depressed.

"Great! I'll be in touch." Ralph gave her a friendly grin, and her heart did crazy flip-flops. She was relieved that the subject of her age hadn't come up but knew that it would eventually and wondered what she'd do when that happened. She'd always believed that honesty was the best policy, but if it came down to a choice between fibbing a little and losing the opportunity of a relationship with Ralph, she had to say that it would be a difficult decision to make. A very difficult one.

At the same time, the irony of the situation angered her. She knew that if things were reversed and it was Ralph who was seven years older than her instead of the other way around, nobody would think twice about it. Why did there have to be such a double standard? What chances did a woman who reached middle age without ever having married really have? Slim and none, she told herself glumly.

Suddenly she thought of Tootie, whose husband, Jeff Williams, had passed away several years previously. Was it better to have been married and widowed than to have never been married at all? She decided that she honestly couldn't say.

Ralph called her the next day. "I just wanted to let you know I had a very nice time last night," he told her. "I can't wait to see you again."

"As it turns out, I have a couple of free hours tomorrow," she replied. "How does lunch in Central Park sound?"

"Great!" he replied. "I'll meet you at the Boathouse Cafe."

"Fantastic!"

The next day she saw him standing by one of the columns, nervously glancing at his watch. He was every bit as impeccably dressed as he'd been on their first date. He saw her and grinned. She smiled and waved, and he waved back.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" He nodded toward the wooded area. "I've always loved to come here, ever since I was a little boy."

"I've been here a few times," Natalie replied. "The last time was awhile ago. I haven't seen nearly everything there is to see here."

Ralph chuckled. "Well, by all means, I hope you'll let me show you around!"

After they'd eaten their sandwiches, they went for a walk in the woods. The leaves hadn't quite begun to change colors yet, but they would soon. "I've never seen anything quite this lovely before," Natalie remarked.

"It's almost as lovely as you are." Before she realized what was happening, his lips were on hers, and they were kissing passionately. His hands began to roam all over her body, and she felt her nipples harden beneath her bra. Gently he laid her back in the leaves and lay atop her, and she suddenly became frightened.

"No! Wait! This is all wrong!"

"What is it?" Ralph looked surprised and hurt. "I thought you liked me!"

"I do," Natalie insisted. "But this is all just going so fast...I mean, I barely know you..."

Without a word, Ralph got to his feet and began to walk slowly out of the woods. Natalie followed and soon caught up with him. "This is all my fault," he muttered. "We were having such a good time, and then I had to go and ruin it."

"It's all right, Ralph." Suddenly she had the overwhelming urge to comfort him. "You didn't do anything wrong. You stopped when I asked you to."

Ralph sighed. "I've never really had a serious girlfriend, Natalie. All I've ever had is an occasional date every now and again. I really like you...a lot. When I think about the fact that you're going back home in just a little while, it makes me feel really sad. I feel...I don't know, desperate to make the most of the time we do have together."

"I feel the same way," Natalie confessed. "But it's not as if this is the last time we'll ever see each other. I'll come back to New York some day, or you can come to California, and in the meantime, there's the phone and the internet."

"Yeah." Ralph grinned. "Sure beats snail mail, doesn't it?"

"Jamie got an application for the Police Explorers in school today," Jo told Doug over dinner one night.

"Oh yeah? That's great!" Doug exclaimed. "Clay's been in that for three years, you know. That's how he met Benjamin Cooley. They've been best friends ever since then."

"I know," Jo replied. "Jamie's father was in it when he was young, too."

"Can I be in it too? Please?" begged Jamie. "It sounded like it would be a lot of fun!"

"Of course you can, sweetheart," said Doug. "I know you'll enjoy it. Clay sure has."

"You get to ride around in police cars and learn how to do things like dusting for fingerprints," Clay interjected. "It's really interesting."

After dinner, Jo signed the application giving permission for Jamie to be in the Police Explorers.