Then that night, even though the details remained to be worked out with Nicole, she set her plan in motion. She needed a patsy. She dressed herself simply in a loose, cream-colored silk blouse and black mid-calf skirt, went to one of the better singles bars in town, looked around, then waited in a shadowy corner for the right person to walk in. It might take a day or two to find someone who might do, she realized, perhaps much longer. She'd be wasting a lot of time looking for him, but this wasn't anything she could delegate. She had only a few months to get him ready.

And suddenly, there he was, thin, shy, probably new in town and knew no one, still relatively young, with a full head of hair down past his collar neatly clipped into a ponytail. Refined gestures, well-enough educated no doubt. He was eyeing different couples sideways, as if looking directly at them might intrude. Doesn't he know people come to places like this to meet other people, she thought? Well, she said to herself, if he were bolder he would never do. She watched him for a while, to be sure that he was alone, and the more she saw of his uncertain gestures, his never quite breaking into conversations, the more perfect he seemed. She walked over to the bar and fitted herself onto a stool just to his left. He didn't notice. He seemed to be staring wistfully at a dark girl to his right, who was wearing a green sequined dress and was obviously unhappy with her date. Time to make her move.

"I notice you always order the same wine," Diana said, though she had only seen him order the glass of Chardonnay that was still mostly in front of him. "Don't you ever feel venturesome?"

The young man took a moment to register that he was being addressed. He turned, and his shocked expression was obvious and promising. He couldn't believe that a beautiful woman was looking straight at him from no more than a foot away! His eyes drifted down across her blouse, and then some impulse toward propriety pulled then up again to her face.

"I try different things until I find what I like, then I stick with it," he replied.

Diana couldn't resist smiling, even though it might scare him away. It was such an awkward reply, but in this singles bar world of racy double entendres it did try to follow her lead. He was perfect!