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when he died," she continued candidly. "He left some of it to his second wife, and the rest of it to Luke and me. So me and Luke and George pooled together and bought the bar."
    "What did you do before that? Did you make your living as a singer?"
    Nina gave a little laugh. "Well, Luke and I have been in several different bands, but I use to work as a technical writer," she paused, "and you? You don’t live around here do you?"
    "No." Joseph was reluctant to divulge he was an actor. Some instinct was telling him she would not be impressed by it.
    "I’m here on business." He answered vaguely.
    "What kind of business? Never mind, I already know you’re an actor."
    "Ah. The bouncer, right?" Joseph picked up the bread basket and buttered a slice.
    "He sat you at the VIP table so of course we had to find out who you were."
    "I have a part in a film on location here. I’m from Los Angeles."
    "So how long are you in town?" She accepted the slice of bread he offered and put it on the little plate in front of her. Joseph took out another piece and buttered one for himself.
    "A Few weeks, maybe a month."
    "Are you married?"
    "No," Joseph said truthfully. Here would be a good time to bring up the subject of Karen, but Joseph kept silent. He didn’t want to scare her off. Especially after that kiss.
    "Have you lived in LA all your life?" Nina asked.
    "No, I was born in Dearborn, Michigan where my father has tenure as a math professor at the University. I grew up there and attended one year at the college majoring in Dramatic Arts. I applied and was accepted at Julliard and spent four years working my way through the program. Then I moved to LA and have been working steadily as a character actor for the last fifteen years."
    "Wow! Julliard," Nina was impressed. "That’s no small feat!"
    The food arrived and they applied themselves to grilled pork and chicken skewers, mozzarella tomatoes, Greek olives and whole grain flat bread paired with a spinach and artichoke dip.
    "Is your family still living in Michigan?" Nina asked.
    "My parents are, but my sister was also an actor. She came out to LA and lived with me for a while. Now she is comfortably married and living in Malibu."
    They finished the food and decided to take a walk. Joseph paid the check and they left the restaurant. Nina slipped her hand into his as they walked down Second Avenue and turned right to go down the hill to the Pike Place Market. The evening was clear and reasonably warm by Seattle standards.
    The smell of fish, flowers and fresh produce became stronger as they neared the main entrance under the big red Public Market sign. In front of the famous Pike Place Fish they stopped and watched the workers behind the counter fill orders by tossing fish to one another. Then they walked the whole market from start to finish, lingering in a few of the novelty shops. Joseph bought a souvenir T-shirt with the word Seattle spelled out in raindrops.
    "It doesn’t rain constantly like people say, you know." Nina said, in defense of her city. "It rains a lot, yes, but in intermittent showers, not the steady downpour that people seem to think. And not every single day. We need the rain to keep everything green, and when the sun comes out its absolutely gorgeous. Have you seen the mountain?"
    "I haven’t. I came here a few years ago for the Film Festival, but I never did get a glimpse of Mount Rainier. It rained in a steady downpour the whole two days," Joseph pointed out.
    "Okay, that happens once in a while, but not all year," Nina conceded.
    "Maybe you could show me around. I really didn’t get a chance to see Seattle last time."
    "I’d love to. We could check out Seattle Center, go up the Space Needle," she said.
    "That sounds great. Do you want to do that tomorrow?"
    "Sure! Hey, the first original Starbucks is right over there. Do you want to get some coffee?"
    "Good idea." Joseph put his arm around her as they crossed the street. They got their coffees and sipped them as