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you just found yourself a new one."
    }"Who?"
    }"Why, myself, dearest Tulsy," he answered with a comically high-toned affectation. "If I might be so bold."
    }Tulsa May laughed out loud. "Oh, Luther, you are teasing."
    }"I am completely serious."
    }"It will never work, you know," she said with complete conviction. "There is no chance that we can make anyone believe that you are my new gentleman caller."
    }Luther grinned confidently. "Of course we can. Where is your legendary optimism? A few Sunday drives like this, a willing escort to church, and an occasional stroll through the park. The matrons in Prattville will be stumbling over each other to spread the news."
    }Tulsa May's expression was still skeptical. "No one in this town would ever believe that you could be calling on me. We've been friends too long."
    }"When it comes to matters of the heart, friendship can turn to romance in the blink of an eye."
    }"But still, Luther, I don't think anyone would think that of you, of us. I mean, well..." She hesitated awkwardly. "Couples, well, couples seem to go together. They match, so to speak. Do you understand what I'm saying? They are both very godly or they're both avid hunters or they enjoy flower gardens. They seem as if they belong together. And we... I mean you and I... well, we just don't look right together. People would find it strange. I'm so plain and blunt spoken and you, well.. ." She took a deep, determined breath. "If you must know, every female in Prattville, whether she's dressed in pinafores or widow's weeds, is pining away in love for you."
    }Luther stared at her for a long moment and then threw his head back and roared with laughter.
    }"It's true," Tulsa May insisted. "All the young ladies at church think you are the fish to catch."
    }Luther looked down at her. "Fish to catch?" He chuckled lightly, as if at some private joke. "I think the young ladies of the church are trying to lure me with the wrong bait."
    }Tulsa May looked at him curiously.
    }"Anyway," he continued, "what the young ladies think is unimportant. It's the thinking of their mothers and fathers that we must concern ourselves with." He hesitated as if unsure whether to speak his mind. "Tulsy, I have ... well, I have a reputation of sorts with ... ah ... women that are of tarnished regard."
    }Tulsa May's eyes widened in shock.
    }Luther cleared his throat self-consciously. "I'm sure that many of the men in town will be aware of that, even if the more innocent young members of the congregation are not."
    }"A reputation?" Tulsa May looked at her closest friend as if she had never seen him before.
    }"It's not a particularly good reputation," he said quietly. "And, well, I guess everyone knows that when a fellow with a bit of a past thinks to settle down, he'll pick a gal that's sweet and pure. Something different from the females he's been around."
    }Tulsa May nodded, still slightly befuddled.
    }"Everybody in this town, Tulsy, thinks you are the brightest shine since sunrise. And you are just the kind of gal a man marries."
    }Tulsa May frowned uneasily.
    }With a natural grace, Luther laid his arm along the back of the seat and gently squeezed her shoulder.
    }"You would make a wonderful wife for a man mending his bachelor ways, Tulsy. And I think everyone in Prattville can see that."
    }The feel of his hand on her shoulder warmed her and touched her in some deep part of her Soul that she never allowed herself to examine. Luther Briggs to court her? Even if it was only a sham, the idea of it gave her heart a fluttery thrill that could not be excused away by any rational argument. She looked up at him and swallowed nervously.
    }"I don't know, Luther," she said. "It seems like a mighty big lie to get into."
    }Luther smiled down at her. "If you were to listen to every lie told in this town, you'd go deaf in a week from overwork."
    }Tulsa May still seemed unsure, but Luther was not. The plan had come to him in a flash, but he knew that it would work. He would