there is a happier ring to his voice. ''I've figured it out," he says. "I think I've figured it out."
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To this Diane says nothing, even though she's pretty sure she loves him, too. Still, there's something in the way, though Diane can't quite identify what it is. She agrees to meet him on Sunday evening on the neutral ground of Harrison's Cafeteria in the mall.
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Sunday is Family Night at Harrison's, and the place is packed. The big, intact families with grandparents, parents, and children cluster in noisy groups. A few of the unescorted women have their hair in rollers under bright bandannas, as if they are already preparing for next Saturday night.
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The line snakes around in front of a mirrored wall where Diane and Joe hesitantly study their reflections as they wait. Diane thinks Joe looks thinner and older. She thinks, too, that they still look as if they belong together. It's partly the way the top of her head comes right up to his ears, the stair-step silhouette they make standing together. But now they stand apart, as if they don't know each other very well. Diane has the same eerie feeling she gets at nightthat Joe is secretly watching her and that she wants him to. He stares into the eyes of her mirror image. "Diane," he says to her reflection, "do you miss me at all?"
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"Of course I miss you." She touches his sleeve.
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"I've learned a lot about myself," he says, handing her a brown plastic tray.
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"No, you don't understand. Now I want to learn about you. I want to know everything about you. I don't even know what size shoe you wear," he says incredulously.
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"It's all right," she says. Her heart thumps a little at the prospect of Joe wanting to know her so intimately, so individually.
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"Salad, ma'am?" the server asks in a bored voice. Diane becomes aware of the long buffet of food. She surveys the assortment of dessertsbright red deep-dish cherry cobbler, tall chocolate layer cake, key lime pie heaped with whipped topping.
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"It's too bad I know what this stuff tastes like," she tells Joe. He
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