Pretend for a minute that you don't recognize the tall blonde in the green dress doing a crossword at the bar, okay? Sam certainly doesn't as he comes to pick up a couple of drinks and offers her a tip: "I think four across is 'beets.'" I've heard worse pickup lines, but I can't think of any right now. He adds that he's right over at a nearby table if she needs any more help, and she actually looks sad as she says she was just leaving. "Next time?" she smiles. Returning to the table where Michael is waiting, Sam says it's a good thing he's patching things up with Veronica, because he just met a "real firecracker." As said firecracker heads outside and gets into a cab, tipping Sam and Michael a flirty wave, Michael shows Sam a cell phone photo of Jimmy and his family, reunited. That phone rings, and it's Carla, congratulating everyone involved on how well things worked out. "We want to make this arrangement work," she says. "Or you'll kill me," Michael guesses. "See, now you're catching on," she agrees. Nice to see them working the bugs out. Although if she doesn't start paying him, Michael's going to have to stop going to sidewalk cafés like this all the time. Michael reminds her of her promise to meet with him, and she says they just did. "Tell Sam thanks for the help with the crossword," she clarifies. Michael drops the phone with a basic-cable-friendly "Oh, sh---" and runs out to the sidewalk, but the cab Carla hopped is gone. He goes back inside to check out the crossword she left behind on the bar. It looks finished, and in the margin above, she left him a note in her dude handwriting: "Enjoy the puzzle. I'll see you soon." Not a "beets" in sight, by the way.
M. Giant is a Minneapolis-based writer with a wife, a son, and a number of cats that seems to have settled at around two. Learn waaaay too much about him at Velcrometer, or just e-mail him at M.Giant[at]gmail.com.












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