"I sent Aaron to the supermarket. He won't be back for a good 30 minutes," I'd told him as I got to my feet, not knowing that I was sealing my fate.

"I know," Julian told me, "I saw him leave." He just stood there looking at me, looking as fine and hard-muscled as any athletic young man looked in comparison to my darling hubby whose paunch was here to stay, and whose hair seemed to be steadily sliding off his head and onto his back.

That was when I'd asked his if he could help me by getting the dropped can under the sofa, explaining "You're younger than me, with longer arms."

"I know Aaron's at the store because I saw him leave. Matter of fact, I waited for him to leave," Julian said, seeming not to have heard me ask for his help. "Do you know, Mrs. Felicia Carmen Gennaro, that you're an incredibly attractive woman? Like...distractingly attractive?"

At this point, I still hadn't caught on to what he was up to, other than maybe buttering up his lifelong buddy's mom to ask her for a favor. I stupidly played along with where I thought he was going, never realizing just what kind of favor he expected.

"Oh, Julian, ever the sweet talker. Those little college girls must not know what hit them when you come around." I had put a playful hand on his upper arm as I said it. It would not be the first time a man had mistaken my touchy-feely nature for flirting, but I'd known Julian since he was a kid and I'd always been that way with him. I could never have guessed what I'd been working him up to all those years.

"These days, I'm more into women than girls," he said, "Women like you."