"Can you get that, Mom?" Clara shouted over the noise of the blow dryer.

Andrea Jensen sighed, put down her Hamlet, and went to answer the door. Why is it, she wondered, that teenagers are never done on time?

A tall, middle-aged man, dressed in a dark-blue suit, smiled at her and extended his right hand.

"Hi, I'm William Taylor. You must be Clara's mother?" He offered her a bouquet of carnations.

Andrea was dumbfounded. She considered herself an open-minded person--but this man, while handsome, was a quarter century older than Clara.

"Yes," she said hesitantly as she accepted the flowers, "I'm Andrea Jensen. Thank you." There was an awkward silence.

"I hope it's okay for me to--"

"Well, I must say," Andrea cut him short, "I'm disturbed. This is all rather inappropriate." She frowned.

Mr. Taylor looked taken aback. "Perhaps it would be better to drop by some other time? I didn't mean to upset you."

"Oh no, you're not chickening out. Come in. Let's all sit down together and talk this out."

He raised his eyebrows as he followed her into the living-room.

"Clara!" Andrea yelled upstairs.

"Two minutes, Mom!"

"Mr. Taylor," Andrea said, trying to hide her inner agitation, "how old are you?"

He wrinkled his forehead.

So her estimate had been about right. This was not what she’d imagined for her daughter.

"What do you do for a living?"

"I'm managing director at the Playhouse," he said.

Andrea wanted to roll her eyes. An artist! It just kept getting better.

As if he'd read her thoughts, he added: "I'm not a Bohemian. Managing director is a regular job. I didn't bring my last pay stub, but I'll go and get it if you want."

Andrea loved the theater and would, under different circumstances, have enjoyed chatting with her visitor. But she didn't like the mocking undertone of his reply.

"How long have you known my daughter?"

He blew air out of his mouth. "One week exactly."

A week! This wasn't at all like her daughter. Clara was a sensible girl, who had always shown good judgment and proper restraint.

Mr. Taylor held up a hand. "You don't think--"

Andrea stopped him with a gesture. "You will have your say later. For now, I'm asking the questions. How did you two meet?"

"Clara auditioned for an extra in our new production. We held a little meeting afterwards with some of the actors and staff." He smiled.