54. After finishing her day at Koss, Lisa usually drove to her night job. She was a waitress, working four nights a week at a 24‐hour restaurant called Lenny's on Huntington Boulevard. She worked there from 6 p.m. till midnight. Most of her customers tipped her well. Older men gave her the biggest tips. Many of them asked her out, but they were all too old for her.

Younger guys asked her out, too, but she was particular. She refused them all, waiting for the right one to ask her. She had seen the "right one" once, but he was with a girlfriend, she guessed. She hoped that, sooner or later, their relationship would end. She didn't mind waiting. She was so busy, even if he did ask her, it would be hard to fit him into her busy schedule—but of course, she'd find a way to fit him in!

When she wasn't working, she was taking weekend college classes. Slowly but surely, she was going to get a degree. She wanted to get married eventually, but she also wanted to be an independent woman, before and during marriage. But that dream wasn't going to work out if her car didn't work right. That dream wasn't going to work out if she got stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time and got robbed, mugged, or worse. She especially worried about being stuck at midnight at Lenny's, with its poorly lighted and sometimes empty parking lot.

Her mechanic wasn't open on weekends. But since he was the only mechanic that she knew and trusted, she decided to ask her boss for a day off from Koss. Then she could still drive to Lenny's that night after her car was fixed. She would miss only one day of work. That wasn't too bad.

Her boss would probably give her the day off—without pay, of course. She only had to worry about one thing. Her boss might give her the day off, but on one condition—that she have dinner with him. She knew what her response would be. She would say yes, but on one condition—that, before dinner, he shave his moustache off. 4.7, 367