Stuart, a divorced man your age, whom you met last week.

When you hear, "Hi, this is Stuart," it takes you a moment to put a face to the name. At first you mistook him for the coach of the high school swim team, and you immediately started to get wet at the memory of all those times in the pool, late at night, when it was just the two of you, and you role-played how you were drowning and in need of being rescued! But his name is Steve, not Stuart. Too bad, but you make a mental note to call Steve soon and tell him your swimming skills are getting rusty and you need a refresher.

Stuart.... Oh yes! You met him last week when you were shopping for a new mattress. For some reason you seem to go through them rather quickly. He's the manager of the store downtown, and he made no secret of his interest in you. He even said something about wanting to show you "something extra firm." He is your age, divorced, and seemed to be in pretty good physical shape.

His message says that he came across your number and wondered if you had decided on a mattress or whether you would be interested in seeing something more.

You give him a call, and he picks up on the first ring.

"Marsha! I was just thinking about you!" Since he sounds like he is still in bed, you wonder whether his thoughts of you also involved some hand lotion and a box of readily-available tissues. You tingle between your legs at that thought.

You tell him that you got his message, and that you are still in the market for a new mattress and wondered what else he had to show you.

"Well, the store is actually closed today," he says, "but for you, I'd be happy to make an exception and meet you there to give you a private showing. I just bought our newest model, myself, and I'm just sure you will love it."

What you would love is to try out the one Stuart has in his home, but you can also hear voices in the background, which you assume are his children. You don't know anything about them, but since Stuart is about your age, it's safe to say his kids are around the age of your own.

Since you don't know Stuart well enough, you don't know if you would have better luck with him at his place, with family around, or in private at the store.