Carolyn couldn't tell if she was serious or just witty, but she laughed, "Now, that is funny. I guess I live in one of the other pretentious cities in America: New York."

"Oh, Houston is a pretty close fourth," Mindy smiled.

"Well, I'm a lot of things," Carolyn said, returning her hand to the girl's knee, "but pretentious isn't one of them."

Mindy laughed, even as she felt a rush up her spine that didn't make any sense, "Good to know."

"Are you an actress?" Carolyn asked, even though the answer was obvious.

"In a perfect world," Mindy admitted. "Although considering my length of unemployment, I can't really call myself...