6

Andy gets up from the table and walks across the tiled floor until he is standing next to where Nate stands in front of the counter. The two men exchange a few hushed words with a couple of general gestures for effect, before Andy turns away to come back to the table, without Nate in tow. When he slides in to the booth across from Lacey, she gives him a searching look, not able to stem her curiousity.

“So what the heck was all of that about over there?”

“He claims that they were simply discussing a menu item or price, something along those lines, and that the conversation was amicable. Just a little harmless debate that wass all in good fun..” Andy says and Lacey snorts.

“Like fun they were! That look on his face was anything but 'amicable'. He was chewing her out, and by the looks of it, threatening her. That is not exactly what I would call amicable, by any means.”

Andy gives her a look, before averting his attention to something just over her shoulder. The icky feeling that Lacey gets whenever he is near her comes over her, driving home the certainty that it is Nate that is approaching behind her. His mere presence makes her skin crawl and her stomach heave in revulsion.

He slides into the seat beside Andy and Lacey stiffens with distaste, just being this close to him. Just being forced to be in the same room with him is far too much for her to have to handle. “I am sorry about all of that over there. A simple question got a bit heated, leading to a lively discussion but everything is all better now.” Nate smiles at them, as if to appear charming but Lacey sees through his smarmy politician smile to the devil lurking just beneath.

“Hmm..” Lacey says, turning away from him with disinterest. She does not care to listen to his lies or to anything else that he might have to say, for that matter. She simply has no use for him, what so ever. She is counting down the moments until she never has to see him again. That moment can not come soon enough to suit her.

Andy gives her a look as if to say 'reign it in' but she chooses to ignore it. Her hositility towards Nate Matthews knows no bounds, just as it can not be contained. She won't even try to hide her unease or her dislike of him. That is dishonest and deceitful, if she tries to pretend that she likes him when she actually does not. Neither of those are what she wishes to be, so she simply rolls her eyes at her husband before she turns away to speak to the children. 

The blonde waitress comes over and gives Lacey and the children a beaming smile, without meeting either of the men's eyes. She seems a bit uneasy being at the table and Lacey contributes that to Nate's presense. “Hi folks. My name is Cami and I will be your server today. Here are some menus for you to flip through and see what strikes your fancy. Can I get you started you off with something to drink?”

“I want a sweet tea!” Sunny calls out with a wide grin.

“Can I have a Dr. Pepper?” Jack asks, looking between his mom and the waitress.

The kid's words nearly overlap one another as they blurt out their drink orders to the kind woman and Lacey smiles with indulgence at them. "One sweet tea and one Dr. Pepper please." Lacey tells the woman.

The waitress, Cami, gives them a grin and scribbles their orders down on her note pad. “And what can I get for you, ma'am?”

Lacey thinks about all the water that she drank in the car and she decides that she is going to splurge a bit. “I think that I will have a Dr. Pepper as well. With easy ice, please.”

Andy gives his wife a fond smile before he turns to give a polite smile to their server. “I will have the same, please.” She gives him a nod to show that she got his order as she scribbles it on the pad. 

Andy watches Lacye over the table, his eyes watchful and expressive. The look he gives her causes her insides to flutter, as if someone released a swarm of butterflies in her belly. When Lacey bites her lip, she watches his eyes drop to her lips and stay there. All of her anger at him is momentarily forgotten as the long familiar feelings of love and passion overtakes her.

Lacey scretly loves his responses to just a simple action, such as placing her teeth to her lip. She loves the way his eyes darken with lust when he looks at her. The way that he watches her like a lion on the prowl, stalking his prey. As if he his greatest wish in the world is to devour her.

If only they were alone..

Lacey pulls herself from those thoughts, giving herself a mental shake to try and lift the sensual fog that she is trapped under. Her mind is still scattered from the heated looks that Andy is giving her now and from the steamy moment that they shared just seconds before. Which is how she almost misses the exchange that is going on beside of her.

“A black coffee for you, sir?” The waitress asks Nate, in a tone that implies that she knows the answer. As if it is a regular occurance for him to come in and order a black coffee. As if she has taken his order before.

He raises a brow in question and the waitress takes a step back and blushes. “S- Sorry. It is ju- um, just that you look like the type of guy to enjoy a cup of piping hot, black coffee. Besides, you mentioned it at the counter just a few minutes ago so I thought that it was a safe assumption.” The waitress rushes to get out, babbling in the process from her discomfort. He clearly makes her nervous and flustered.

Lacey just wonders if it is because the woman is attracted to him or if it is because she is frightened of him. 

“Black coffee will be just fine.” Nate tells the woman in a tone that seems to hold an underlining meaning. At least, it seemed that way to Lacey. he thought that she detected a hint of malice beneath his words, but it could just be her own bad feelings towards him that is prejudicing this exchange, making her read into something that is not actually there.

Everyone at the table watches the waitress walk away before the kids are distracted by the sugar shaker and the metal flap that serves as the opening to it. They spend the next three minutes opening and closing it, over and over again. Lacey does not stop them because for one thing, they are being quiet and for another, they are not fighting with each other. Since they are not hurting anything, she decides to leave well enough alone.

Looking down at the menu in her hand, Lacey notices for the first time the name of the joint. She chuckles beneath her breath, amused by the creativeness of the owner. They are sitting inside of The Darn Good Diner. That is such a cute name for a place. It is such an original name and Lacey loves it. She knows that she will not be forgetting that name any time soon. She can not wait to tell her mom whenever they get there. Her mother will get a kick out of it as well.

When the waitress comes back to the table with their drinks, she still acts wary of Nate, which Lacey fully understands. He watches the waitress with the same unwavering gaze that he had fixed on Lacey just minutes before. She can tell that she was not the only one unsettled by it.

The waitress, Cami, seems relieved when she has finally written down all of their orders and is able to move away from their table to go into the back, where she can break his gaze. Lacey wonders what he might have said to the woman to make her so jumpy around him. She would bet a million dollars that there was nothing 'amicable' about it.

The more that she think about it, the more that Lacey begins to suspect that this is not Nate and Cami's first time ever meeting. She is beginning to suspect that they might actually know each other, as if this is not his first time coming here. Lacey, emboldened by her suspicions, gives Nate a knowing look and he meets her eyes. And smiles at her. A creepy smile that sets her even more on edge.

A smile that makes her want to throw her glass of drink directly at his face. It is a mocking smile. One that tells her that even though she thinks that she knows everything, there is nothing she can do about it. He thinks that he is winning over her, that he has Andy fooled and Lacey smiles back at him, accepting his challenge.

He is about to find out just how incredibly wrong he is.

“So, where was it that you were you headed when your car was ran off of the road, Mr. Matthews?” Lacey asks, reminding him of the story that he had given them.

“I- I was headed to, um, well.. I really had no set destination in mind. I just wanted to get away since I was alone at the holidays. My, uh, my wife died a little over a year ago. She was always at her happiest around this time of year and now being without her, I am at my worst. I can't stand to be in our home with all of the many reminders of her torturing me. So, I just got in the car and I drove away, heading anywhere but there.”

His story sounds so sincere and he plays the grieving widow well, Lacey will give the man that. Yet she does not believe a word of it. ure, he had just the right amount of sadness to it and the little breaks and pauses, as if trying to get his emotions in check. Anyone else and she probably would have fallen for it, feeling so sorry for him. But not this time.

It was too much of a contrived story. At first, when asked about his destination, he had paused and stumbled. Then after a beat he came back with this perfectly concocted sob story, meant to gain him sympathy. He tried to hard for the sob story vote and Lacey just wasn't buying it.

That is the textbook signs of lying. But Lacey is a big enough person to be able to give him the benefit of the doubt. His story very well might be true, but whether it is or it is not ture, it will not be changing Lacey's mind about him. This is where they part ways, one way or another.

Conversation turns away from Nate, changing to general topics, such as the impending weather, the holidays and to the adults choices of career. Lacey was so happy to hear that Andy went along with her idea and lied about where it was that they were from. 

Andy told Nate that he was a teacher up in Washington state, working in a low funded school with disadvantage youth. When Nate asked about Lacey's career, Andy told him that she was a nurse in the delivery ward. Lacey nodded and thankfully the children, the super intelligent little blessing that they are, played along with the charade. Jack knew geography well, as it is an interest of his, and he told Nate,

“We live by the space needle!” Which thankfully sold their tall tale that they wre from Washington state. He would assume they hailed from up near Seattle.

Then returning of their waitress Cami with their plates of food thankfully  saved them from having to make any further conversation with Nate. Everyone was blessedly quiet as they ate their food, since their mouths were otherwise occupied.

Andy and the kids shoveled their food in as if they had never eaten before in their lives, trying to get back out on the road quickly. Lacey knew that she would not be able to eat a bite because she was so upset, so she simply ordered toast and jam, which she nibbled at. She ate one triangle before she offered it to Jack, who gobbled it down within seconds.

When everyone was done eating, Lacey checked the watch on Andy's wrist to find that only ten minutes had past. That had to break a speed eating record. She just hoped that they didn't all get belly aches later from shoveling their food in so fast.

Before they leave Lacey takes the children to use the rest room, since it had been many hours since they had stopped. Lacey was glad for the chance to go as well. Afterwards, the three of them washed their hands thoroughly before heading back out to join Andy.

They found him over by the counter with Cami, paying for the meal. Nate was standing by the jukebox, not appearing to be paying them any attention. Moving over to Andy, Lacey whispers, “Let's go!”

“Honey, we can npt just leave him here without a word. We have to tell him.” Andy tells her, shaking his head. "That is like the human equivalent of dropping an unwanted dog on the side of the road and speeding away."

“No, we do not  need to tell him. I don't care how that seems. We need to get the hell out of here. We are hours late, we are tired and I am getting angrier by the second. Give me my car keys. Because my children and I are getting in the car and we are leaving, with or without you. But Nate is not going with us.” Lacey says, reaching for the keys in his hand. She is tired of playing this game with him.

He hands the keys over without a word and she turns to Cami, thinking the woman with a smile. Lacey has the keys and she is turning towards the door when she sees Nate standing there.

Moving over to the exit, she turns to face him squarely. “Considering the fact that we are going in opposite directions and we really need to get a move on, this is where we are going to have to part ways. This diner seems like it is a really nice place to wait for the police to show up. It's nice and warm, with an endless supply of coffee. What could be better?”

“But I can-”

“I amm sorry. We are heading down to South Dakota and we can't waste time hanging about, waiting for the police to show up. You have to do that all on your own. It was nice meeting you and all. Good luck.” Lacey tells him. She is even polite enough to add on a not at all heart felt 'Hope you have yourself a Merry Christmas'.

“It was nice meeting you, as well.” Nate tells her with a warm smile. If there was hidden meaning in his words, Lacey did not waste her time looking for it. She was finally getting rid of him and that is all that mattered to her at the moment. Making that clean get away.

“I am really sorry that we couldn't be of more help to you.” Andy tells the man, coming forward to wrap his arm around his wife's mid-section from behind, pulling her back against his chest.. Lacey sees Nate's smile dim and she shivers.

But he is pleasant when he tells Andy, “oh no, you have done more than enough to help me out. Honestly. Thank you for everything you have done for me. I will not forget any of you.”

The way he says it and the way that he looks at Lacey.. she feels as if there was hidden meaning in his words. As if it were a threat of some kind. Come on, do not read anything into it, she tells herself sternly. Just because he watches you and smiles does not mean that he is flirting with you. Not every man is interested in you, Lace.

But Andy must notice this as well, because he tightens his arm, pulling her so tightly to him that her breath wooshes out in a small hiss. “Well, we really need to be going now. Merry Christmas, Nate.”

“Merry Christmas.”

Walking out of the diner, Lacey is aware of him standing in the window, watching them through the glass. She feels his eyes on her as she and her husband fasten the children into the back of the vehicle and get in to their seats up front. They face towards him and she looks up, making direct eye contact with him.

He gives her a smile that seems to her as if to say that this isn't over.

Lacey just grins and waves at the man as Andy pulls out of the parking lot, heading for the street to carry them away. She can not even begin to describe just how she is glad to being seeing the last of Nate Matthews.