“I haven’t even seen a menu!” I said, my voice raised.
“You’re gettin’ a buffalo burger with jack cheese and onion rings, just like me.”
I shook my head, those short, jerky shakes and I wasn’t certain I’d ever really done that before but I seemed to do it a lot around Max.
“But –”
“Go blow your nose, Duchess.”
“But –”
“You a vegetarian?”
“No.”
“Then trust me.”
I leaned toward him and stated on a hiss, “You’re impossible.”
He leaned toward me, grinning, and returned, “And you’re cuter than hell.”
“Don’t call me cute when I’m angry!” I exclaimed, now totally loud.
His eyes went over my shoulder before coming back to me then he asked, “You want the whole restaurant in on our conversation?”
I looked in the direction his eyes pointed and saw a lot of people, including Trudy, Sarah, Harry and Shauna as well as others were watching.
Then I turned back to Max, gave him a glare which would have melted paint off the walls but didn’t appear to affect him in the slightest and I flounced (yes, flounced but I decided I could forgive myself for flouncing as it was definitely a flouncing moment) in the direction where I hoped there would be restrooms.
Luckily, I was correct.
Once there, I blew my nose, washed my hands and looked in the mirror wishing I’d brought my purse so I could fix my lipstick.
Then I pulled in breath through my nose, rested my hands against the sink and whispered to my reflection, “What on earth am I doing?”
You’re living your life, Neenee Bean, Charlie said into my head, he sounded pleased and I watched my eyes go wide in the mirror.
Then I looked behind me. Then I looked under the two stalls behind me. The room was empty, except for me.
“I’m going insane,” I muttered. “Going insane in the snowy mountains like Jack Nicholson in The Shining except without the spooky hotel.”
No one replied because no one was there.
I decided being alone wasn’t good. I was hearing voices when I was alone. Charlie’s voice and as much as I wanted to hear Charlie’s voice, would have paid every penny I had, sold everything I owned, made a deal with the devil to hear Charlie’s voice, I didn’t want to hear it in my head.
I walked back into the restaurant smiling at Sarah and Trudy along the way, noticing Harry avoid my eyes and Shauna stare daggers at me and then I looked at Max.
He was eating an onion ring while he slid out of the booth.
“I see you didn’t wait for me,” I noted, my eyes on his chewing mouth then I slid into the booth.
“I ate a ring, Duchess, relax,” he returned as he sat in the booth beside me.
“Whatever,” I muttered and looked at my food of which there was a lot. The burger itself could feed four people. All of it was in a red, oval, plastic basket protected by a sheet of thin, white, wax paper.
It looked utterly delicious.
I reached for the ketchup.