"Belle, can you take that table?" Belle heard Granny call from the back room of the diner she had just started working at. Belle looked up from her work at the cash register and saw Granny nodding to a table near the back of the diner, where a man was sitting by himself.

"Sure thing," Belle said, hitting some buttons on the register and hoping she hadn't messed it up. The diner didn't have the most extensive training for its new waitresses, and Belle sometimes felt like she went about her job making things up as she went along. She didn't mind it though. Granny wasn't very demanding, and Belle had a lot of freedom at her job. Overall, she liked working at the diner, even if she felt kind of incompetent sometimes.

Belle grabbed a menu and a set of silverware and headed over to the table in the back. The man sitting there was reading the newspaper, and Belle thought he looked rather pretentious in his suit and tie, with a cane resting against the edge of the table. Nonetheless, Belle put on a smile and approached the table.

"Good morning sir," she said, and the man put down his paper.

"Good morning to you, dearie," he said, flashing Belle a disarming smile.

Belle blinked, returning his smile automatically. "Um…" she stuttered, "Here's our menu." She laid the menu on the table. "Would you like to hear today's specials?"

The man smiled again and shook his head. "That's alright," he said. "I'll just take some coffee."

"Right," Belle said, picking the menu back up. "I guess you won't be needing this then," she said. The man laughed, and Belle grinned. She decided she liked his laugh. "Uh, do you want cream and sugar in your coffee?" Belle asked.

The man nodded his head, and Belle watched the way his hair moved as he did so. "Yes please," he said, looking up at her from his seat.

Belle quickly realized she was staring, and, blushing, shook her head and put her polite waitress smile back on.

Sensing Belle didn't know what to say, the man gave her another disarming smile and said, "I like my coffee sweet."

"Right," Belle said, trying not to blush harder. "I'll be right back with that." She all but ran back to the back of the diner, giggling to herself once she knew she was out of earshot.

Belle went over to their coffee machine and started preparing the coffee when she heard Ruby coming up behind her. Belle prayed Ruby hadn't seen the exchange at the table, or she feared she'd never hear the end of it.

Belle had no such luck.

"Who was that?" Ruby asked, coming up beside Belle and leaning back on the counter, crossing her arms over her chest and grinning, making it clear she wanted the full story.

Belle, doing her best to look nonchalant, shrugged. "Just a customer," she said, trying not to grin.

"Oh, really?" Ruby teased. "Belle, come on. You were clearly staring."

"I was not!" Belle said indignantly.

Ruby just laughed. "Please, you so were."

Belle blushed ferociously. "Was I that obvious?" she whispered.

Ruby laughed even harder, playfully slapping Belle's shoulder. "Girl, why do you think he said, 'I like my coffee sweet'?"

Belle's eyes widened. "You heard that?"

"Of course!" Ruby gave Belle a look of mock indignation. "You think I'd miss out on a piece of gossip like that?"

"Ruby!" Belle chided as she added the cream and sugar to the coffee.

"What?" Ruby asked. "I can't help it."

Belle laughed and shook her head. "I'd better go deliver this," she said, holding up the cup of coffee.

"Mmmmhm," Ruby murmured, and then laughed.

Belle rolled her eyes at her friend and turned back out into the diner. She put her polite waitress smile back on and strolled out toward the table. As she approached, she heard Ruby whistle at her from the back, and Belle's face flushed again. She hoped the man hadn't heard that.

When she approached the table, the grin on his face said he had.

"Uh, here's your coffee," Belle said nervously, her hand shaking as she lifted the cup from the tray.

The man looked up and met Belle's eyes, and Belle got distracted by the look he was giving her.

Only a moment later did she realize she had dropped the coffee cup.

"Oh no!" Belle said, "I'm so sorry! I… I'll clean this up and get you a new cup…"

To Belle's relief and slight embarrassment, the man laughed. At least he wasn't angry. He reached down and picked up the cup, at the same moment Ruby came over and handed some towels to Belle.

"Don't worry dearie," the man said, a hint of laughter in his voice. He held up the cup. "It's only chipped, not ruined."

Belle smiled, and took the cup from him after mopping up the spilled coffee with her towels. "Yeah," she said, inspecting the cup, "just chipped."

She sat the cup back on her tray and picked it up. The man was still watching her with a slightly sympathetic smile on his face. "Anyway…" Belle said, meeting his eyes again, "I'd better get you another cup."

"No need," the man said with a grin. "Just use that one again. It isn't broken, after all."

"Right," Belle nodded. "I'll be right back." Once again, she retreated to the back room in embarrassment.

Ruby was waiting for her again, a knowing smile on her face. "Beeeeeellle," she said, shaking her head.

"I know, I know," Belle said, pushing past Ruby and preparing more coffee. Ruby just watched her with a grin.

Once the coffee was done, Belle headed back out to the table. She was determined to get it right this time. She set the cup of coffee on the table before she even looked at the man sitting there. "Here's your coffee… Again," she said with a laugh, finally looking up.

She wasn't surprised to find the man already smiling at her. "Thank you," he paused, looking down at her name tag, "Belle."

Belle just smiled, again at a loss for words. It was a strange feeling for her. She usually always knew what to say.

"It's a lovely name," he said.

Belle grinned. "Why, thank you," she replied, hoping he would offer his own name. She wasn't sure if it would be polite to ask.

Unfortunately, the man turned back to his paper and his coffee, and Belle retreated.

Belle watched from behind the diner counter as the man finished his coffee and read the paper. She couldn't decide what it was about him, but she couldn't stop watching. There was something captivating about the stranger, but she couldn't put it into words.

Her musing stopped as the man got up from the table and turned toward the counter. Belle looked down at the cash register and tried to pretend to be busy, hoping it looked like she hadn't been watching him.

The man came up to the register, and Belle rang up his coffee. "That'll be three dollars and ten cents," she said, finally having to look up and meet his eyes once again.

The man handed her a card. Belle took the opportunity to covertly look at the name on the card. Adam Gold, she thought, what an interesting name. She ran his card and handed it back to him with a smile.

He took the card, meeting her eyes once more. "Have a wonderful day Belle," he said quietly.

"You too, sir," Belle said.

He smiled. "You can call me Adam."

"Right," Belle said, blushing once again. "You have a wonderful day too then, Adam."

He laughed once more, and turned to go. Belle watched him as he walked out of the diner, wondering why she couldn't seem to stop wondering who this mysterious Adam Gold really was.