"Oh Billy, you have got to try one of these." The young female's eyes were aglow with delight as she balanced a swirl of steaming noodles dripping with cheese on the end of her fork.
Billy opened his mouth like a baby bird. She inserted the food gently and slid the fork back away empty. Billy closed his eyes and smiled as he chewed, "Mmmmm."
Once "The Spaghetti Spoon" had been a video store, which had lost it's business to the oncoming surge of mail order video disks, and the building had sat vacant for eight long years until Rick Jessup signed a lease and converted it into an Italian eatery. Before the video store it had been a laundry mat, and before that an annex to a hardware store during the Christmas months, and before that even an empty lot. Unknown to Billy as he took his bite, "The Italian Spoon" would only be open for three more years, because Rick would have a massive heart attack on a cold November morning while stepping out the front door on his way to the eatery; and that would be that.
Business was good on this night, tables were filled, and Rick was happy. So was Billy and his young lady in love. It was a simple moment in time for each of them, making it the very best of happiness for it was both spontaneous and effortless.
The young woman's cheeks budded with rosy flair as she smiled, "That's good stuff, isn't it?"
"Oh my gosh yes," Billy mumbled, still savoring bite.
Billy washed the last of the nibble down with some water, emptying his glass, which he sat on the edge of the table for it to be noticed as the waitress tended the many tables on this busy night. When he looked back at the beauty seated across from him, he could see she was quite distracted in her own thoughts. He asked, "What are you thinking."
She brought her attention to him as though someone had clapped their hands in her face loudly; and she smiled bright and glowingly, "Nothing. I don't know. Nothing."
"It certainly looked like something. Are you sure there's nothing troubling you?"
"What could be troubling me? No. It was nothing. Maybe just a little tired."
"Okay," Billy said as he saw the waitress approaching with the water pitcher. "I guess a girl is entitled to her secrets."
"Secrets? Oh yes, you know me. I'm just a woman filled with all sorts of hidden little secrets," she laughed.
"Just like a woman," Billy agreed.
"I think," the young woman leaned in over the table, romantically gazing into Billy's eyes, "you will find I am unlike any woman you will ever meet again."
Time seemed to stop for Billy at that moment. The sounds of the Italian eatery faded away, and he could sense his heart had also been frozen at that instance. Every fiber of his being registered that if is his heart were to beat just once more, it would be only a gift from her. She owned him, and for the first time the profound impact of that had hammered him through and through. His heart did beat again, and the halted moment re-connected with all of time, and the buzz and swirl of the many activities inside the eatery almost overwhelmed him. He wanted to offer penance for being so inadequate and so undeserving to be in her company.
A waitress interrupted by taking the glass from the table. She was young, and stunningly pretty. It would have been almost incredulous for anyone, upon laying vision on her for the first time, to deny making full note of it. Billy, to the fault of his kind in general, made obvious notice of it; perhaps too obvious. The waitress did not flaunt her gift, nevertheless. She graced them with a smile and refilled the glass, and asked if there was anything else she could serve them.
Billy made that tremendous mistake almost all young dull witted and unseasoned men do. He struck up conversation with her. "I haven't seen you here before."
"Really, I've been here for a couple of months."
"Wow, how could I have missed you," which was strike two for Billy as his date kept a harsh score.
"Yep, a couple of months," the waitress swept a dark strand of hair from her face, "now, is there anything else I can get for you two?" The server had turned her bubbly smile, wisely, to the young female companion of Billy's.
The seated blonde's smile was all but genuine, tinted with shades of sarcasm and venom, "No, thank you."
Billy maintained his ignorant, boyish grin, "No, nothing for me either."
The waitress left their table, continuing her rounds, and Billy's date said, "Wasn't she just ducky."
Billy replied, "What? Do you know her?"
"I should say not."
Billy was confused, "Did she do something wrong? Did I miss something?"
"I don't think you missed a thing," she took a drink, brooding all the while.
"What? I think she did an okay job."
"Well I don't like her."
"You don't even know her."
The words, "Oh, but I bet you would like to," almost jumped from her mouth. Instead she sat quietly and sneered at Billy.
Billy's eyes lit up, "Oh, you're jealous," and he laughed.
"I am not. Do you think she has something I need to be jealous of?"
"I'm not the one pitching a tantrum about it." Billy could see these sorts of statements were repairing nothing, and he said, "You know, there's not a girl out there I would even consider over you."
The young woman now felt somewhat embarrassed and looked away, "So you say."
"It's true, look at me." He reached across the table and took her hands, "I mean it, with all of my heart."
"Honest?"
"Would I lie to you?" he asked.
A lie, she thought, is many things. He did not deny his brief want of flirtation with the waitress, this much was true; but he made no apologies either. She believed what he said, and that was the bottom dollar, and she knew it. She knew she could trust in those words, despite the secrets of his heart. Of course she had a bank of secrets all her own, locked securely away for now. Should this tender moment be the time to dispatch that lock and reveal them to him? No. She almost laughed at the notion. Certainly not here and absolutely not now.
She told him, "Tomorrow morning I have to go into town."
"Want me to go with you?" Billy asked.
"No, just a few errands to run. Nothing fun. I shouldn't be gone for more than a couple of hours."
"Okay then. I'll try to survive while you're not there."
She smiled again, "I know it will be hard."
"Oh yes. It can be tricky."
The rest of the dinner, as well as the afternoon, went off without a hitch. The waitress never had opportunity to visit their table again before the end of their meal. Billy had attempted to leave a tip on the table for the server, but the young woman insisted she would do so instead while Billy paid the ticket; it was, in her words, the least she could do after the jealous episode she had demonstrated. Billy agreed silently with a nod and a smile. The beautiful young blond waited for Billy to leave the table and she dropped two pennies in her water glass.
Julie Monroe was the name of the young, dark haired waitress who had waited on Billy and his date. To be exact, she was only nineteen years old. Her father had wanted to name her Lisa before she was born, but when he held her for the first time, he said Julie, and it had stuck. A compromise was made by officially giving her the name of Julianne Lisa Monroe, and of his three daughter's she was his favorite. She was by far the most beautiful of the three, but this was not the reason for his favoritism. There was something inexplicable in her spirit which had captured Mr. Monroe's heart. Surely, he would tell the three girls he loved them equally, and his mind would often shame him for knowing a special location for love was preserved just for Julianne.
Mr. Monroe's sorrow and grief would smother him for the rest of his life when he found out Julie's reason for never making it home that night. While crossing the street on the walk to her automobile she was taken down by a drunk driver. Forty eight dollars and two cents were returned to Mr. Monroe by the medical examiner along with all she possessed on her person that night.
The plain and ordinary smallest house at the end of the street sat quietly through the night, and inside it Billy and his lovely blond companion slept. His sleep was typical with tossing and turning, while hers was, as normal, solid and peaceful. She wore a slight smile on her vivid lips, knowing deeply all things that night had gone her way.
