Title: 26: Disappoint

Author: TartanLioness

Summary: Response to 100prompt number 26: Disappoint.

He seems preoccupied - more so than usual - as I drive him to work. I'm not sure if I should ask about it. He doesn't often like to share his personal thoughts and it is obvious to be that whatever he is brooding over isn't work-related.

I can't help glancing over at him from time to time though; he is biting his lip and looking out through the windshield without seeing anything.

"Everything all right, sir?" I finally inquire, unable to keep my concern for him inside.

"Yes, thanks," he replies immediately. It's a brush off; he doesn't want to talk about whatever is bothering him. Then I can sense him shifting uncomfortably as he relents, "No, not really. I'm just wondering if, erm…"

From the corner of my eye I can see him pursing his lips, biting them, obviously battling with himself over whether or not he should speak his mind. I haven't seen a man this nervous since Jonathan Harley asked me out when we were both seventeen. For a second that thought strikes me, then I push it away. I shouldn't be ridiculous.

"You doing anything this evening?" Foyle asks with renewed certainty and my heart skips a beat or two. Could it be? My blood pounds through my veins as I turn to him slightly.

"Are you asking me out, sir?" I smile.

Then I fight to keep the smile from sliding off my face as he responds with vigour, "Steady on, Miss Stewart. Certainly not! No, er, I was just thinking about, erm, Andrew, er…"

Andrew. Of course. Because a man like him would never be interested in a slip of a girl like me. He is obviously uncomfortable as he tries to avoid asking me to take out his son, and though every hope of spending an evening with him alone has been crushed, I ask, "Is he all right?"

"No, um, well, I don't know," he replies, the pain and concern he feels for his son evident in his voice. "I'm just a bit worried about him. He's not himself at the moment because of the accident and I thought… maybe, ehm… it would do him a bit of good to… get out a bit." His discomfort is clear as he ceases to speak.

"You mean… with me?" I ask, though I know very well that that is exactly what he means.

"Well, no, no, no, well, no, er, er, er…" he stumbles awkwardly. My affection for him grows and I decide to help him out.

"A drive in the countryside, something like that?" I ask as I turn and smile at him.

"Perfect, yes!" Foyle says, relief emanating from him. I continue to speak about the drive I'm supposed to take his son on, smiling all the while.

And I am certainly glad to help him. But at the same time, disappointment courses through me, a dull, heavy feeling that seems to darken even the world around me. Disappointment that a man like Foyle would ask me to go out with his son when all I want is to spend every evening with him like I did when I was staying at his place. Disappointment that my boss obviously can't see me as anything but a girl under his protection - never as the woman who longs for his company and his touch. Disappointment in myself for thinking he could, even for a moment.