Chapter 6

Elizabeth Webber woke up in an empty bed. It took a precious second for her to nearly fall of the bed as she called out. "Cam? Where are you?"

There wasn't a sound in response.

'OH, God!'

"Cam?" She lunged for the door and what she saw nearly did her in. Cam was sitting up at their Walmart dinette with his cheeks filled with food. He gave his mom a big smile with scrambled eggs visible through a gap in his teeth.

She sagged against the doorway her hand pressed tight over her hammering heart.

"Good morning." Jason looked around the half wall that separated the kitchen from the hall and her breathing stopped all together.

'How can he look so *#) )#$ great in the morning?' "Hey… Did I oversleep?"

He looked over at the clock on the wall and shook his head. "No, I just started breakfast when Cam came in so we've been talking."

"You mean Cam's been talking." The laughter was back in her voice, but her body buzzed with memories of last night when he'd held her and she'd given into the ever deepening feelings she had for him. "I'll just... ummmm grab a shower and get ready for work."

"Sure, I'll make you breakfast, too."

She couldn't help the way both of her brows rose at that comment. "Sure… that would be… nice."

Elizabeth stared into the little mirror mounted on the wall and smiled as she traced a finger over lightly colored mark on the side of her neck. The flush that came in response to the memory of 'how' she'd received the mark colored her cheeks and the pale skin of her chest at the same time. Jason's mouth had felt heavenly on her neck… and other places that couldn't enter her thoughts… not if she wanted to actually get to work in time to open up this morning.

As she stepped into the shower with the Chuggin' Charlie cartoon characters emblazoned across the plastic she wondered if Jason had a matching one on his neck. She'd never tried to leave one before… but last night she'd put in her best effort and been rewarded in so many ways.

"I like steam trains," declared Cameron as Elizabeth stepped back into the room. "Magnet ones don't have smoke, it's not as fun."

Jason nodded thoughtful as he poured the orange juice. "Point taken, Cam… smoke is more fun to watch than nothing at all."

Cameron nodded thoughtfully as though they'd just solved a most ponderous issue between the two of them. "Yep." He turned to see his mom and raised up both arms. "HUG ME!"

Elizabeth scooped him up in her arms and hugged him tight against her chest, placing a loud and wet kiss on his cheek. "Mmmmm 'Morning Baby."

"Not a baby, Mama…"

She gave him another kiss on his other cheek this time and set him down. "You'll always be my baby, sweetie. Now get dressed." She gave him a swat on his bottom and watched as he ran into her bedroom to grab the clothes she'd laid out on the bed.

The scrape of a chair behind her had her turning around to see Jason holding it away from the table.

"Hmmm," she wondered aloud, "a table for one?" She sat down in the chair and looked at the plate of eggs and looked up at Jason. "Where did you find all of this… not our kitchen?"

Jason set down a glass of orange juice and shrugged. "Mrs. Fletcher was working in her garden and Cam wanted to help her. When we were finished she gave us a bag of vegetables."

She started to giggle and he gave her a stern look. "What's so funny?"

"The image of you on your hands and knees in the dirt with your leather jacket and-"

"I didn't wear it, left it on the porch swing when we started. "

"Oh…" she gave him a wink, "I'm sure the ladies liked that."

"Is it really so funny to see a guy pulling weeds?"

Elizabeth took a sip of her orange juice and gave him a smile. "It's not funny as just odd, especially a guy who looks like he could bench press a small car, down on his knees with an elderly woman and child." She gave him a quirky grin as she speared some of the eggs with her fork. "I'd liked to have seen it."

"Me, down on my knees?" He gave her a look that had her weak in her knees sitting down. "You saw that last night."

To save herself from making a total fool of herself she shoved her fork in her mouth and started to chew… and halfway through her second bite she realized something important. "This is good." Okay, so her mouth was a little full and it probably sounded like mush but it was true. She swallowed and stared at him. "You cook."

"Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" She took another forkful and chewed as she watched the play of emotions on his face.

"Like I grew an extra head or… I don't know."

She smiled as she swallowed. "No… no… it's nothing bad. You're this hot guy who rides a motorcycle… carries a nine-millimeter pistol and you can cook. It's unexpected."

"Right." Jason looked at her as if she was starting to lose it. "Finish up if you don't want to be late."

The reminder was all she needed. Elizabeth continued to dig in as Jason went in to get Cam moving.

The first thing she noticed was a note taped to the door and that killed her. Especially in front of Jason. She walked up and pulled the note off. It was pink and smelled like that kind of perfume you get in the little girl's section at Walgreens. She opened the note and shook her head.

"What's wrong?" Jason was right behind her.

"Courtney has a 'family emergency' and won't be in."

"Elizabeth?"

The young mother groaned as stared at the old woman striding through the parking lot, "Not Bill, too!?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie… he's laid up in bed by the gout in his legs. Can't Courtney cover the front?"

Elizabeth waved the pink stationary in the air. "Not today."

"What are you going to do?"

Elizabeth stared at the diner and the closed sign. "I guess I'll have to-" she stopped mid thought and her gaze swiveled to Jason and a sly smile spread over her lips. "Everyone inside."

The assembled group followed the young woman inside and Cam climbed up onto a stool and waited for his mother.

"This all depends on two people. Abby, can you take Cam for the day… I'll pay you, please."

The older woman waved her off. "Cam's a total sweetie and it'll be nice to hear something besides Bill griping all day. Who else?"

Elizabeth looked at Jason as she reached behind the counter and tossed him an apron. He caught it and looked down at the white cotton ball in his hand. "I need you to cook."

"Cook?"

Jason was a little unnerved as the older woman standing beside him started to chuckle silently at the thought.

Elizabeth continued on with her grand plan. "You made me an AMAZING breakfast, that's all you have to do."

"Look," he swallowed, "it was just some eggs."

"Please, Jason… you said you wanted to help me."

"Of course, I do… breakfast is it. That's all I make."

"Eggs? Pancakes? Ham? Bacon?..." she listed off a number of breakfast items and Jason nodded at each one. Smiling she reached for the white board sitting up against the back wall and wiped it off with the side of her hand. Taking up the Green marker on the counter she quickly wrote up a message and turned it around for the group to see.

BREAKFAST DAY

ALL DAY

Jason took one look at her hopeful face and started stripping off his jacket. Abby gave an appreciative whistle and took Cam's hand. "Let's go, Buddy… Mama's got a lot of work to do."

Abby paused by the door and gave Elizabeth a look that caught the younger woman's eye. She pointed at Jason and fanned herself as if she was about to melt into the linoleum. Elizabeth laughed and Jason looked up into the mirror above the counter and smile. "I can see that."

The woman fled with Cameron, her laughter trailing behind her.

Jason had been in enough diners as a customer that none of the orders coming across the counter fazed him at all. The heat that was threatening to eat him alive was fueled every time Elizabeth reached her hand through to hand him an order. He'd take the opportunity to hold her fingers and slide down to the paper; it never failed to make her blush.

And every so often she'd find a reason to come back to the kitchen when there wasn't something pressing to do in the front. He'd back her up against the refrigerator or any other available surface and kissed her until she moaned.

Oh yeah, things were gettin' warm in the kitchen.

A few minutes after the noon rush died down the bell above the door clanged against the wall and Elizabeth jumped a little, connecting her forehead with Jason's. "Sorry." Fixing her hair in the mirrored reflection of the refrigerator she made her way into the front of the diner.

When she saw who it was she gave every effort to keep the welcoming smile on her face. "Hello, Mr. Lansing. I was wondering when I'd see you."

He looked like one of those cardboard cut-outs in an appliance store window, his briefcase clutched in his hands in case it might touch the booths on either side of him. "Well, I told you when you came into the bank that first time that I take a very 'personal' interest in all my clients."

"Oh, really, well I'm glad to hear it." Looking quickly around the diner, Elizabeth took a deep breath. "If you have a few minutes, I'd like to talk now."

Ric Lansing looked around the diner on his own and gave a little sigh. "This could take awhile. Wouldn't it be easier if we talked about this over dinner?"

Elizabeth looked back at the kitchen for quick second. "I'm completely understaffed today, as it is I had to bring a friend in to cook."

The banker looked uncomfortable. "Is that legal? I mean, the county has strict restrictions about who can work in an establishment for health and safety reasons."

She waved off his comments and called back over her shoulders. "Jason? Can you make me a special for Mr. Lansing?" She held out her hand to the nearest booth. "So, let's have that talk right now. I really want to get this straightened out."

He nodded, slowly. "Fine. We'll try it this way and see."

A few minutes later, Jason stepped out of the kitchen to deliver some plates to a neighboring booth. He didn't like the way the man looked. He didn't like the way the man talked. He didn't like the way the man kept trying to touch her hand every chance he got.

"I'm not sure I understand what you're saying Mr. Lansing. I made the payments and paid the fees, it seems like the interest rates have gone through the roof! I'm sure we had a fixed rate percentage on this. Right?"

The banker shuffled the paper and sighed. "I don't recall that, Ms. Webber. Maybe," he slid his hand over hers and lowered his voice, "we should meet at my home office, really go over these papers and we can come to some sort of arrangement to save your diner."

Jason dropped the plate on the table top and the clatter echoed in the room.

Ric jumped back. "Hey, why don't you watch what you're doing, you imbecile?"

"You alright, Elizabeth?"

She got up from the booth and put some distance between herself and Ric Lansing. "I'm sure it was all a misunderstanding-"

"You let this brute run your kitchen?" He gave Jason a scathing look. "He doesn't look like he read a recipe let alone make food that's worth paying for."

Elizabeth's jaw dropped. "That's just rude and I'd like you leave, Mr. Lansing. I'll see you at the bank tomorrow and we'll clear this up." Her expression was stone and he must have known he wasn't going to get anywhere. He stuffed the papers into his briefcase and started to close it as Elizabeth moved toward the counter and Jason reached out and touched her shoulder to comfort her.

Ric Lansing in his overpriced Armani knock off took one look at the 'intimate' gesture and sneered. "What kind of payment arrangement is she giving you?"

Jason heard her gasp of outrage and wasn't quite sure if it was from the banker's words or the fact that Jason had knocked him to the floor with back of his hand.

"Shut up about her, if you know what's good for you."

"Was that a threat? Did you just threaten me?" The Banker already had his cell phone out and was dialing 911. "You'll be sorry you did that."

"Humph," came a comment from one of the booths along the other side of the diner. "I'm sorry he didn't put you through the windows."

The banker glared up at everyone as Elizabeth wrapped her arms around Jason's waist and walked him back away from the man on the floor. He lifted the phone right up to his ear. "Yes? Is this the Sheriff's office? I want to report an assault. Yes, the diner on the highway. Hurry, before he comes after me again." Closing the phone the banker gave Elizabeth a glare. "I was willing to help you before, Ms. Webber, but after being attacked by your 'Neanderthal' here, I'm less than willing to make an extra effort on your behalf."

"Yeah, well… " she started, "there are some lines that I won't cross no matter how desperate I am." Elizabeth put her hand on Jason's arm. "When the Sheriff comes down here, I'll tell them what happened. EVERYTHING that happened."

Rubbing his cheek the banker gave both of them a nasty glare. "There are two sides to every story, Ms. Webber, and I hate to point it out but I'm a very important man in this town. It would be best for you if you thought about the implications of your actions from here on out." He turned his gaze on Jason. "I'm sorry; too many big words for you, well when you pull your knuckles up off the floor, maybe you can look up a few of them for refere-"

A moment later he was spitting out eggs and bell pepper bits and blinking at the young woman standing in front of him. "You're lucky I need every single plate that I have, Mister Lansing, or I would have broken this over your head." She set the plate down on the table. "If you want to wait for Sheriff, wait 'outside' or be prepared for another face full of food."

Ric Lansing brushed egg and vegetables off of his suit and reached for the door. "That was the wrong thing to do, you'll see."

The bell nearly bounced off the chain as the door swung violently closed behind him. Elizabeth lifted her chin and gave Jason a smile. "As far as I can see, that was the only thing I could have done." She pulled a towel from her apron and started to wipe off the table as a siren broke the quiet outside the diner. "Here we go…"