He sighed again, and picked the menu back up, hoping that the menu would help distract his thoughts until Lisa arrived. He felt restless and he hated feeling restless.
Just then the door opened and a bright burst of sunlight came into the diner, and the sunlight gleamed off of Lisa's bright blonde hair. She smiled, seeing Jack, and the brightness of her smile made the sunlight seem dim by comparison. Jack felt his heartbeat quicken. And just like that the butterflies were gone, replaced by joy and contentment. He smiled back.
"Hey," she said, sitting down next to him.
"Hey," he said.
She slid her purse onto the floor, and put her free hand on his thigh, squeezing gently, "How's your day been so far?"
"Can't complain," he said. "How's your day been?"
"Pretty good," she said, smiling, "I sold a horse."
"You did?" Jack said.
"I did," Lisa said, with a grin. "I sold a racehorse to Dan." Jack looked at her in surprise, she dropped her voice conspiratorially, "For twice what he was worth."
Jack chuckled, "Lunch is on you then?"
"Absolutely," Lisa responded, laughing.
His hand had found its way into hers and they sat there holding hands in companionable silence as they pursued the menu, until Maggie came over.
"What can I get you lovebirds?" she asked, and Lisa could swear that she felt Jack tense next to her.
"I'll have a burger and fries please, Maggie," Lisa said with a smile, adding, "and I'll just stick with coffee to drink."
"I'll have the same," Jack said, smiling.
Maggie locked eyes with Lisa in a way that clearly said, 'cute!' and Maggie headed off to place their orders.
Lisa turned to look at Jack, she could tell something was a bit off, but she couldn't quite tell what. He was still a bit of a mystery to her. "Jack," she started, turning more fully to look at him, "I have something I have been wanting to talk to you about," she said, pulling a face.
"Okay, shoot," Jack said slowly. 'Well,' he thought, 'here it comes. Here comes the talk.'
"You know how I mentioned that I have to travel a lot for my business?" She asked, clearly nervous.
"Yeah," Jack said, tentatively. This was not going as expected.
"Well, I have a trip scheduled, and I have to go to France for a few weeks." She pulled a face again.
"Oh," Jack said, surprised by how disappointed he felt that she'd be gone.
"I just," Lisa started, "we've been…" she chose her words carefully "seeing a lot of each other and I didn't want to just up and disappear on you."
Jack smiled, "I appreciate that," and took a hold of her hand, "when are you leaving?"
"A week from now," Lisa said, scrunching up her face.
"And how long will you be gone?" He asked.
"Three weeks," she said, her eyebrows disappearing into her hairline.
"Okay," Jack said.
Lisa smiled at him, "really?"
"Really," he said, smiling back. He took her hand again and gave it a squeeze.
At that moment, Maggie arrived with their lunch. They chatted happily as they ate their burgers. And Jack was struck again by just how much he was going to miss Lisa when she left for France. What was going on with him? One minute he was worried about not being able to commit to her fully and the next he was thinking about how much he was going to miss her when she left town. Would they even still see each other when she returned? Would she still even want him? All of a sudden doubts crept in.
He cast a glance at her, and was struck by what was probably a fool-hardy notion, "How do you feel about fly fishing?" The words were out of his mouth before he'd fully considered them.
"Fly fishing?" She asked, nearly choking on her burger.
He nodded enthusiastically.
"I love it," she said, enthusiastically, attempting to sound natural. She wanted to impress him and she certainly didn't want him to know that she'd literally never even given fly fishing a thought.
"Yeah?" He said.
"Yeah," she agreed. Her shoulders tensing with the strain of not telling the complete truth. She was sure she'd like fly fishing if she could try it with Jack. Their roping date had certainly gone well enough.
"I have this fishing camp not far from here," he started, "how would you feel about getting away for a night before your trip?"
"I'd like that very much," she said, and here she didn't have to fein any enthusiasm. If it meant a night alone with Jack, she would gladly figure out fly fishing.
"How about you come over Saturday morning and we'll head out?" he asked.
"It sounds like a date," Lisa said with a smile.
Jack grinned back at her. He'd started the date out by trying to put walls up and now here he was inviting her on a weekend away. Life certainly was interesting.
Lisa paid for their lunch. And Jack said he had to head back to the ranch, so Lisa walked him to his truck. When they got there, he dropped a kiss onto her lips, pulling her against him. And Lisa smiled as they pulled apart. The man could certainly kiss.
"I'll see you Saturday then," he said, his hands still lingering on her hips.
"I'm looking forward to it," she said her blue eyes gleaming with unspoken promises.
"Me too," he said simply, and pulled her in for another kiss.
When Jack was safely in his truck and had driven away, Lisa snuck back toward Maggie's.
"Girl, did you forget your purse?" Maggie asked when Lisa walked into the door.
"No," Lisa said, her eyes wide, holding up her purse for Maggie to see.
"What's going on?" Maggie asked.
Lisa slunk down onto a stool at the counter. "I need your help." She grabbed Maggie's hands seriously.
"For you? Anything." Maggie said with a grin.
"So, Jack asked me to go to his fishing cabin."
Maggie gawked at Lisa, "He doesn't take anybody , things must be getting serious."
"I didn't know that, but thank you for making me even more nervous," Lisa said with a panic stricken look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Maggie asked.
"I may have led Jack to believe that I can fly fish." Lisa said.
Maggie laughed, "Ooh, girl. I've got you covered. We'll get you outfitted like a fly fishing pro. That man won't know what hit him."
"Thanks, Maggie!" Lisa said with a smile.
"It's my pleasure," Maggie said with a grin. Lisa Stillman had it bad for Jack Bartlett.