As he walked up to the door, he peeked inside. She was there all right, but so was Lucky, like he was standing guard over her at the counter. She looked up from the coffee and locked eyes with him. He smiled and waved, but left before Lucky could see him. The last thing he needed was Lucky getting upset.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She knew he was there before she looked up. When she did, he was there, watching her with those clear blue eyes. She smiled at him, but turned away quickly so Lucky wouldn't get suspicious.
Lucky had noticed her looking at the windows, so he turned to see who was coming in. When he didn't see anyone, he asked Elizabeth who she was smiling at.
"Oh, Emily passed by. Probably on her way to see Zander at Alexis' place." She smiled at him, hoping he would believe that lie too.
She felt horrible lying to him, but she knew what he would say if she told him about Jason staying at her studio. HE would have a meltdown. And she couldn't deal with that. Not right now. She knew how he felt about lies, and secrets, but that was better than telling him the truth... for now.
Tammy came out from the kitchen. "Hey Liz, you can go. It's pretty slow today, and Gina wanted to come in early today."
Elizabeth thanked Tammy as she took off her apron. Lucky pulled her into a kiss as she rounded the counter. She smiled at him as she pulled way. "Hey there," she said seductively. Lucky mumbled a hello as he kissed her again. Elizabeth laughed as she pulled away. "Not here," she whispered into his ear.
Lucky grinned, taking her hand to lead her upstairs, but he was met with resistance. "What's up?" he asked her.
"I have some sketches that I HAVE to get done. Can you take a rain check?"
He thought about it for a second, "How about I come with you while you sketch, then we can go to the Grill for dinner?" He headed for the door.
"Um, Lucky? How about you give me three hours? I promise, in three hours, I'll be back, and we can do.. whatever," she said as she winked at him.
He looked at her skeptically, but relented. "I guess I could go see LuLu. Haven't seen her in awhile." He kissed her once more, then left the restaurant.
Elizabeth ran up to her room to grab her pads and pencils. She breathed a sigh of relief as she closed the door behind her. He knows, she thought to herself. He knows Jason was with me last night. She threw her supplies into her bag and skipped down the steps two at a time. When she walked out of the diner, she tried to decide where to go. She decided against the studio - not much to draw there, and the docks might not be a good idea, with the fire and everything. "I'll go to the pond," she said to herself. "There's bound to be people skating that I could sketch."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He was sitting on the docks, looking at what used to be his warehouse. Well, half of it was his anyway. His mind kept going back to the night before, when he looked up to see Liz standing there, tears glistening in her eyes. He shook his head, trying to get her out of his mind. What is wrong with me? he thought to himself. He shouldn't be thinking about her this way. She loved Lucky, and that was that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sitting on the bench, watching the people skate by, Liz was struck by
how happy everyone was. Smiling and laughing. Not a care in
the world. She sighed as she opened one of her pads.
She picked out a father and daughter to sketch and began working.
The pencil just glided right over the paper, as if under it's own power.
She barely glanced up to observe the skaters. If she had, she surely
would have noticed her sketch looked nothing like the scene before her....