It was a quiet early afternoon and Haley was in a good mood. She was filling in for Deb, which she didn't mind and the place wasn't busy. Besides, Deb needed a break every now and then. The establishment was open mornings for breakfast, afternoons for lunch, evenings for dinner and late nights for drinking and pool shooting. And usually that meant she was there for every minute of it. The Den was now the main focal point in her life. It had always been important, coming in only second to her son. But Nathan was now a grown man and had moved on away from his mother and away from Tree Hill to live his life and pursue his own dreams. Even though she was still fairly young and far more attractive than most women half her age, Deb had chosen to throw herself into work as opposed to social and dating scenes. Perhaps the experience with Dan had soured her but in any event, there were more important things in life.

The phone rang as Haley was making a fresh batch of iced tea. She wiped her hands on her apron and threw a dishtowel over her shoulder as she reached for the cordless.

"Deb's Den. What can I do for you?"

There was a brief pause on the other end of the line.

"Hales?"

Haley smiled.

"Hey you."

Nathan took a deep breath. It was an unexpected surprise.

"Uh, hey. What's going on?"

"Nothing much. Just working or in today's case we aren't real busy, so hardly working. What are you up to?"

"Nothing. Um, I…I just called to talk to my mom."

"She's not here. You could try her cell but she should be back later, probably before dinner rush."

"Okay. That's cool. Just tell her I called…"

Haley's smiled faded.

"Whoa, you're hanging up on me?"

"No. No, it's just…"

"Nathan, are you okay?"

He sighed. There was no getting around a conversation.

"I'm cool. Sorry. I just didn't want to keep you from work but if you're not busy…"

She sensed the tense edge in his voice.

"You're not mad at me, are you?" she asked carefully.

"No. No, Hales. Of course not. Why would you think…"

"Good", she grinned. "Because I should me mad at you!"

"Me?"

"Uh, yeah. Tell me you didn't know he was coming back?"

Nathan nervously ran his fingers through his hair.

"Oh that. Sorry. Look, I didn't want to get in the middle…"

"You never do. I guess I can't blame you. It must be weird having your best friend married to your big brother."

Yeah. Especially when he was in love with his brother's wife.

"I don't know. It's okay, I guess."

"Well, he's here and we talked and…"

"And?"

Haley shrugged.

"I guess we're gonna give it another go."

"Are you sure that's what you want?" Nathan asked, probably a little too quickly.

"Yeah", she answered in a casual tone. "Yeah, that's what I want. I mean, he is my husband and I didn't get married just to get divorced."

"So everything is cool?"

"We're fine."

"Okay."

Haley rolled her eyes.

"I know what you're thinking, Nate."

"What am I thinking?"

"That I'm being naïve. That we're making a mistake. That Lucas will never change."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to. I know you, remember?"

Nathan closed his eyes. He remembered.

"Look, I know what you think but it's gonna be different this time."

"How do you know that, Haley?"

"I just do. We talked and he, well…Luke told me everything."

"He did?" Nathan raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. We talked all night and I told him that we cannot have a relationship without honesty."

"And?"

"And we put everything out on the table."

Nathan shook his head. He couldn't believe it.

"And you're cool with that?"

"I'm not happy that he left and I'm not happy about some of the things that went on when he was with you in Charleston but if we're going to move forward, then I can't hold things over his head for the rest of our lives."

"Unbelievable", Nathan muttered.

"What?"

"I just…damn, Hales. You say you know me but I know you, too. And the Haley James I know…"

"Haley Scott", she corrected.

"Fine. Haley Scott wouldn't put up with this bullshit."

"Look…"

"He's my brother and I love him but I can't just sit here and listen to you defend this guy while he makes a fool out of you."

Haley could feel her nature rising.

"Nathan!"

"You can get mad at me all you want to, Hales but yeah I think you're a fool if you're just gonna sit back and take it that Luke cheated on you basically the whole time he was here."

Haley stopped dead in her tracks. A coffee mug she had picked up dropped from her hands and shattered into pieces on the floor. For a minute, her breath caught in her throat.

"What did you just say to me?" she asked in an amazingly calm voice.

"You heard me. Look, I don't want to fight with you and I definitely don't want to be caught in the middle. I'll just back off. Forget this conversation ever happened."

Forget it? How could she? How could she ever?

"Wait a minute. Lucas…he, he cheated on me again?"

Then it was Nathan's turn not to breathe.

"Hold on. You said he told you everything…"

Haley struggled to find her voice.

"He told me that he considered not coming home at all. And he told me that he thought about running off to Indiana with Coop to work on this big racing team. And, and…that he was just going to disappear. Just not come back or write or call or anything. That's what he said."

And that's all he'd said.

"Haley…"

"Is it true?"

"I'm sorry."

"I asked if it were true?" she repeated, her voice rising a few more octaves.

"You should talk to Lucas."

She tearfully shook her head. It was happening again. She should have known it would have. But knowing didn't make it hurt any less.

"I have to go."

Nathan felt horrible.

"Hales, are you going to be okay?"

"I'm fine", she said, taking a deep breath and getting herself together. "Really."

He didn't buy it. She wasn't fine. How could she be? She sounded heartbroken. And it devastated him to hear her in so much pain.

"Haley…"

"It's okay, Nathan. I'll tell Deb you called, alright?"

He couldn't just let her get off the phone. Not like that.

"I'm sorry. Look, I'm worried about you. I hate ending things like this. I need to know you're gonna be okay."

She took a deep breath as one last single tear slid down her cheek.

"I'm fine, Nathan. I'm gonna be okay. I can handle this. Besides…it wouldn't be the first time."