Liz spent the rest of the weekend catching up on some household chores, paperwork and sleep. She only ventured out a couple of times; once to the store for groceries and once to sit in her local park to enjoy some sunshine and read her book. Despite the fact it was a productive weekend, both in terms of things she had to get done and in terms of allowing herself some time to relax, she found her mind wandered often to her night out on Friday with Ray. On a couple of occasions she had come close to calling the restaurant and asking to speak to him but hadn't quite managed to follow through. She still didn't know if he had a significant other, although she had the gut feeling that he didn't. He had said he was lonely, right? Surely that's as good an indication as she should need that he was single.
Before she knew it, it was Monday morning and she was sitting back in her office at eight-forty, waiting for her first patient of the week, who was running ten minutes late. As she sat at her desk, thumbing through the notes she'd made so far on this patient, her eyes kept glancing over to her phone. Dammit, Liz, just call the restaurant! She put the folder down and reached for the phone and…. A knock on the door. Her patient was here. Half of her was relieved, the other half frustrated. Sighing quietly to herself she went to open the door and get her working week started.
By lunchtime she was desperate for some fresh air and locked the office up and headed towards town. She had no real destination in mind and so just decided to walk up and down Main Street. As she drew nearer to Nick's Pizza, she found herself getting butterflies in her stomach. Oh, for goodness' sake, Liz, you're not a teenager, she chided herself but found that actually she really didn't mind. It had been a long time since she'd felt this way. It was pretty exhilarating if she was honest. As she came level with the big glass windows at the front of the restaurant, she turned her head and eagerly looked inside, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ray. At first she couldn't see any staff except for one of the regular waitresses, who was carrying a large jug of water towards a table in the corner. Then she saw him. She could swear her heart skipped a beat. He was once more dressed in a smart shirt and slacks, although the shirt now was a beautiful sky blue. Even from a distance and through the tinted window, he looked as handsome as she remembered. He was talking to a woman who was seated at one of the tables by the wall and as she was watching she saw the woman pat the seat next to her and Ray move over to sit there. Liz screwed up her eyes and tried to see better the expressions on their faces. Ray was smiling but she couldn't really see what the woman was doing as she was mostly turned away from Liz.
Realising that standing at the window and staring in like this was anything but subtle, Liz swiftly stepped to the pillar next to the door and pretended to look at the menu that was fixed on there. From this angle, she could still see the pair of them but she would be mostly obscured. The woman Ray was talking to turned her head slightly back towards Liz and she could see that she was laughing. Oh, God, Liz thought – that's Amber Gordon. Amber was pretty notorious about town for being a man-eater. Surely Ray wasn't involved with her, was he? As she continued to stare in at them, Amber turned back towards Ray and Liz saw her put her hand on his thigh, much further up than could be deemed appropriate if they were just acquaintances, let alone owner and customer. Liz turned away and walked off straight across the street, trying to ensure that Ray wouldn't be able to see her. Once she got to the other side of the street, she turned back towards her office and walked swiftly. She almost felt like crying. She knew it was an over the top reaction but she couldn't help it. She had gotten her hopes up about Ray, had really thought that maybe there was a spark there. Guess she was wrong.
The rest of the day passed in a bit of a blur. She was almost on autopilot with her patients, which she knew wasn't fair to them but she couldn't help it. The second it got to five o'clock and her last appointment finished, she quickly locked up the office and headed home.
As she came in her front door, she placed her bag on the side and glanced around her apartment. All of a sudden, it seemed so much smaller and more empty. She realised she had spent the whole weekend wondering what it would be like to invite Ray here. To have him in her space. To…. No, she thought, do not let your mind go there! With a sudden burst of energy, and some anger, she headed to her closet and pulled out a dress and various accessories to go with it. She needed to be out of here.
Within forty minutes she had gotten dressed, called a cab and was now back in front of The Post Office. She had thought about going somewhere else but she decided that coming here was maybe a good idea. If she was gonna erase Ray from her thoughts then she needed to make some new memories quickly. And here was as good a place as any. She went straight in and headed straight over to the bar, ordering a whole bottle of Chardonnay. She knew this was not terribly wise behaviour and she was pretty certain she was going to regret it in the morning but right now, she just didn't care.
Having been given the bottle and a glass, she turned and looked for an empty table. The one she had sat at with Ray on Friday was empty but she really didn't want to sit there. Thankfully there was another one further along the wall and she walked on over, dropped her bag on the floor and settled herself in her seat, immediately pouring herself a large glass of wine.
'Hey Liz, drinking alone?'
'Oh, hi Pete. Yeah, I guess so. Unless you wanna join me?'
Pete was an old friend of Liz's. They'd almost dated once in High School but had never seemed to find the right moment. He was now happily married with two kids but she still saw him and his wife occasionally.
'How've you been? Feels like ages since we had you over?'
'Yeah, I know, my practice has really taken off. I've been working all hours for the last month or so. How're Penny and the kids?'
'Oh, they're good. Would love to see you though'.
As their conversation continued, Pete pulled up a seat next to Liz's and sat down. Before too long, they were chatting away happily about anything and everything. Pete had quickly returned to the bar and bought himself a beer but then come straight back over. After an hour or so they were both pretty tipsy and laughing at each other's jokes in the way only old friends can. Anyone watching them would probably have thought they were a couple.
Liz was so engrossed in their conversation and now so inebriated that she didn't see the man silhouetted in the window. He stood there for a couple of minutes and then moved away hurriedly. As he moved, Liz caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye but as she turned towards the window to look at where she thought she had seen someone, the space was empty. Great, she thought to herself, now I'm hallucinating.
Unlike Liz, Ray's weekend had been crazily busy. Having taken Friday night off, he was working all day and night Saturday and Sunday and barely had a moment spare to think of anything, even his surprisingly wonderful Friday evening. All the time he was in the restaurant he was hoping to see Liz come in but sadly she didn't. Ah, well, he thought to himself. Maybe I was misreading the signs. Maybe she has a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. Or who knows… Just play it cool, Ray. She'll be back in soon enough and we can see where this might be going.
Come Monday morning he was back at work again and very grateful for a quieter day after the constant rush of customers all weekend. He spent some time checking stock and making some orders, dealing with employee payroll and pondering this week's specials. At lunchtime he got bored of paperwork and so decided he'd spend some time in the restaurant, mingling with the customers and helping out the waiting staff.
He hadn't been out in the restaurant long when he saw Amber Gordon come in. Oh, God, he thought, not again. She had been in at least five times in the last two weeks and was always desperately trying to flirt with him. But she really wasn't his type. She was far too forward and dressed, well, somewhat revealingly. Which, in the right circumstances, was not something he minded. But a weekday lunchtime didn't seem the right time for anyone to see that much cleavage. Sighing, he headed for the door to greet her.
'Miss Gordon, back so soon?'
'Why, yes, Ray, of course. You know how I love coming here. And I just couldn't keep away from you, you handsome devil', she replied with a wink whilst running her hand down his forearm.
Ray diplomatically retracted his arm from her hand and used it to point to a table at the side of the restaurant.
'Would you like to sit over here today? We have plenty of free tables to choose from'
'Thank you, darling, yes, that'd be just fine'.
Ray seated her and handed her a menu. She made sure to run her finger along his as she took it from him but he managed not to react, just smiling back at her neutrally.
'I'll leave you to have a look at the menu for a few minutes and fetch you some table water. Would you like anything else to drink?'
As he was saying this, Amber was running her eyes up his form with no shame or subtlety.
'Mmm, yes, there are plenty of things I could be tempted by. Why don't you bring me the wine menu too, Ray?'
Ray turned away and headed for the bar. Man, she was hard work. He couldn't just tell her to back off as she was a customer and, in fairness, she hadn't done anything too outrageous. Ah, well, she'll only be here an hour or so he told himself. He did, however, send another waiter to her table with the wine menu and asked him to take her order too. He really didn't want to spend the whole of the next hour fending off her advances.
Ray soon busied himself with other restaurant business and even helped out behind the bar for a bit. A few customers just came in for a quick lunchtime drink and so he had found that working behind the bar was a good way to get chatting to some of them. There weren't many outright drinking establishments in town and so his bar was popular amongst people who only wanted a quick pick-me-up before heading back to work or home.
Just as he'd finished pouring a beer for one customer he happened to glance up and saw that Amber was beckoning to him. Oh, God, now what, he thought to himself. He hastened over to her with a forced smile on his face.
'Everything all right, Miss Gordon?'
'Well, mostly, Ray. But I'd hoped to see more of you, sweetheart', she said in a purring voice.
'I'm so sorry, I've been busy helping out the other staff'
'Well, it's much quieter now, why don't you come sit next to me', she said as she patted the seat next to her.
'Oh, I'm not sure I have time for that, there are many things to be taken care of'
'Ray, you own this place. You can make time', she said as she batted her eyelids at him.
Just suck it up Ray, just a few minutes…..
'Of course, was there anything in particular you wanted to talk about?' Ray said as he sat next to her on the cushioned bench by the wall.
'Oh, Ray, you are so coy', she said as she turned slightly away from him and laughed. 'You can't pretend that there's no attraction here. I've seen the way you look at me'. As she finished speaking, she ran her hand up his thigh. Ray immediately got to his feet and stepped away from the table.
'I'm sorry, Miss Gordon. I didn't mean….'
He saw movement at the front of the restaurant and looked up. There was a woman walking quickly away across the street. Was that Lizzy?
'What were you saying, Ray?'
'I, er, I, I didn't mean to give a false impression. I'm sorry if you feel I've led you on. Now please excuse me, there's something I need to attend to'.
Ray walked quickly to the front of the restaurant and stepped onto the street. The woman had disappeared. Dammit, had that been Lizzy? He sighed to himself and stepped back into the restaurant. He walked quickly to the back, flashing a quick smile at Amber, and headed to his private office.
He didn't want to believe that it had been Lizzy he'd seen but it had really looked like her from behind. He ran his hand across his shorn hair and briefly thought about kicking the waste basket. Had she seen Amber touching him? Damn that woman, he thought. He decided he wasn't going to leave his office until she'd left the restaurant. If he lost a regular customer because of that he really didn't care in that moment.
As evening approached he headed back out to the restaurant and quickly took in all the customers. Amber was gone, thank god. He quickly busied himself with helping out the staff and greeting people at the door. However, he just couldn't get his mind off having seen Lizzy earlier. He was now sure it had been her. He had to speak to her, make sure she didn't think he was seeing Amber. Despite the fact their potential relationship hadn't even started yet, he knew that seeing her now was critical if ever it were to do so.
He suddenly had inspiration and told his staff he'd be back in ten minutes, heading for the door and, once through it, turning towards The Post Office. He didn't have a number for her but he could at least see if she had gone back to the bar where they'd previously met.
As he approached the bar his heart started accelerating. What if she was in there? What if she wasn't interested? Had he totally misread the signs? Man up, Ray, you're an ex Navy Admiral, for God's sake, you can do this.
He got to the window and peered in. At first he couldn't see much as it was pretty dark in the bar. He looked around briefly and was just about to bite the bullet and head in when he saw her. She was sitting near the table where they'd sat on Friday night. Sitting with another man. His brow furrowed and his heart sank. They looked really cosy together. Was this her boyfriend? Had she just met him? For now, it didn't seem to matter. Whether that had been her earlier or not, she certainly seemed really close to this guy, the way they were laughing together and looking at each other. As his heart sank even further in his chest he turned away from the window and hurried back to the restaurant, eager to distract himself with anything but thoughts of her.