She saw them approaching, had been watching for them for the last few minutes. She began to rise. Nathan made himself take his eyes off the woman and swing his attention back to Paige. His stomach did another backflip.
"Paige!"
The excitement in her voice ran down his spine, chilling him. He kept his eyes on Paige.
"Linda," she called back, a smile blooming on her face.
The hostess stepped aside and let Paige rush by her. She nodded to Nathan as if to say well I guess you can find your way from here, then turned and left.
He hadn't even realized he'd stopped until Paige turned towards him, a huge smile on her face, and waved for him to hurry over. Reluctantly and by no means in a hurry, he joined them.
"Nathan, I would like you to meet my best friend from college. Linda, this is Nathan."
Linda smiled at him, nice and big. It was too well practiced to be genuine. It was a politician's smile.
Nathan reached out and shook her hand.
"Hello, best friend from college."
She gave an easy, gentle laugh. That too sounded long practiced. She was meeting him for the first time, a total stranger who she'd only learned about in the last day. A stranger who had caused her friend to blow her off at the airport and perhaps had placed the job she'd arranged in jeopardy, yet Linda's reaction seemed to indicate that this was the most natural occurrence in the world. Nathan had been right, he instantly disliked her.
"So," she began with that too easy smile of hers. "If I'm best friend from college, what does that make you?" She laughed as soon as the words were out of her mouth, much too quickly. A nervous laugh this time.
Paige didn't seem to notice and laughed along with her, though hers at least sounded somewhat genuine.
Linda smiled at Nathan, trying to put him at ease. He saw no smile in her eyes to match the one on her lips, which to him appeared a bit smug. To Nathan it appeared as if she were saying, Sure I am making a joke here, but what is your deal? Just who the hell are you? I'm not going to wait this out. No mindless chit-chat. Let's just cut to the chase and put our cards on the table right now. Certainly Paige will see this as simple banter, but you and I know differently. Don't we?
"We sure do," he murmured to himself.
"What was that?"
Nathan smiled back at her. He doubted his was as convincing as hers, but he did his best.
"Let's just say," he began as he held a chair for Paige. "That I am her best friend from the airport."
Paige laughed, a mixture of genuine amusement and nervousness.
"Oh really? Well, well, well. Paige that is just so unlike you."
"Yes, she assured me of that numerous times."
"Though I will say that you still have excellent taste, Paige."
Nathan muttered a thanks at the compliment. He knew she was trying to put him at ease. She could no doubt see that he was a bit on edge, but she likely attributed that only to the suddenness of having to meet an old friend of Paige's.
"Yeah. Things have been kind of wild lately. I've hardly been myself," Paige said.
They had discussed it and had agreed to keep the real details of the last day to themselves, but still until just now Nathan had been unsure of just how Paige would play it. He was thankful that she hadn't decided to just unload the entire story on Linda. He hadn't truly thought she would, but the possibility had danced through his mind more then once.
Oh hey Linda, this is Nathan. He happens to think I am his dead wife. Pretty crazy don't you think?
"So best friend from college, eh?"
"Yeah, and if she had doubled up or taken a few summer courses she could have graduated early like me."
"Really? You didn't mention that."
Paige offered him a cockeyed smile.
"I don't think we actually talked much about your college days at all. When did you two meet?"
Paige opened her mouth and then closed it, a puzzled look crossing her face. She bit down on her lower lip.
"Just after orientation," Linda piped in. "I missed it. Paige was just coming out of Jones Hall and I almost ran right into her. She had her head down reading her orientation packet. Can you believe that? Actually reading that crap they give out. I knew right then that this girl needed someone to teach her how to loosen up."
Nathan had his eyes locked on Paige. She was focused on Linda, her head tilted a little to the left. She wasn't so much looking at Linda, as she was looking past her. Looking through her. A smile began to form on her face.
"I wasn't that bad," Paige insisted.
"The hell you weren't."
"So she..."
Nathan stopped as a shadow fell over him. They turned their attention to a smiling waiter. He handed them all menus and introduced himself as Oliver, then inquired if they'd like to place a drink order. Paige asked for a Diet Coke, as did Nathan. Linda went with a vodka tonic.