Second Chances(36)

"Oh shit," she muttered, still loud enough to get looks from the table to her right.

Kassar's words echoed in her mind. It looked real?

It had, hadn't it?





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE



She couldn't believe the words that had just come out of his mouth. Where the heck was this coming from? Even more shocking than his words, Paige couldn't believe she was thinking of following his actions. For a moment she sat there stunned, looking at Nathan's out stretched hand. It was something more than the certainty of his voice, something inside her screamed at her to believe him. To follow him. She took his hand and rose from the table.

Nathan glanced towards the door. Paige could almost hear the argument that was raging in his head, weighing the chances of slipping out through the restaurant without being seen. She did not know why he thought so, but it was obvious he felt it very important that they not get seen by Linda. It was insane, but she felt a slight tremor of fear ripple through her at the thought of Linda's return. What the heck was the matter with her? Linda was her friend. She would never do anything to hurt her. Would she? She didn't know if she was just picking up on Nathan's anxiety or if it was something else entirely. She only knew she did not want to find out what might happen if Linda returned and they were still there.

Nathan decided it was too much of a risk to go out the front. He pulled her to the railing around the patio. He hopped over it easily.

"Do you need any help?" he asked as calmly as if he were asking her if she thought it might rain.

Despite the insanity of the entire situation, she heard herself answer, "No."

She mimicked his action and joined him out on the sidewalk. Nathan looked up and down the street, ignoring the strange looks and comments from the restaurant patrons seated on the patio.

"Are you going to explai..."

Nathan raised a hand to silence her. If she hadn't seen the intensity in his eyes she might have pressed further. She began to feel a bit queasy and a bit impatient to be gone from here. But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? Why was she feeling this way?

Paige didn't know the answers to any of those questions, but she couldn't deny her feelings. And right now her feelings were telling her that she should be afraid of her old friend.

Nathan scanned the street, not a taxi in sight. He took hold of Paige's hand and began to move quickly, not quite running, up the street. Paige did not resist.

When they reached the corner he risked a look back at the restaurant. Still no sign of Linda as far as he could tell and it didn't look as if any of the others from the restaurant were still following their progress. No doubt they just assumed they were skipping out on the check and obviously did not care.

They stood there for what seemed an eternity. It was clear to Paige that Nathan was weighing his options. She remained quiet, not wanting to throw off his concentration. She didn't know what decision he was trying to come to, but she felt it was very important that he be allowed to come to the right one.

"Let's go."

They raced across the street, Paige never hesitating. The crosswalk had already been flashing when they started and more then one person blew their horn in irritation at having to wait on them. Each blow of the horn made Nathan wince. The last thing he wanted was to draw attention. He only hoped Linda wasn't back on the patio yet, otherwise the honking horns would surely alert her to where they were. He wasn't willing to risk another glance back, not yet.

Paige waved at the man in the red Corvette as they finally reached the other side of the street. He had just been about to slam his horn again, but Paige's wave and smile stopped him and he waved back, giving her only a semi-irritated smile and then stepped on the gas as soon as the couple was clear, rocketing past them.

Nathan did not stop moving. With Paige firmly in tow, he proceeded up the street a little further and then pulled her into a pharmacy. It was only once they were inside and safely obscured by numerous fliers and advertisements plastering the windows that he looked back. He found a small patch of window between a missing puppy flier and a poster advertising a sale on Crest toothpaste and trained his eyes back down the street to the patio of the restaurant. Beside him, Paige remained quiet, still tightly holding his hand.

He didn't see her. He looked at his watch and then back at the patio. Had she already come back? Had she seen them fleeing? And if so, what did that mean? Really, what did that mean? Why the hell was he so certain that he and Paige shouldn't be seen by this woman? What exactly was he so afraid of?

Besides the obvious possibility of losing Paige? And of course the picture.

His desire to argue aloud with himself was almost as strong as his desire not to be seen by Linda.