The Answer, Part 1

Trying to arrange her thoughts into something coherent, Liana found she was having trouble with that. She hadn't been able to explain her love for Ben to herself. How was she to explain it to Dan Evans?

Meeting his earnest blue eyes, she tried. "You've been married, Dan. How do you explain love? I'm not really sure how to explain it to begin with, let alone explain loving a man like Ben." Liana made a small, helpless gesture.

"The first night I met Ben, he asked me to have dinner with him. It was at the restaurant where I worked. I wasn't working that night, was just there to pick up my paycheck. But while I was waiting for it, Ben spoke behind me."

" 'How'd you like to have dinner with me tonight, darlin'? Let the people here wait on you for a change?'" Liana smiled, remembering that.

"So I did. I knew I shouldn't be doing it. He was a total stranger to me." She looked quickly at Dan. "And I'd never done anything like that before. But- There was just something about Ben. Something... Fascinating. Irresistable."

Dan took a sip of his coffee before quietly replying, "Well, I know that feelin' myself. Must be a little overwhelmin' for a woman."

"Yes." Her eyes were starry even now. "Well, we talked. And talked, and talked, and talked. About everything. The state of the world. Books we had read. Art. He's quite skilled at sketching, you know?"

Dan nodded, having seen Ben's sketches and been the subject of a few himself.

"He didn't talk about anything really-personal. But I could see some of it in his eyes. You can with Ben. It's a matter of looking closely enough. And I couldn't take my eyes away from his." She laughed, a little self-consciously. "I just seem to get lost in them."

"We talked for six hours that night, just sitting there at that table. And he left at midnight. Like Cinderella. Said he had to go out of town on business. I rode with him to the airport in his rental car. It was during the ride that he told me exactly what his "business" was."

Liana shifted on her stool. "At first, I didn't believe him. Thought it was a joke. But then, when we arrived at the airport and he parked and looked at me- I knew he was telling the truth. I could see it in his eyes."

Reaching out a hand, she laid it over Dan's on the counter. "And there was something else in his eyes too, Dan. This look- A question but-not exactly. Almost more of a request. He was asking me not to judge him. At least, not to judge him only on that. He never said a word, but I could see it all in the way he looked at me."

Dan Evans couldn't recall seeing that kind of look from Wade, but he knew that the man wanted respect. He guessed every man wanted that. It was something they all had in common, no matter who they were or what they did. He listened, as Liana went on.

"We didn't go inside the airport. He got a cab to take me home. I remember him saying, 'I guess you wanna go home now. Forget you ever met somebody like me.'"

"That's when I told him that, if he wanted, I'd still be there when he got back. And he said,"

"I don't usually come back, darlin'. I just move on somewhere else. Wherever I take a notion to go."

"He looked at me for a very long moment," Liana continued, "and then told me that he might have to make an exception this time."

"The driver was waiting, getting impatient. Ben leaned down to kiss me, and then he said,"

"No. I won't do that now. I'll save it for when I get back. Somethin' to look forward to."

She smiled up at Dan again. "And then he put me in the car and I went home. I thought I'd dreamed it all. I mean, things like that only happen in the movies. But then, when he'd been gone for a week, he called me. I picked up the phone and said hello, and I heard,"

"Just makin' sure you hadn't forgot me while I'm gone."

"We talked for awhile. He never mentioned his "business", except to say he was almost finished. When we hung up, he told me he'd see me in a week."

Getting up, Liana poured fresh coffee into her cup and Dan's. Dan had been hanging on her every word, anxious to know just what it was that she saw in Ben Wade. And what it was he saw in her.

As Liana sat down, she continued, "And, when he got back, we just seemed to take up where we left off."

TBC