5

Andy jerks in his seat, pulling his head away from her to stare at her in complete and utter shock. She knows that it was the use of the foul profanity that actually managed to get his attention, but she does not care. If cursing like a sailor is what it takes to get him to pay attention to her for a moment and to get him to take her seriously, then she will say any damn word that she has to, without even a moment of hesitation.

“We just passed a sign for an all night diner that is coming up in about two miles or less. I think that we should probably stop in there for a bit to warm up and to grab a nice, hot meal. I am sure that the kids are getting hungry and they surely must be tired of sandwiches with snack cakes or chips by now. What do you say to that, honey? Sound like a good idea?” Andy says to his wife with a smile, bland smile. Lacey, meanwhile, is seething with anger in the back seat. 

“Oh, sure. Yeah.." She drawls with mock sweetness, even though it leaves a bitter taste in her mouth. Why the heck not? It is not as if we are in a hurry to get somewhere or anything like that, she adds silently, crossing her arms over her chest in annoyance. Why not swing by and catch a movie, or bowl a few frames while we are at it?

Although Lacey is a bit surprised that he even took the time to ask her opinion on the matter, considering that up until this point he has not seemed to care about her answer or her opinion, one way or the other. With the way that he has been acting today, he was probably halfway to the joint before he even bothered to mention it's existance. That would be par for the course with the theme of things today.

Lacey knows that Nate is still watching her every move, which is bothersome but at this point, she really just does not give a damn about him or anything that he does. She is so highly pissed off and she does not care who knows about it or what they think of her.

She is abolutely certain of one thing for sure though. They will all get out of this vehicle when they reach this diner, but not all of them will be getting back in this car, if she has anything at all to say about it. This is where she and Nate part ways for good and if she has to kick her husband to the curb with him, then so be it.

Andy can chose between what he feels is his responsibility as a kind person or he can choose between his family, but he is not going to have both. She can not take another moment of being in the car with that man. Her and the children should not me made to feel uncomfortble just so Andy can get his rocks off by doing what he considers a good deed for a person in need.

Lacey truly feels horrible about having to give her husband this ultimatum. She had never imagined herself being that kind of person or putting both her in her husband in that kind of position, but this is where she finds herself.

She feels that this situation has forced her to go to extremes and she has to do what she feels is best for her children and to a lesser degree, for herself. This is her way of doing what she feels like she has to do. He pretty much painted her into a corner with all of this mess, so she felt forced to go along with it, but that has changed. Now, it is going to be  doing things her way for a change and he was going to be the one who had to adjust his wants and needs to go along with it. 

Lacey stews silently on this new found resolve of hers until Andy pulls into the diner's sparcely occupied parking lot. Only three other cars are parked in spots out there, much to Lacey's relief. She is not in the mood for an overly crowded place. Her guess is that not too many people are dumb enough to be out in this horrible, nasty weather. 

Once Andy has brought the car to a stop in a parking spot, between the painted lines, Andy and Nate both open their doors to get out of the vehicle, talking between themselves as if they were lifelong chums. When they shut the car doors behind them with firm snaps, Lacey takes advantage of the opportunity to speak to the kids privately. Turning to them, she quickly gets their attention.

"Alright kiddos, listen to mom for a second, okay?"

Both kids stop what they are doing to turn and face her, while the men gather outside, in front of the vehicle. Propped against the hood of the car, they seem to be in their own little world.

Lacey wants the children to be alert to what is going on around them but she does not want to scare them or cause them to worry either. What Lacey wants them to know above all else is that they are to be with her, if she were to move away from the scene. Where she goes, they are to go as well. No moving away from her. No staying with dad. They are to be stuck like glue to her side.

Lacey pauses for a moment, trying to think of an easy to understand way to tell two young children that when it comes time to walk away, they might have to walk away from their father, without looking back. Lacey really hopes that it does not come to that because she does not know if she will be able to walk away from the man she loves and to leave him behind. Could she do it? Leave him over this? 

As she reflects on everything that has happened just in the last few minutes, she actually has to stop and think for a moment. Was she simply overreacting or was his behavior truly a cause for concern? She ultimately decides that yes, he is so unsettling that she cold believe that he could possibly pose a threat to her and her children. With that realization she comes to the conclussion that yes, she could leave her husband if she felt that he stood in the way of keeping her children happy and healthy. As a mother, she puts them above all else, no matter what it might cost her.

“I want the two of you to stay really close to me at all times, okay? Please. Stay by my side and by my side only. If I tell you to do something then I need for you do it immediately and without asking me a bunch of questions. Just do as you are told, right away. If I leave the table, even just to go get a salt shaker from another table, the two of you come with me. Do you understand? Do you think that you kiddos can do that for me?”

“Yes ma'am, mama.” Says Jack with a serious nod. Knowing Jack, Lacey i sure that there are a million questions that he would like to be asking at the moment, but he refrains, to which she appreciates. When this is all over, she will truly praise these children and reward them for being so wonderful through all of this.

“Yes, Mommy. I can do that for you.” Sunny says, squeezing Lacey's hand.

“I love you two beautiful little heathens.” Lacey tells them with a wide, proud smile.

They both tell her that they love her too and she pulls them into a quick hug, holding both of her babies tighly against her. She kisses both of their heads, relishing the sweet smell of their candy scented shampoo.

When they pull away from her, she undoes their seat belts and opens her door. She makes them scoot across the seats to get out on her side, so that they are remaining close to her. As promised, they do not returm a word, they merely do as they were told, which was greatly appreciated by their mother.

Nate and Andy are still at the front of the car talking among themselves, as if they have been friends for all of their lives. The sight only serves to annoy Lacey even further. With a kid on each side of her and their hands tucked firmly in to her hands, she marches past both men without sparing them so much as a glance. The mother and child trio heads towards the restaurant.

When they had first pulled in to the restaurant parking lot, she had not  even spared a glance towards the building, as she was far too busy stewing in her anger. Now that she was looking at the full picture of the place, she was actually pleasantly surprised by what she saw.

Over the years, on some of their many road trips, she and Andy have stopped at a few twenty-four hours diners in their time. Most were run down little hole in the wall establishments that catered mostly to truckers, who had been on the road so long without a good hot meal, that they would literally eat anything, whether it be good or bad.

But that did not appear to be the case with this diner. The outside of the building was in great condition, with a cleaned up sidewalk, lined with potted flowers and beautifully carved wooden benches. The glass in the windows and doors were smudge free and spotless. Someone obviously took pride in the appearance of their business and it reflects in the conditon of the exterior.

Once they were inside the place, Lacey fell in love on the spot. The place was styled like it was a throw back to the fifties and Lacey felt as if she had stepped into the past. Large black and white tiled floors, black and white checked counters with smooth white counter tops. The counter stretched out over half of the length of the room, lined with salt, pepper and sugar shakers, as well as ketchup and mustard squirty bottles. Chrome stools stand with pale blue upholstered seats in the shape of a circle were lined up, offering a seat to weary patrons.

White square tables with blue booths and chairs were spread around the room. The thing that caught Lacey and Sunny's eyes right away was the big machine across the room, standing all alone against the wall. “Look it, Mommy!” Sunny shouts and points, causing Lacey to grin at the child's enthusiasm.

“I see the jukebox, baby. It is really cool.”

“Can we go check it out, Mom?” Jack is the one to ask her and Lacey nods.

Without even sparing her husband an explantion, or even a glance for that matter, Lacey takes the children's hands and leads them across the room. The children dance with excitement as they flip through song options, discussing what the children consider to be good music and who they aren't familiar with the names listed. Lacey was pointing out artists that she liked, not that either child seemed to care one bit.

Sunny was disappointed to find that they did not have a single song by The Backstreet Boys, Nsync or The Spice Girls. Jack was not as interested in the song selection as he was in the lights and the mechanics of the machine. He was having fun by simply making the pages of music options flip, rather than actually looking at them.

“Here.. I am going to choose a song for us.” Lacey tells the kids, digging inside of her purse for some coins. Finding the quarters, she slips them in the slot and makes her selection. She knew that both of the kids would recognize the old song.

A few minutes later, Bobby Day's voice fills the room as the song Rockin' Robin begins to play. The kids smile because they know the song, as it was their Nana's all time favorite. Lacey's mom plays this song all of the time and it brings back so many memories for all of them. 

Turning away from the jukebox to head towards a table, Lacey notices Nate at the counter, talking to the waitress in the light blue dress and the white apron. The middle aged woman looked vaguely worried as Nate leans over the counter to speak angrily at her, glaring all the while. His whole stance and demeanor is threatening. 

Looking around the diner, Lacey notices that one table is occupied by two women and a man who are not paying any attention to anything that might be going around them. Another table has a family seated at it, a man and his wife, with their two teenage daughters, Lacey assumes. They are watching Nate warily, as if he were an unstable bomb that could go off at any time.

Maybe they are as creeped out by him as Lacey is. He is not exactly causing a scene, because he is being too quiet about it, but whatever he is saying, he is being way too intense in his mannerisms. Maybe they are afraid that he will cause a disturbance. Lacey does not know what is going on, but she does know that she is embarrassed to have to be seen with him.

She scans the room and all the tables, but she can not find Andy anywhere. Moving over to the window, she does not see him outside and the car is in it's spot where they had left it. Lacey is beginning to get worried, wondering where he might be. The last time she saw him he was outside talking to Nate.

Just as she feels her chest tighten with the familiar signs of a panic attack, she feels a tug on her hand and she looks down to see Jack pointing. “There's Daddy. Can we go talk to him?”

Looking to where her son gestures, Lacey finds Andy coming through the door with the label 'restrooms' on it, looking unphased and oblivious, as he wipes the back of his hand down his pants. Lacey moves towards him, with the kids still clinging tightly to her hands, trudging along at her sides. Andy sits at a table and she joins him, sitting on the other side with both kids on the inside of the booth. "They had no paper towels in the bathroom-" Andy begins to tell her but Lacey cuts him off.

“Look at your new friend.”

Lacey angrily whispers to her husband, gesturing with her head to where she last saw Nate at the counter with the clearly intimidated server. Her intention was to merely bring awareness to his new found friend's eratic behavior. To show Andy that there is something truly off about Nate. Lacey just wants him to open his eyes and to finally start noticing the things that are going on around him.

Andy looks towards where Nate stands, glaring furiously at the waitress, who is now giving their table some definately wary glances. Does she think that we are all as aggressive as him, Lacey wonders, sincerely hoping that she does not. “What the heck is going on over there, I wonder?” Andy asks.

“I have no idea but I will say one thing.. I think those two know each other. Otherwise, why would he be speaking to her like that? He would have no reason to appear so threatening to our server all of a sudden, when we have not even spoken to her yet. She has not approached our table yet to ask for our order, so it can't be anything having to do with that.” Lacey tells him. "He moved over there to her and started going off on her."

Andy frowns in thought and Lacey begins to feel a modicum of relief. Maybe he is finally starting to understand what Lacey was trying to convey to him this whole time. That there is something wrong with Nate and that she can not bring herself trust him. She does not feel right about the whole situation and she refuses to continue on in this vain. Is Andy finally starting to understand that? God, Lacey sure hopes so.

“It is almost like that family at that table knows him, as well.” Andy suddenly comments and Lacey does not even have to look in their direction to know right away which family it is that he is referring to. The one with the two teenage daughters. Lacey nods her head, because she had been thinking the same thing.

“I love you, Andy, more than life itself. I hate that the two of us are arguing and that there is this horrible tension between us. I absolutely hate having to be put in the situation where I have to tell you this.. but I feel like I must. If you do not part ways with Nate right now, you will be parting ways with us.” Lacey says to her husband, gesturing to the kids and to herself. Lacey watches his reaction carefully, as he swallows hard and his face pales a bit. He looks the three of them over and his eyes soften, giving her the answer she needed. The answer that she had hoped for.

Lacey has never once, in all of their years of marriage, doubted how much he loves her or how devoted he is to her or to the children. When Andy nods and reaches across the table to take her hand in is larger one, Lacey knows that he has chosen his family, which is exactly what she had expected.

Now they get to hopefully ger rid of Nate.