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"You ladies ready to order?" asked the waitress, who appeared to be soe and Bethanne’s She stepped up to their table, pad and pen in hand

"I’d like French toast," Annie said, and gave the wo on dry wheat," Ruth said

"Max" Bethanne closed the menu and held it out to the waitress--and found three wo why her scras had elicited all this attention

"There’s no Max on the

"I said Max?" Bethanne asked, startled to realize she deserved the looks Annie and Ruth were sending her

The waitress continued to grin "I guess one of you ladies isthat…biker," Annie snapped

Ruth refused to meet her eyes

Bethanne’s hand tightened on the menu "Would you both feel better if I said Grant’s na at the waitress, she said, "Grant is ether with ained his sanity just in tiruntled voice

The waitress stood there, holding the pad and pen, her gaze wandering from one to the other "Ladies, I’m no Dr Laura All I do around here is take orders and fill coffee cups If you want advice, I suggest you turn on the radio"

"I’ll have a latte" Bethanne decided to forgo the scraone

The waitress wrote down the order, hesitated a moment and then slid into the booth next to Bethanne "You really should have sootboth Ruth and Annie "I don’t noret involved with customers but I’ve been married a time or two myself, and it see" She shook her head "It doesn’t happen often"

"I keep trying to tell Mom that," Annie insisted

"Did this ex-husband of yours drink too much?" she asked

"No," Bethanne said

"He didn’t slap you around, did he?"

"No!"

"Chase skirts?"

"Just the once" It was Annie who answered "And that was a big mistake"

"It always is," the waitress said "Half the time men’s brains are located below their belt buckles Eventually they come to their senses but by then it’s usually too late"

"Eunice" The cook stuck his head out of the kitchen "Are you fraternizing with the custoain?"

Eunice rolled her eyes "If I don’t watchto lose this job" She hurried toward the kitchen and put their order on a hanging circular device for the cook to grab

"What a sweetheart," Ruth murmured

"Wise, too," Annie said pointedly

"I can tell Eunice has been around the block a couple of ti her an extra-big tip"

Bethanne felt e her personal situation aired in front of a stranger, no hter and ht Regardless of her infatuation with Max, she felt she had to give her ex-husband an honest chance She had to give their relationship an honest chance, and she couldn’t do that with Max hovering in the background

Five minutes later, Eunice returned with their breakfast order Lost in her thoughts, Bethanne sipped her latte Thankfully, neither Annie nor Ruth appeared to notice how distracted she was

When she saw Max the night before last, she’d told hi But it wouldn’t be fair to keep hi to do was call hi him in the future

Bethanne slid out of her booth and headed for the door

"Mo?"

"I need toto tell either Annie or Ruth

Standing in the parking lot, Bethanne took out her cell phone Max had progra she was about to do soretful, but relieved, too Closing her eyes, she leaned against the rental car and silently prayed he’d answer

He picked up on the third ring, but at the sound of his voice, she suddenly couldn’t speak

"Hello," he said again

After a long moment, his voice softened "Is that you, Bethanne?"

"Yes"

He waited for her to continue

"I won’t be calling you" Then, because she owed him an explanation, she rushed to say, "I’m truly sorry, but I’ve made my decision"

Her announcement was met with stark silence

"Did you hear ain

"Don’t you have anything to say?" she de back to Grant?"

"Yes…"

"Your final decision?"