Page 13 of Veiled Amor

Louisiana was beautiful, and she soaked up every building she went by like a starry-eyed tourist, all the while ignoring the crushing loneliness she was feeling.

Lucia was too aware of the possibility her father most probably paid off one of her friends, so she been radio silent. It was a terrible thing to mistrust everyone, because everyone had their price of betrayal.

Not letting it get her down, she headed to the diner. That nagging feeling at the back of her neck once again had her checking for anyone watching her.

The diner lady greeted her with a friendly smile. Lucia slid onto a counter stool. While she waited to be served, she looked over her shoulder several times. A man in a black bomber jacket came in, but he paid her no mind as he chose a corner booth and picked up a menu. Then a family of five bustled in. Lucia smiled as the littlest kid pestered her daddy for pancakes.

A claw-like pang clutched at her stomach.

Another memory best not thought about.

She had so many now. It was a wonder she didn’t have a split personality. Sheesh.

“What can I get you, honey?”

“Hi,” she smiled. “I’m in the mood for some hot soup and bread.”

“We have just the thing. The cook made Cajun corn soup this morning.”

“Sounds perfect.”

The bell above the door dinged again, and she swerved to see another man entering. His eyes landed on her for a second, and a slither of panic turned her stomach. Was he one of her father’s soldiers? The man took his gaze away and found a seat at the end of the counter, knocking his knuckles on the stainless steel surface, and another server poured him a cup of coffee.

“Expecting someone?” The diner lady asked, pouring Lucia a coffee.

“Hm? Oh, no. No one.”

“You’ve been looking at that door like you expect someone.”

“I’m people watching.” she smiled. The older woman looked at her speculatively, as though she knew Lucia was talking a lot of shit.

She ate her soup alone like a paranoid idiot and wondered if he was even bothering to look for her.

She’d been born to become an asset and he hated to loseanything.

What if she was being watched?

Where could she go?

So deep in her thoughts, she didn’t hear the diner lady ask if she wanted a refill. “Sorry, no, I’m good.”

“Honey, I know you said everything is fine, but is it? You’re jumpier than a cockroach on a bonfire.”

It was clear what she wanted to do, and she had avoided thinking about it for days now. “It will be. Is there a payphone I can use?”

“Sorry, that thing broke last year, and the owner is too cheap to fix it. You can use my phone.”

Thanking her, she took the offered phone and went to sit in a corner for privacy. It was nervous excitement sluicing through her veins as she typed in the numbers she’d memorized because, on some level, she knew her life would come to this, where she would reach out to him for help.

Only when it rang did she gulp back her anxious energy, a white converse sneaker shaking from side to side.

And then.

A syrupy gruff, “Hello.”

Oh, God.

She didn’t know how much she relied on those weekly calls with him to keep her sane. Hanging off his every word. Generic conversations, she sensed he hated going through the motions, and yet his voice, as silky rough as it was, gave her reasons to get through another lonely week.

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