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list. In the meantime he needed to get through this meal without any further
     talk about the past and then head over to the football game, which brought another
     round of questions.
    “Is Mandy with Garreth right now?” Neal asked, suppressing a sigh of relief when Sally
     returned with his coffee and Char’s hot chocolate. He moved his arm to allow the waitress
     to set the mug down in front of him. “Thank you, Sally.”
    “Anytime, sugar. Your plates are up now, so let me go grab them.”
    “Yes, they were at the pep rally although I’m not so sure where they are now. I was
     heading home to change into warmer clothes for tonight’s game.” Charlotte lifted the
     cup of hot chocolate to her mouth and blew lightly, pursing her pink lips that brought
     back those unwanted thoughts he was thinking earlier. “Mandy didn’t call after school
     like she usually does, which means that she was with Garreth. I thought if I was at
     the game I could at least keep an eye on them from afar.”
    “Invite him over for dinner tomorrow,” Neal suggested, knowing Char wouldn’t be too
     happy with the idea. “It’ll give me a chance to talk to the boy and get a sense of
     where things have gotten to and to know him a little better.”
    “No threats?” Charlotte asked, raising her right eyebrow. Her blue eyes finally had
     a hint of sparkle to them as she resorted to her natural way of teasing him. Neal
     didn’t want the previous tension to return, so he allowed her to continue with the
     good-natured ribbing and lifted the corner of his mouth in a smile. “And trust me,
     he isn’t a boy. He’s close to six feet tall and appears rather intelligent. It’s the
     way he carries himself, I guess. It’s almost as if he thinks he’s smarter than everyone
     around him. Who knows…maybe Thelma is right and the entire cult thinks he’s the messiah.
     Maybe even he believes it.”
    “I don’t threaten boys,” Neal replied wryly, taking a sip of his coffee. He placed
     it back on the table when he saw Sally walking toward them with their dinners. “He
     does need to know that there are some ground rules when it comes to dating Mandy.
     I’m not saying you didn’t go over those policies with them, but if he were as smart
     as you make him sound, he’d be encouraging her to go to nursing school before making
     any life altering decisions. Maybe hearing it from a man will drive that point home.”
    Neal saw the vivacity in her blue eyes fade as his words reminded her of their own
     past. Anything that was said could be related back to them. He hadn’t done it on purpose, but the
     damage had already been done. So much for thinking the rest of the meal could be done
     in harmony. Sally set their dinners in front of them, the delicious smell of barbeque
     pulled pork wafting up from the plates. Unfortunately his appetite had fled the moment
     he’d arrived in town.
    “Much appreciated, Sally.” Neal picked up his fork and moved some of the meat around
     on his dish. “Who are we playing tonight, anyway?”
    Just as Neal had intended, that got Sally, Fred and the other diners in a discussion
     about the high school football team. It didn’t go unnoticed that the man who had been
     sitting at the counter chose that moment to pay his bill and leave. Neal followed
     his movements, and it wasn’t until the man had gotten to the door that he turned his
     head and met Neal’s stare. He’d only ever seen vacant soulless pits like that once
     before, and that was when he’d been engaged in battle during one of his combat tours
     and they’d taken two of the Taliban prisoner. There was something innately missing
     from their moral conduct and when the man’s eyes drifted to Charlotte, Neal’s gut
     tightened.
    “Neal?”
    Charlotte had called out his name softly, so no one had noticed that he hadn’t been
     paying attention to the conversation. Fred was debating with Carl and Sally over whether
     or not their team