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habit.”
    “What’s your habit?”
    “Eating and living indoors. Um, Patty doesn’t know I had to give up the shop.  She had her heart set on a wedding dress no other woman would ever wear. It’s my fault I didn’t have the heart to tell her I made her dresses in my tiny apartment.”
    “Damn, she has a big wedding party.  How did you pull it off?”
    “I enlisted help from my former employees.  We worked around the clock to get the dresses finished.”
    He hesitated to ask, but she seemed free with talking about herself. “Why didn’t you to go to family for help?”
    Nicole removed her hood and fumbled with the gloves lying on her lap. “I don’t ask my parents for anything.”
    “You’re an only kid…you should be spoiled rotten.”
    “One would think so,” she replied without explaining.
    Walker heard the angst in her voice and decided not to push the envelope.  It was apparent she only let people see one side of her.  Patty and Jeremy saw a woman living her dream.  He was seeing a different side of Nicole McLin.  She was definitely strong, a little stubborn, yet vulnerable.  But, inside her closet, there were skeletons she did not want released.
    Exiting the highway, he pulled into the drive-thru of Burger King.  Bringing the truck to a halt before the large menu, he scanned over the choices.  “What do you eat from this joint?”
    She shook her hands refusing. “I don’t want anything, thanks.”
    “A salad you say?  And, add grilled chicken for protein?”
    “Walker, I ate a boatload of pasta.  I’m too full to eat anymore tonight.”
    He ignored her and pulled to the speaker to place his order.  Ordering a Whopper with the works and a chocolate shake for him, and a grilled chicken salad and diet coke for Nicole, he paid and handed her the cardboard cup carrier with the drinks and the bag of food so he could continue the drive to the hotel.
    He detected her stare burning a hole in the side of his head. “Walker,” she said and his name left her lips in a strict tone.  “You are hardheaded.”
    “You need to eat and once the hen party starts, you won’t eat again.  Tell me, I’m wrong?”
    She shook her head.  “If I eat this food on top of what I ate already, it will push me in the other direction; I’ll pass out from hyperglycemia.”
    “Save it for later; especially if you’re drinking tonight.”
    “I don’t drink, per se.  I might have a glass of wine or a fruity mixed drink, but no hard liquor.  Diabetics should avoid alcohol or use their head and stop after one or two drinks.”
    “I guess you’re the designated driver when you’re out with friends.”
    “Yes I am when I spend an evening with the girls.”
    The hotel’s bright lights guided Walker through the curvy path to the guest parking lot. Locating a space close to the front door, he gathered the food, and they hurried inside.  The massive lobby consisting of polished marble floors and tall ceilings was nearly empty except for the service personnel hanging around the front desk.
    The older woman behind the service desk called to them. “Excuse me; may I help you?”
    Walker didn’t stop his stride towards the bank of elevators. “Nope, she knows the way to her room.”  He chuckled as the old bird’s head lowered, and her eyes peered over the rim of the wired glasses teetering on the end of her nose.  It was the twenty-first century, and a number of people still had issues with different races mingling together.
    The brass-colored elevators doors opened, and Nicole pressed the button for the fourteenth floor.  The soft hum of the elevator was the only sound circulating in the compartment.  Walker cleared his throat.  The question he wanted to ask had to be done; it was now or never.  “Nicole, may I ask a personal question?”
    “Sure but my honest answer will be dependent on how personal the question is.”  The elevator doors opened to the desired floor.  “My room is around the