All very discrete.As Holly started to get out of the car, I asked her "Do I need to go in with you? Or should that be do you WANT me to go in with you..."She smiled, and said "No, in either case - but thanks for the offer. I've got the payment, and you're the ride they told me I'd want when they were done, so that's about got it covered. They said I'd be in there for half an hour to an hour, so if you want to get a drink or something to eat, you've got some time." I'll just wait here, then. If I. .. uh... 'attached' and wanted to warn me before my heart got broken, or yours. She said you had enough to deal with already." I feel just terrible!" Why?" Because! I should have had the guts to tell you when we first met. I almost did, so many times! But..." But what?" ... I was too afraid. I..." Ken hesitated, "I love you," he finally said, simply, staring down at the ground, suddenly so afraid that he started shivering.Tim tilted Ken's head back up, looked him in the eyes, and kissed. He greeted Mrs. Brown by name and told her that her table for two was ready. (When had she made this reservation? Something did not seem right to me and I started to try and go over the events of the day.)I followed Mrs. Brown and tried to think. (Not a smart thing to do.) I almost ran into a table I was thinking so hard and the looks I received from them both almost stopped my heart! I apologized and we were then seated. Now I got a shock! The man took the cloth napkin from my place setting. "But I couldn't. She's still my mother and I just couldn't." Why?" was all I could repeat."Because that's the way she is," she answered vehemently. "She does that all the time. I don't think she can help herself. She's fucked-up is why. Every man she's ever been with: it's the same thing; She'll fall madly in love, everything is fine for a few months and then suddenly she isn't in love and she's with someone else. I don't know why; she just does it." I am so sorry," she said again. "I wanted to.