The Dinner

I stood in front of the glass doors of the restaurant, searching my reflection for the courage to open them. Taking a deep breath, I reached for the handle then paused, dropping my hand to my side.

It won't be that bad. I reached for the handle again, curving my hand around the smooth metal and stopped. Really. How bad could this possibly be?

"Are you going in?" I started at the deep voice next to me. Turning, I looked up at a handsome man waiting patiently.

"In!" I said. "No." I sighed. "I don't know. Actually, go ahead. I think I'll stay out here for a minute. I'm not feeling very well." My throat tightened up as tears burned at the back of my eyes. "Damn," I muttered and walked away from the door towards the bench off the walkway. Fumbling in my purse I pulled out a tissue and plopped down. "This really sucks."

"Are you okay?"

I looked up at the man and then back down as the first of the tears plopped off my cheeks.

"I'm fine," I sniffed, carefully wiping my eyes.

"You don't look fine." He sat down next to me. "Do you want to talk?"

"Not really," I said, looking at him out of the corner of my eyes. "This is actually pretty embarrassing. I'm not normally so melodramatic. I just -- I need to do something, and I'm having a hard time doing it."

The man stretched his long legs in front of him and leaned back against the bench as if he had all the time in the world. I stared at his boots, wondering if they were the real thing or were bought scuffed.

"I'm here for a rehearsal dinner," the words tumbled out. "My best friend is marrying my ex-boyfriend and I'm supposed to be happy for them. And I am! I mean, they're great together. Kate is the sweetest woman I know and Brian's a great guy. And I knew when I introduced them that they were meant to be together. I'm happy for them. I'm really, really happy," I trailed off, wiping my eyes.

"You were in love and now you're saying goodbye."

"That's it exactly," I looked at him gratefully.

"So," he paused, "are you going to go?"

"I probably should. I wouldn't want them to suspect. Am I a total mess?" I asked pulling a compact out of my purse.

"Not at all. I think you look beautiful."

"Now I know you're just being nice."

"Not nice. Just honest." He stood and held out his hand. His warm fingers wrapped around mine as he pulled me to my feet. "Are you ready, Eleanor?" he asked gently.

"How did you know my name?"

"Well, I'm here for a rehearsal dinner too. My flight landed a bit late, so I drove on my own."

I felt the color drain from my face and then rush back in a scorching wave. "You're..."

"Henry. Kate's brother." Pulling my limp hand through his arm, he steered me to the door and through it.

"Oh, God," I groaned, mortified.

"Don't worry about it. I know what a good friend you've been to Kate, and I know how torn up she's been over the whole situation." He paused at the door to the private dining room and raised a brow at me.

I pasted a smile on my face, pressing my hand on my stomach to calm the nausea that threatened to overwhelm me.

He leaned down and whispered in my ear, "So this man came to visit my ranch and noticed there were lots of flies buzzing around the barn. He looked over at me and asked if we ever shoo them. 'Nah,' I replied 'We just let them go barefoot.'"

Surprised, I looked up at him and burst into laughter as we walked into the room.

This week's post is a piece of fiction responding to The Red Dress Club's prompt: Write a piece of flash fiction - it should be no more than 600 words and should take no longer than 3 minutes to read aloud. A character MUST tell a joke and a character MUST cry.

I had so many wonderful responses to Henry and Ellie's story last week, I thought I'd let you know how they met. So...what did you think?