"He was skinny-dipping?" Felicity's baby-blue eyes bulged out of her round face. "At 5 in the morning?"

Andy adjusted her apron and picked up the notepad. She tucked the pen that she carried to take customer's orders behind her ear.

"Ye-ep. He was."

"And he said he was born in Prescott?"

"Well, he said he was brought up here."

"Da-yum. Was he hot?"

Andy couldn't stop her mouth curling up on the side. She leaned to her fellow waitress and put her mouth to her ear. Their cook hated gossip and got especially grumpy around lunch time.

"Smokin'!" She stuck her tongue out and Felicity squealed.

"Ooohh! Tell me everything!" 

"Gurlss! Go and check orders, Mr Stern don't like no slackers." The cook gave them the gimlet eye, looking menacing with his tobacco-stained teeth and the girls quickly hurried outside to take orders. Cook, who was probably named Cook right from birth, was a meanie. And that was without the stained apron or teeth and perpetually messy hair.

Contrary to his name, Mr Jakub Stern, the owner,  was a friendly, god-fearing, fatherly old man who dressed up in conservative suits and treated everyone with typical Southern hospitality. He manned the till, genially smiling at all customers and employees. Andy was lucky to have immediately landed a job here. She couldn't afford to slack around until the house sold and though the pay wasn't great, the restaurant cum coffee shop cum pub wasn't too crowded either. She didn't mind working here, it was only temporary until she sold her house and got the hell out of this town.

Most of the lunch crowd consisted of regulars who were on the wrong side of fifty. Sometimes some younger folks showed up, but they usually came in around the evenings and hung around the pool table. Evenings were busier, but at the same time more lively. Though her and Felicity were the only waitresses, they had additional help in the evening with a couple of students chipping in. The eighties style jukebox belted out old tracks. Her arms sometimes got tired carrying beer and chicken-wings, but her feet moved lighter with the beat.

The stranger from the lake did not appear. Andy wasn't sure whether she was relieved or disappointed. With so many sleepless nights, was he a figment of her imagination, one of her very vivid dreams which weren't bound by sleep anymore? Andy shrugged it off. She wasn't one of the sentimental sort, nor did she have an active imagination. Maybe he was some homeless guy who was passing by the town that he was born in. Chances were, that they would never run into each other again. Andy refused to think about what could have been. She was totally off men now, wasn't she?

The day went by in a blur and Andy was ready to hang up her apron. All day, Felicity had been grilling her for details about the mystery guy, but Andy had been less than forthcoming. What if that man had been a figment of her imagination? He claimed that he had been brought up in Prescott, but she had never seen him. There were just one another restaurant in this hick town, Marlborough's, which was right next door. It didn't do as much business as the restaurant she worked in, the imaginatively named Prescott's Pizza Place, but was it possible that the guy frequented there?

At ten sharp, Andy closed the door to the restaurant. She didn't mind staying late and closing up as it gave her some quite time to herself. Well, technically, she had a lot of time all alone at her house, but that place gave her the creeps. Not that she would ever admit it aloud. 

Andy wiped down the kitchen and stacked up the wooden chairs on the linoleum covered tables. The restaurant had a checkered green and blue theme which Mr. Stern called celebrating his "Scottish heritage". Andy doubted if he could even point to Scotland on a map.

"Andy, is it OK if Drew drives you home tonight? I need to go home and help my mum." John, the freckle-faced student that they had hired for the evenings said to her once she stepped out. Mr. Stern had been most chivalrous to insist that she had company as she trudged back home around 11. Though excessive, Andy was thankful for the company.

"Sure, John, though you better get home straight, alright, no hanging out with Nancy, yeah?" Andy teased and John, as expected, turned even more red under his freckled skin.

John mumbled a very guilty "OK" and Andy smiled and waved him off.

She trudged into the dilapidated parking lot to Drew's car. Drew was a never-do-good sort of chap and Felicity's brother. She had told him he had once done time for carjacking and he swore to everyone within hearing distance that he was a changed man. He had been divorced before thirty and had an unappealing beer belly, but he was courteous enough to Andy. 

Though it was possible that most people were courteous thanks to Felicity who had the charm and manners to be extremely likable in this hick town. As Andy was sure that she had none, she was quite lucky to have met her.

Drew drove a beaten pick-up and she saw him parked in the parking lot. As she made her way to him, she saw an SUV parked next to Drew's car. It was a sleek, expensive car and shone back the light from the parking lot. Drew was in animated conversation with the occupant, who was still in the driver's seat. The man's features were hidden in the dark.

As Andy neared and more of his face became visible, Andy felt her heart speed up. Why, it was Leo from the lake! Thank god, she hadn't been conjuring up people from her head. Yet.

Leo looked up to see her approach and his face lit up in recognition. An easy smile greeted her. He really was easy on the eyes, in a very good boy kind of way. His hair was a lighter shade of brown and he had brown eyes twinkled with good humor. His chin had a slight wedge and his nose was a bit squat. He was tall for his car and had broad shoulders, his arms casually hung out of the rolled down window.

"Hullo there, Red! Fancy meeting you here."

"Oh hello Leo, sorry I didn't see you there." Andy gave him a  once-over, noting his t-shirt, black denims and tan jacket. "You look so different than before."

Leo gave her an easy smile. "If you liked me dressed as before, I am sure that can be arranged, sweetheart. You only have to ask nicely."

Damn, she had walked into that one.

"No thanks, I would rather gouge my eyes out with my own fingers." She turned to Drew, who was watching them with a lost look on his face. Then again, Drew always did carry a mostly vacant expression. "I'm ready to leave."

Slowly, he seemed to absorb the tension between the two. "How do you guys know each other?"

Andy waited Leo to answer, but he just raised an eyebrow at her.

If he thought that Andy would be flustered, boy, was he wrong!

"I found him trespassing on the lake, Shallow Oak lake near my house?" She turned to Leo and crossed her own arms. "He was, let's just say, less decent than now."

"I was buck naked." Leo grinned, revealing a set of even white teeth. Andy felt her face heat up, but it was due to anger, not because she was blushing or anything. Man, but he had no shame.

"She was spying on me from the bushes."

"I WAS NOT! How dare you?"

She stepped to his car, with a fierce glower. Her face was at the same height as Leo's, as he was sitting in his car.

Leo smiled at her, his brown eyes twinkling and a dimple peeked out on his left cheek. His boyish smile made her regret her petty outburst. Man, she had probably overreacted. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and was about to step back when Leo whispered, "Then you just happened upon me just as I entered the lake?"

"Yes, believe it or not." Her voice had lowered an octave.

"I choose not." The words were whispered, as if in confidence.

Andy couldn't resist his baiting. She let him feel the force of her glower as she went up to him again. "Why you-"

"Andy, actually," Drew cut in, his mouth opening and closing which made him look like a confused guppy. "Leo wasn't trespassing. The land with the lake and the old shack belong to the Knights." Drew tilted his head and a thumb. "He's Leo Knight."

Andy felt Leo's cool gaze assessing her from head to toe. "Andy? Isn't that a man's name?"

Oh, Andy was so ready with a comeback! "Leo, isn't that a cat's name?"

"Touche". Leo went from cool arrogance to effusive Southern charm. "I'm Leonard Knight, but most people call me Leo. What's Andy short for?"

"It's just Andy." Andy turned to Drew. He was backing up as if trying to get away from them. Belatedly, he seemed to have picked on their tension.

"Can we leave?"

Drew scratched his neck uncertainly."Oh, I was just catching up with Nightingale here, he and me are buddies before he left town to...Umm, damn, what did you do?"

Nightingale? Leo scowled at Drew. 

"Doesn't matter. I'm here now, looking after Pa. And jeez, no one calls me Nightingale anymore, Drew!" He turned to Andy. "So, when did you move here, Red?"

Andy noticed the deflection and saw a confused Drew rub his neck and murmur, "That was a compliment." She allowed Leo the change of subject.

"It's Andy. And I moved here a few months back. I thought I already told you." Andy had now stepped away and stood next to Drew. She linked their arms. Leo's gaze was pointedly on their locked arms.

Drew seemed quite surprised at her overt display of affection. She gave him the sweetest smile she could manage and batted her eyes. "Can we go now? I'm tired." She did a good imitation of a fake yawn, stretching the one arm overhead and patting her mouth with the palm of the hand linked with his Drew's hand. She looked at Leo, but his amused smile told her he didn't buy her little show.

"Sure, see ya Leo. Good to have you back." Andy gave him a two-finger wave and made to grab the passenger's side handle of Drew's truck.

"I saw a big one by the lake this morning." Leo held his hands a two feet apart. "Must be just a baby, probably there's a nest near the lake," Leo pointedly looked at Andy, "or the House."

Drew froze on the spot. "You don't say?"

Andy was confused. "What? A nest of what?"

Leo's smile was smug. "Snakes." 

Andy turned to Drew in confusion. He had turned quite green. She had grown up in Dallas and she hadn't even seen a snake so she was pretty sure she wasn't scared of them. "Are they poisonous?"

"Some are." She saw the smirk on Leo's face. He was clearly enjoying this.

"Drew, are you gonna be OK?" Andy turned to Drew who was now shaking quite visibly.

"Oh no, no." He swallowed audibly. His unsteady hands gripped the hood of his car.

"Wow, you really hate snakes, huh?" Andy tried to smooth over his worries with a jovial smile. "Don't worry, they can't get into the truck."

"Get into my truck?" Drew was horrified at the very prospect. He started fervently examining his truck as if expecting a nest of snakes curled up under the driver's seat.

"Hey man," Leo's tone was low and comforting. "Don't worry, I could be wrong you know." 

"Leo-" Drew looked at Andy, beseechingly. "Umm, Andy, do you mind?"

Oh no. Andy had a sinking feeling.

Leo turned to Andy. She couldn't be too sure, but there were definite signs of a smirk on his face.

"I'll take her." Amusement lurked in his twinkling eyes. "I think Drew just remembered he has to go somewhere."