AS THE MOUSE

OVES©

Wednesday October 25^th, 2000
Tiffany sat in the coffee shop on Bleecker Street reading the want ads in the newspaper. 
"More coffee Miss?" the waitress asked.
"Please," Tiffany said wishing to drag out her visit to the coffee shop as long as possible.  The thought of going back to Amir's huge lonely apartment that she could no longer afford saddened her.  She picked up the pen from the table and circled another job that she should call about later.  She brushed her long blonde hair from her face as she studied the newspaper on the table in front of her.
"Hay Baby, mind if I join you?"
"Skeeter!  What are you doing here?" she said.  She could feel her heart lighten at the sight of his familiar handsome face.  Just as quickly she remembered the last time she stopped by Skeeter's apartment, he had been very inhospitable towards her. She thought about the fact that Jan Morgan might have been with him then and her smiled faded as she looked up at him.
"Just came by to get a sandwich.  Mind if I join you?" he asked in his slow southern accent.
"I guess so, have a seat", she said reluctantly.  The loneliness of the last few days was enough to make her more forgiving than she ever thought imaginable.
"What ya doin?" he asked noticing she had been circling advertisements in the newspaper.
"Looking for a job," she said dryly.
"So Clark fired you?"
"Yeah.  He sure did."
"Did he say why?" he asked remembering Jan telling him that it was because Clark suspected she was seeing his client Amir.
"I think it was mostly a financial situation," she lied.
"You'll find something else," he said.
"I hope so.  I'll be broke quickly if I don't."   
"What happened to your rich boyfriend?" he asked fighting to keep the smile off his face.  He had read the newspapers and he saw that Amir had rushed home to his sick wife.  A wife that no one knew anything about until yesterday.
"I don't have a boyfriend," she said looking down at the newspaper to avoid his eyes.
"What happened to Amir?"
"Amir?"
"Yeah, that guy?"
"He's married Skeeter," she said looking up at him defiantly.
"You didn't know that?"
"No.  I didn't know it.  Seems that marriage doesn't mean much to men anymore," she said eyeing him suspiciously.
"Depends on who the man is married to maybe."
"Didn't mean anything to you."
"Are we fighting?  Maybe I should just leave?" he said starting to get up.
"No.  We aren't fighting," she said softly realizing she needed him more than she had ever needed him before.
"You ordering sir?" the waitress asked pouring more coffee into Tiffany's cup.
"Yeah bring me a cheeseburger and a beer," Skeeter said checking out the waitresses cleavage as she bent forward to pour the coffee.
"Skeeter I don't want to fight, but I do need to ask you a question and I need the truth from you," she said.
"Shoot."
"Will you promise me you'll tell me the truth?"
"Sure Baby I'll tell you the truth," he said hoping she wouldn't ask if he was seeing Jan.
"Are you seeing Jan?"
CONTINUED TOMORROW. MORE PHOTOS BELOW.