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	[b][i]'Tell him,'[/i][/b] said the voice in her head, [b][i]'tell him how much you want him.'[/i][/b]

‘No,’ said Amber, then pulled her mouth to one side as she looked at Jack, ‘I can’t tell you why.’ She slumped defeated, her previous exuberance wheezing out with her breath.

‘Well that’s handy,’ Jack smirked, ‘nothing like more honesty to get an informative conversation up and running.’ He paused, eyeballing the bartender and his daughter for a moment. ‘Would you like a drink? I've started a tab. Might as well take advantage of it.’ 

‘No, I’m fine.’ She thought hard for a moment, and added, ‘What’s a tab?’ 

‘It’s when you get things on credit, as in, I drink it now, the purchase is added to my bill, and I pay that bill off at a later time.’ 

She considered this. 

‘So… you aren’t just passing through then? She bit her lip dubiously. ‘You plan on staying in Greenfalls for a while? Why? There is nothing here. It’s a transient stop-by, at best.’ 

‘I may or may not be staying,’ he told her, ‘but I do have a job that will be paying me soon, so wouldn’t need to stay long. Besides…’ he looked around attentively, ‘I see nothing wrong with this place. Nice, quiet town – village, should I say? Quite pretty, actually. I like it.’ 

‘It is pretty,’ she had to admit, ‘but there is nothing going on here. It’s small, the land is haunted so people don’t want to expand, and it will never be anything more than a small stop-by.’ She seemed heavily burdened by this. ‘…what I‘d give to get out of this town.’ 

Jack was very interested in the part about the land being haunted, but decided to pursue that topic at another time. 

‘Why don’t you?’ He asked.

'Why don't I what?'

‘Why don’t you leave?’ 

‘It’s complicated.’ 

‘Try me.’ 

She queered at him and avoided the question by glancing at his drink. ‘You going to drink that or just hold it all day?’ 

Jack regarded the mug in his grip, the murky fluid inside, then gave a reluctant glance to the girl who was still cleaning dishes at the far end of the bar. ‘Tell me why you can’t leave town and I’ll tell you why I can’t bring myself to taking a drink from this cup.’  

‘That… doesn’t seem like an even trade to me,’ she replied, ‘reasons why I live my life how I live my life can hardly be compared to why someone won’t take a drink from their cup.’ 

‘You might be surprised….’ He thought for a moment, giving a furtive glance to the crease in amber's cleavage. ‘I’ll go first if you promise to tell me after.’ 

'Before I answer,’ she said, ‘tell me something. Are you thirsty?’ 

‘Yes, I am.’ 

She smiled vaguely and then gave her best compromising expression, ‘You know what? I would really like to know why a thirsty man refused to drink his drink. So fine, you got a deal – Tell me first, then I’ll tell you.’ 

In answer, Jack shifted his eyes toward the girl at the bar again. ‘I have strong doubts that I can take a sip from this cup without coming down with some deadly stomach bug.’  

Amber’s pretty eyebrows almost switched position with the strained look of consternation she gave him.