Relief breathed into Matt when he saw Sylvia leave for lunch. His relief wasn't as great as he would have liked, for Amy stayed behind to eat in the office. For once, Matt had wanted to be alone with Beth. Only for lunch, of course, and for what reason Matt couldn't explain intelligibly to his own satisfaction. He simply wanted to eat his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the same general vicinity as Beth, and to eat them without Sylvia or Amy watching.
The light sound of women talking gently echoed near the back of the store as Matt stepped inside after retrieving his lunch from the pickup. He'd never eaten in the store before, but knew Beth wouldn't mind for he knew the girls sometimes ate in the office. Struggling not to feel as though he were intruding, Matt crossed the floor to the open door, then stuck his head inside the office to see if there were any room for him.
Her feet crossed in the walkway, Beth was scooping out yogurt from a dainty container, the plastic spoon coming halfway to her mouth before she saw Matt in the doorway.
"Matt." She said his name in shock, as though surprised to see him. The spoon was returned to the container. "Is there something you want?"
From a chair near the desk, Amy smiled, her eyes traveling to the brown paper bag in his hand; without a word, Amy set aside her own lunch to retrieve a second folding chair from behind a filing cabinet.
"Oh, you're here to eat lunch." Beth moved so he could pass between her and Amy and get to his seat. She said nothing, but watched as he moved past her.
His elbow hit the filing cabinet, but he managed to squeeze into the space where he guessed Sylvia usually occupied. Wondering why in the world he had come, Matt opened his bag to pull out a sandwich. He shut his eyes for a silent prayer, then bit into the bread. The women remained quiet, though Matt did his best not to notice. He looked at the pasta salad Amy had in her clear food container, and tried not to wonder how it tasted. On the desk, Beth had prepared some sort of delicious smelling rice dish, and from the steam, he could tell it was hot. Puzzled, Matt looked about until he saw a microwave tucked into the far corner of the office.
"If you ever need to heat up your meal," Beth said, putting down her yogurt to pick up the rice, "you can use the microwave. And there's a mini fridge," she added, pointing to the object on the floor at his feet, "if you need to keep your lunch cold. Just be sure to put your name on anything that's yours; things have a tendency to disappear if you're not careful."
Amy smiled apologetically to Matt. "Sylvia accidentally takes things from the fridge that aren't hers, so it's best to write your name on anything you care about."
"Oh." Matt didn't want to comment on Sylvia, so he continued to eat his sandwich.
"I was just telling Mrs. Carter about this cute guy I met at the supermarket," Amy said, putting down her fork long enough to take a sip from a bottle of iced tea. "Like I was saying, we talked and I thought we hit it off pretty well. He kept finding an excuse to keep from walking away, and of course, I did the same; we must have blocked the aisle for a good ten minutes! Then what do you think? You'll never guess, not in a million years!" Amy paused for dramatic effect and Matt had the good sense not to guess. "I still can't believe it!" she glowed brightly. "This incredibly good-looking guy actually asked me out on a date!" She gave a loud squeal of girly delight, her face a picture of unrealistic expectations. "It was fate to meet like we did," she continued. "He's so absolutely perfect-- my knight in shining armor and prince charming all rolled into one." She shook her head as though no one could possibly have a differing opinion.
Matt sighed mildly. In his years of experience with women, there were some ways in which all of them were terrifyingly the same. This was one of them. A guy had caught her attention, and now the poor man would have to live up to those fantasy-filled expectations. How fair was that? He waited for Amy's elation to die down, then relaxed to eat another sandwich.
