"You look good." Lance said hoping to end the awkward silence as the two of them sat across from each other in the diner booth. Tiffany snorted and pushed more stray strands of hair behind her ears and ran her hands over her blue t-shirt that was slightly stained and two sizes too big.

"I look like hell." she replied. She had nearly backed out of coming when she had seen herself in the bathroom mirror. She was pale and tired with dark circles under her eyes from not sleeping much the last few nights.

"No, you're beautiful." Lance assured her. Tiffany blushed and then cursed herself for falling for his charm. They each ordered burgers, fries and a pop and then they sat there looking out the window in silence.

"How have you been?" Lance finally asked.

"I've been good." Tiffany replied. She didn't want to tell him about her life because her entire life revolved around Parker and she wasn't ready to tell Lance about him yet. "How have you been?" Lance traced shapes on the orange Formica table top and Tiffany recognized it as another one of the things he did when he was nervous or unsure.

"I made it." he replied looking over at her. She knew what he was talking about and she couldn't help but smile. She had always known that he would make it. He had always brought his guitar along when they would camp out under the stars and he would sing to her and melt her heart and she had never had a doubt that he would make it in Nashville.

"I always knew you would." she replied. She looked at him then and realized that instead of looking proud his eyes looked sad.

"I hated it." he added.

"What do you mean? I thought it was your dream and it was what you wanted." she picked at a tear in the leather seat of the booth. "More then anything." she added. She regretted the words almost instantly because she had not wanted him to know just how badly she'd been hurt by his leaving, but it was too late to take the words back now.

"I did. Dreams change." he replied quietly as he tore the corners of his napkin and stared down at the table. Tiffany was surprised by the amount of anger she felt at those words. What did the man think? That he could just come back here after all this time and she would fall into his arms and be so grateful that he finally considered her to be worth some sacrifice?

""I still don't understand what you came back here for." she said after the waitress had set their plates down. The waitress stared hard at Lance for several moments before finally walking away and Lance breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing he needed was for somebody to recognize him.

"I missed you Tiff. I wanted to come see you." he replied. Tiffany snorted.

"It's been six years Lance. Not once in six years did you act like you missed me so why now?" Lance looked down at his hands. How could he explain to her that he had missed her every single second he had been gone? She had been on his mind everyday. So much so that he had turned away every single woman that had come along the last six years and that had been a lot of women.

"Why are you so mad at me?" he asked. "It's not like you asked me to stay back then. You told me goodbye too." His reminder of her stupidity did nothing to help her temper. She pushed her plate aside and stood quickly.

"Since I said goodbye once, then I believe I will say it again. I am not the same girl that fell in love with you back then Lance. I have had to grow up a lot since you left me and I don't have time for this…. Whatever this is." she added pointing back and forth between them. "I don't know if you thought you could just come back here and I would be so thankful to finally be worth your attention that I would just fall down at your feet but you were wrong." She turned on her heel and stormed out of the diner with everyone's eyes on her and Lance sitting in the booth slack jawed.

He had always been a very patient man and he knew that Tiffany had always been a firecracker with one heck of a temper but for the life of him he didn't understand why she and her family were so hostile toward him. Yes he had left six years ago but it's not like he had left her while she begged him to stay. As a matter of fact she was the one who told him goodbye and to have a good life.

He threw a twenty down on the booth to cover the food and the tip and then went out the door. He wasn't going to let her throw her temper and then walk away from him that easily.

He found her back at the garage sitting inside her truck pounding her hand on the steering wheel as she turned the key and the truck refused to come to life. He walked over to her window and tapped on it with his finger. Tiffany glared through the glass at him. His patience irritated her when she was this aggravated.

Lance jumped back quickly when she threw the door open and jumped out.

"Truck won't start?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.

"Duh." she replied and then winced when she realized she sounded like an angry teenager instead of a mature grown woman. Just then Gary came out of the garage.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked nodding at the truck. Tiffany shrugged.

"I don't know." she replied. Lance looked at the truck and came to the quick conclusion that it had simply died of old age. Tiffany looked at her watch and realized that Parker and Steve were probably at the house waiting on her by now.

"I don't have time to fix it today. I need to get home." she said. Before Gary could reply Lance spoke up.

"I'll take you." he said. A panicked look came to Tiffany's face but Gary nodded.

"That sounds good to me." he said. He figured it was about time that Lance met his son. "I'll get your truck fixed and Steve and I will bring it out to you tonight." he added looking at Tiffany.

Tiffany felt like she must be asleep and having a nightmare as Lance let her to his truck. She looked at the brand new, bright blue Silverado and had to admit that it was nice. She was surprised when he opened the passenger door for her and she blushed as she felt his eyes on the back of her jeans as she climbed up into the seat. He shut the door and hopped in the drivers side.

Tiffany felt the familiar quickening in her pulse as her arm brushed his and she quickly puller her arm off of the center console and laid it across her lap. She spared a glance at him from the corner of her eye as he started the truck and headed down the road. She had been so shocked to see him earlier that she hadn't taken the time to really look at him but she was looking now.

His body had changed in the last six years. He no longer had the body of a boy just becoming a man…. He now had the body of a man. Broad shoulders, lean hips and long legs. He had lean muscles and tanned skin and Tiffany realized that he desire for him had not changed. He had taken her innocence six years ago and he was the only man who had ever had her body or her heart.

"Where are we going?" he asked. "I don't know how to get to your house."

"It's on the road before you get to the pond road. Do you remember where that is?" she asked. Lance remembered all right. He remembered every single second they had spent together at that pond and his body remembered too as it heated and his pulse quickened at the images that raced through his mind. He cleared his throat and nodded.

"Yeah I remember." he replied. Tiffany was about to say something else when she noticed the picture taped on the dashboard and her heart nearly stopped beating. That was her. It was an old picture from the summer they had spent together. She was laughing in the picture and she recognized the sparkle of the sunlight on the pond behind her.

Lance followed her gaze and his face reddened. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and yanked on his seatbelt that suddenly felt too tight on his chest.

"Why do you have that?" Tiffany asked once she found her voice again.

"Another one of my dreams." he replied looking straight out the windshield and keeping his gaze locked on the road ahead of them. Tiffany felt a tear come to her eye and she blinked it away. She laid her head back on the headrest and looked out the passenger window.

Lance still loved her. She was sure of it now. Despite her anger with him she knew that he had not really left her all those years ago. She had not asked him to stay… As a matter of fact she had told him to leave. She had wanted to see his dreams come true and they had. But now he was back and she was scared to death. How was she going to tell him about the secret she had kept from him that night, all those years ago.

Once he learned that he had a six year old son that she had hidden from him he would hate her. That love that she saw in his blue eyes would not be there anymore and she would have no one to blame but herself. She prayed she would be able to make him understand but even though Lance was the most patient and understanding man she had ever met, she doubted he would understand this.

They pulled into the driveway behind Steve's red ford truck and Lance put his own truck in park and turned off the ignition. He looked over at Tiffany.

"I think we have more to say to each other." he said softly. Tiffany nodded and took a deep breath. She needed to tell him about Parker.

"I think we do too." she replied but before she could say anything else she saw the door to the house fly open and Parker ran out. She cursed quietly and got out of the truck. She vaguely noticed Lance do the same.

"Mommy! Guess what happened today!" Parker yelled as he ran to her. She dropped to her knee and tousled his thick dark hair.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Mrs. Gibson said that I get to be the ogre that scares away the witches in our play." Parker replied his blue eyes shining with excitement. Tiffany smiled proudly though her mind was on Lance and wondering whether or not he noticed the similarities between himself and the boy. She didn't dare look over at him because she did not want to see what kind of expression was on his face right now.

"That is great my boy. How is your throat? Are you still feeling good?" she asked. Parker rolled his eyes and opened his mouth wide as if showing her that his throat was indeed fine.

"My medicine made me all better." he said. "That means I don't have to take it anymore." Tiffany shook her head as she stood up and put on her best stern face.

"That means you have to keep taking it so it can keep helping you." she replied. Parker made a face and gagged.

"But mommy it's nasty." he whined.

"Parker don't whine." Tiffany scolded and he crossed his arms over his tiny chest and looked over at Lance.

"Who are you?" he asked. Tiffany finally looked at Lance and saw the look of disbelief and shock on his pale face.

"Uh…um… I'm…" Tiffany stepped in when she realized Lance was in no shape to answer the question.

"He's my friend." she replied. "Now go back in the house and tell your uncle Steve that he has to go into town and help grandpa fix our truck."

"Okay mommy. Can we have meatloaf for supper?" he asked and Tiffany marveled at the ability of the six year old mind to jump from topic to topic without missing a beat.

"Sure." she replied and Parker ran quickly across the gravel driveway and back to the house. Tiffany did not want to look at Lance so instead she looked out at the mountains surrounding them. It was the middle of September and the mountains were losing their green color and becoming orange, brown and red as the colors of fall took the place of the colors of summer.

"Tiffany." Lance said and she could hear the confusion in his voice. She turned to face him and saw that he was leaning against his truck with his arms straight and he was gripping the hood with white knuckles while staring down at the gravel at his boots.

"What do you want to know Lance?" Tiffany asked as she tugged awkwardly at the bottom of her shirt and chewed on her lip.

"That was your son?"

"Yes."

"What is his name?" he asked still looking down at the ground. Tiffany crossed her arms and rubbed her hands up and down them, suddenly feeling very cold.

"Parker. His name is Parker." Lance nodded slightly.

"How old is he?" Tiffany shifted her feet.

"Six."

"He's mine isn't he? He looks just like me." Lance said, remembering the boys messy black hair, blue eyes and dimples that had all been identical to his own. Tiffany nodded.

"Yes he's yours." she replied. "He's ours." she amended quickly.

"Did you know about him the night of the carnival?" Lance asked and he prayed that the answer was no. If she hadn't known about the baby then, then Lance could see her not telling him about the boy the past six years. She would have had no way to let him know. He hadn't ever contacted her and she would not have had a clue how to contact him. Surely she hadn't known. Tiffany would not have kept something like that from him.

"Yes I knew." she said softly and Lance felt the pain of her betrayal deep in his gut. He had a son and Tiffany had kept it from him on purpose. He didn't trust himself to speak. He didn't even trust himself to look at her. He was angry and hurt and he didn't want to say or do something that later he would regret so he simply got into his truck, brought the engine to life and drove away.

Tiffany wanted to cry. She wanted to fall to her knees and beg the Lord and Lance for forgiveness for the lies she had told but she didn't have time. She had homework to go over with Parker and a meatloaf to cook. She smoothed out her hair, straightened her shirt, took a deep breath, squared her shoulders and walked to the house.