musings were cut short when Bell went to the front door and turned the sign around so that the open side faced front. There were people waiting out- side already.
A moment later they had filtered in and it was time to go to work.
'War,' Michael said, tossing down a card.
Max started throwing down cards at the same time In the end, Michael threw down a Jack face up. Max had a five.
Michael took the next two rounds and got rid of his last card, leaving Max with six cards in his hand.
'I don't have to count them, Maxwell. That wasn't even close,' Michael said, smiling. 'I don't think you are cut out for war.”
'I was King, you were the one with the advanced mili- tary training,' Max said, keeping his voice even and his expression neutral.
'I always knew it would pay off someday,' Michael said as he shuffled the cards.
'My deal,' Michael said when he was finished. But before he could deal out the first card, the door opened and Isabel stepped inside. He could see something was wrong by the look on her face.
Max was on his feet instantly. 'What is it?' he asked.
Isabel sighed. 'Nothing serious, Max, but it looks like it's so slow today that they don't need a relief Laundromat attendant trainee,' she said, sitting on the bed.
Michael shook his head. 'Look at us, three of the Royal Four, with incredible alien-powers at our command, and none of us have a useful skill. If it wasn't for Maria, Liz, and Kyle, we'd be in even more trouble than we are now,' he said.
'You mean more trouble than being stranded in a noth- ing town with no money and a broken-down van. We wouldn't have even eaten today if it wasn't for the oatmeal we lucked into,' Isabel said.
By the time she was done, Isabel's voice was tight. Max decided that he had waited long enough. He had wanted to do it before, but he didn't want to begin in the van in front of all the others.
Now, Michael was here, but Max knew he had a respon- sibility to his sister. 'Isabel, do you want to talk about it?' he asked.
She looked at him in surprise for a moment. 'I think I said it all. Wait, I left out the part about sleeping in a van last night.”
Max shook his head. 'No, not that.' He paused, not sure how to begin. Isabel had always had trouble confid- ing in him when they were growing up. It had only gotten harder lately.
'About Jesse,' Max said finally. With his peripheral vision, he saw Michael squirm uncomfortably. Isabel gave him a slightly stunned look. For a moment she was silent.
'This wasn't just another breakup. You were married…,' Max said.
'I know I was married!' Isabel exploded. 'In fact, I still am. It's just that I'm never going to see my husband again.”
She was angry and immediately went red in the face. Well, angry… even if it was with him… was better than what she could be feeling.
'I'm sorry, Isabel. I want to help if I can,' Max said. 'Maybe if you talked… ”
'That's the problem, Max. You can't help me,' Isabel said, her voice tight. 'You can't fix this. I left my husband and my last chance at escaping all this back in Roswell.”
Max could see that Isabel was near tears. He hadn't wanted to upset her, and seeing her so vulnerable unsettled him. He had rarely seen her cry, even when they were younger.
'Listen,' Michael said, breaking the silence. 'What's so great about being normal? We've been trying since we got out of the pods, and it hasn't worked out so well. And, Isabel, Jesse was okay, but he wasn't the one.”
There was dead silence in the room for a long moment. Max found himself holding his breath. Isabel looked shocked, as if Michael had just thrown cold water in her face, or slapped her. Max could see anger, grief, and some- thing else colliding on her face. For a second, Max wasn't sure if she was going to cry or hit Michael… both options looked like an even bet.
Then, as quickly as the storm of emotions came, it seemed to pass. Isabel seemed to deflate in front of them.
She was holding herself together, barely. Max preferred seeing her angry. Then she leveled a cool gaze at Max and said, 'No, I don't want to talk about it right now.”
Isabel got up and seemed on the verge of storming out. Then she turned and sat on the floor next to Max. 'What are you playing?' she asked.
'Um, war,' Michael said, still holding the cards in his hands.
She grabbed the cards from him and said, 'Dealers choice.”
As she shuffled the cards, Max took in what had just happened. He still couldn't believe that Michael had spo- ken up; his best friend usually avoided discussion about feelings with the same intensity that he guarded their big secret.
Max was equally surprised by how much sense Michael had made. They had been trying for their whole lives to be normal. It had never worked, and they had all paid a price for the failure.
And Max was even more surprised that Michael had said what he had about Jesse. It was true, Max knew. They had all sensed it, though they had never talked about it. Instead, they had discussed the fact that she was so young, and that they were rushing the wedding. But the truth was that they had all known the simple truth that no one had said out loud until Michael did a minute before.
Jesse was not the one.
Even so, Max had no doubt that Isabel had loved him and that her pain and grief right now were real. Well, maybe she would want to talk about it when a bit more time had passed.
If Michael could talk about feelings… and make sense doing it… anything was possible.
Isabel dealt out the cards. Since he was sitting on her left, he went first. Max looked levelly at Isabel and said, 'Seven.”
His sister leveled a steely gaze at him and said, in an even voice, 'Go fish, Max.”
Liz laid two plates at the first table in her station, smiled, and immediately headed behind the counter, where the large cutout in the wall led to the kitchen.
She nearly collided with Maria, who got there a moment before she did.
'Where's my omelette and home fries?' Maria called out.
Sam grunted from inside the kitchen but passed a plate out. Maria took it and was off. For all of her complaining about going back to work as a waitress, Maria had settled right in at Bell's. Liz found that she had, as well, though both girls were frustrated by the fact that they didn't know the menu and prices cold. After years at the Crashdown, they each could recite the menu forward and backward.
So they spent a frustrating first hour checking the menu before they added up the checks. But they picked it up quickly, and now, as the breakfast rush began to taper off, Liz could make out most checks from memory. And she could see that Maria was doing the same.
Liz was surprised at how much of a rush the breakfast rush had actually been. She wasn't sure the diner would keep even one experienced waitress busy, but they both had been. And in the beginning, Bell had been pitching in as well.
Once the owner had seen that the girls could handle the crowd, she had concentrated on seating people and working the register. Liz was glad. For one thing, it meant that she and Maria would keep all the tips. And while the checks were smaller than she was used to at the Crash- down, the running total she kept in her head told her that her tips were averaging a bit higher in percentage.
The customers were all working people… local farm- workers and factory workers commuting to Pueblo. At home, Liz had learned that working people tipped better. Before, she had thought that it might only be true in Roswell, but Liz saw that it was true in Stonewall as well.
Twenty minutes later, Liz watched the last breakfast customer leave. As soon as the door closed, Bell said, 'Congratulations' to both Maria and Liz.
Liz found herself smiling and saw that Maria was doing the same.
'How long did you two say you were going to be in town?' Bell asked.
Liz shrugged. 'A week or two,' she said. She honestly didn't know how long it would take them to earn enough
