I had driven so long that my eyes were burning and my legs felt a bit numb so I started to look for someplace to pull over for a little while. My gaze went right past all the flashy neon and easily recognizable chain restaurants and went straight to a dingy building with blistered paint.

It sat in the middle of a gravel parking lot and the vehicles surrounding it were caked in dust. There was a Pabst Blue Ribbon light flickering in the window and a plastic ‘open’ sign hanging askew in the screen door that slammed shut hard behind me marking me as a newbie, the regulars would all have known to catch the door before it hit.

There was a bar to the left, a row of booths to the right and a handful of tables with mix-matched chairs. I headed for a table away from the door so that I could have a full view of the place. The Formica reminded me of the table my parent’s had when I was a kid, white with a metallic star burst pattern and the corners were even chipped.

A waitress in her mid 50s turned over the red plastic orange peel textured tumbler on the table, filled it with ice water from a clear plastic pitcher and handed me a laminated menu without a word. I turned the coffee cup over signaling I would like a cup when she had a moment.

I have always loved dives. I feel more comfortable in these surroundings. The cigarette smoke hanging in the air along with the smell of stale beer and cooking grease. I sighed deeply and smiled slightly.

The waitress came back and filled my coffee cup, automatically putting down an ashtray filled with little plastic creamers and asked if I knew what I wanted. I ordered a burger and fries, thanked her for the coffee and the creamer and our exchange was done.

I had brought a book in with me as camouflage, I wanted to be able to people watch and listen to the conversations without standing out and my eyes were lowered to the page when I heard the scrape of a chair. I looked up and saw I was being joined.

He had on brown coveralls, dark stains on the knees to the calves. He was wearing a baseball cap clamped down on unruly curly hair and the kind of beard/mustache combination that always makes me want to bury both hands in it and scratch like you would a dog’s face.

His eyes were pitch black, and when he grinned at me, I could see one of his front teeth was chipped.

Do you mind, he asked.

The bar was full and a couple of the booths were taken but there was plenty of space left for him to find a seat elsewhere.

Nope, you’re fine.

He sat watching me intently as I continued to pretend to read my book. I glanced at him every so often but I didn’t know what to say to him so I said nothing.

You got a storm brewing in them eyes, I see it.

I closed the book, laid it down slowly and looked at him. Really? You can see that, huh?

Yep. A hurricane, tornado, a tsunami even, a real wrath of God kind of storm a brewing.

I could only smile at him. I could feel a bit of a lump growing in my throat and I was afraid to speak, afraid my voice would catch and then my eyes would well and I would be crying in front of a stranger, in some roadside dive.

You know what you need?

Ah, here it comes, I thought.

You need a man who thinks you are worth diamonds.

I don’t like diamonds, I said. Diamonds mean commitment to me, and I am not good at that.

I didn’t say a man to buy you diamonds, I said a man who thinks you are worth diamonds, there’s a big difference. You need a man who knows your value.

The waitress came with my food just then and as she set my plate down, he touched the brim of his hat with his thumb and forefinger as though he were tipping it to me, slid out of the chair, waved to a couple guys sitting at the bar and left, make sure to catch the door so that it didn’t slam behind him.

I wanted to ask the waitress if she saw the guy who was sitting with me, not to get his name but to find out if he was real or a hallucination but I just sat there.

Get you anything else,hon?

Um, no. Thanks

I could only sit, my food going cold in front of me and stare at the door, wishing he would come back and knowing he wouldn’t.