The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks

wouldn't see him watching her. If she caught him staring, she might wave at him, or nod and smile, or worse, ignore him. The first two would make him feel like an idiot, the last one would break his heart.
    As he turned, he saw Julie rummaging through her purse for something, her eyes focused in her lap.
    Richard's eyes, though, locked on his in a cool, almost confident appraisal. Yes, Mike, I know you're staring.
    Mike froze, a kid caught pulling a twenty from his mother's wallet.
    He wanted to turn away but couldn't seem to summon the energy to move until he heard a voice behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Drew, the lead singer from the band, standing near the table.
    "Hey, Mike," Drew said, "got a minute? I wanted to talk to you about something."
    An hour later, with Cobra completely inebriated, Andrea headed to the bathroom. As she'd done since she'd first spotted Richard earlier, she scanned the room looking for him as she stood in line. He and Julie were walking off the dance floor. Richard leaned over to whisper something in her ear, then headed toward the men's room.Knowing he'd pass right by her, Andrea quickly ran her hand through her hair and adjusted her skirt and halter. She stepped out of the line, heading him off.
    "Hey, Richard," she said brightly, "how are you?"
    "Fine, thanks," he said. Though it took a moment, she saw the recognition in his face. "Andrea, right?"
    She smiled, thinking, I knew he'd remember. "I haven't seen you here before," she said.
    "It's my first time here."
    "Don't you think it's great?"
    "Not really."
    "Oh, well, neither do I, but there's not that many other places to go around here. Small-town life, you know?"
    "I'm learning," he said.
    "Friday nights are usually better, though."
    "Oh?"
    "Yeah. That's when I usually come. In fact, I'm almost always here then."
    He paused, looking directly at her and holding her gaze, before finally nodding in Julie's direction.
    "Listen-I'd love to stay and talk, but I really can't."
    "Because you're with Julie?"
    He shrugged. "She is my date."
    "Yeah, I know," Andrea said.
    "Well, listen-it was nice seeing you again," he said.
    "Thanks. You too."
    A moment later he pushed on the door, letting it close behind him. While Andrea was staring at the door, Cobra staggered up behind her, mumbling something crude about bodily functions.
    As soon as he followed Richard through the door, she decided it was time to leave.
    Seeing Cobra one more time, she thought, would ruin the feeling she'd had when her eyes met Richard's.
    Just past midnight, with the world glowing silver, Julie stood with Richard on the porch. Frogs and crickets were singing, a light breeze was moving the leaves, and even Singer seemed to be more accepting of Richard. Though his face was poking through the curtains and he was eyeing them carefully, he hadn't made a sound."Thanks for tonight," she said.
    "You're welcome. I had a wonderful time."
    "Even at the Clipper?"
    "As long as you had fun, then I'm glad we went."
    "Not your kind of place, huh?"
    He shrugged. "To be honest, I probably would have preferred something a bit more private. So you and I could be alone."
    "We were alone."
    "Not the whole time."
    She looked at him, a quizzical expression on her face.
    "Are you talking about when we sat with my friends for a while?" she asked. "Did you think I did that because I wasn't having fun?"
    "I wasn't sure what to think. Sometimes women use that as a kind of escape, when the date isn't going well. As in, 'Help! I need rescuing!' "
    She smiled. "Oh, that wasn't it at all. They were the ones I was supposed to go to dinner with tonight, and when I saw them, I wanted to say hi."
    Richard's eyes drifted to the porch light, then back to Julie. "Hey . . . listen, I know I was kind of quiet with your friends. I'm sorry about that. I never seem to know what to say."
    "You were fine. I'm sure they liked you."
    "I'm not too sure that Mike did."
    "Mike?"
    "He was watching us."
    Though she