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"What I miss?" asked Melvin as he made his way back to the table. He'd taken his time to make sure he'd put himself together before going back to lunch, and he felt that he and Tina had done a good job of it. If anything, his tie was on straighter now than when he had left to go to the bathroom. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Feeling better?" Richie said as Melvin took his seat. Melvin nodded, and it crossed his mind that Richie was wearing a strange expression on his face as if he had just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Melvin wondered what Abby had been up to while Tina and he were gone.

"Much better," Melvin said, and he reached for his ice water. He caught a glance of Tina smiling at the corner of his eye. The pigtailed waitress showed up a moment later to bring everyone their entrees, asked if they needed anything else, and then vanished behind the kitchen door. Melvin and Tina glanced at each other as the waitress left. There was a certain color to her cheeks that had not been there before. Melvin noticed that neither Abigail or Richie asked the waitress where she had been for the last twenty minutes.

They sat and ate their lunch over small talk and polite conversation. Though having trouble keeping his mind sharp, Melvin observed that Richie was having trouble meeting everyone's eyes, and Abigail seemed very smug towards him. Tina seemed bored but kept sending sly glances in his direction whenever she thought that Abby wasn't looking. Melvin saw all of this through faltering eyes. All he could really think about was getting into his office, putting his head on his desk, and falling asleep. What had the witch said about being drained? He sure as hell felt drained of every last drop of energy. They finished eating, and Melvin glanced pointedly at his watch.@@