Diplomacy

they ended up moving away from the wall together to step outside.
    “I’ll go first,” Lucas offered, “See if the coast is clear.”
    “Yeah…” Jack said softly, close to him. “I hope no one walked in here, because I don’t know how quiet we were.” First Lucas and then Jack stepped out of the cramped stall and checked their appearance in the mirrors on the opposite side of the men’s room.
    Lucas looked over at Jack. “Hang on…” He moved behind the American and pulled at the bottom of his jacket, then wiped his hands across Jack’s shoulders.
    “Thanks, Maria…” Jack’s quip startled Lucas. “She always does that too, I’m sorry…”
    “No, you’re not,” Lucas answered, now smiling lopsidedly as he straightened his tie and tucked down his own jacket.
    Both men smiled as they walked out into the outside world again.

    “OH , and I thought it was just us ladies who couldn’t go to the little girl’s room alone.”
    The two men turned upon hearing Maria’s mocking tone and saw the women standing against the outside wall of the men’s room.
    “Lucy saw you two disappear in there and so we decided to wait here to tell you the news.”
    “Yeah, and you two took forever,” Lucy added, rolling her eyes.
    “So what’s the news?” Jack asked.
    “Lucy and I are going to spend next weekend in Amsterdam. It’s about time she saw a bit of Europe. She’s been here almost a year, and I can’t believe, Lucas, that you haven’t taken her anywhere.” Lucas felt his heart leap out of his chest. A weekend alone with Jack. He looked over at Jack who was staring back at him, giving him one of his poker faces.

    D i p l o m a c y | 51

    Maria slid her arms underneath her husband’s. “Don’t look so worried, dear, I won’t max out my credit card.” She stretched her arm out to Lucy who came closer as well, in turn taking Lucas’s hand. “And I promise I’ll keep Lucy away from temptation as well. Besides I’m sure you two have some guy things to do which, now, what was it you said the other night? ‘Which us girls would find boring’.” She was feigning innocence but Jack knew the comment was anything but that.
    Lucas saw a smile break on Jack’s face. “Yeah, I’m sure we can keep each other occupied.”

    52 | Z a h r a O w e n s

Chapter Eight
    WITH the President declaring they were no longer at war, the work for the Embassy in Belgium was really only just starting. The Belgian government had always been rather vocal in their opposition to the war, and now that a peace-keeping mission was being assembled to help rebuild the ravaged country, this stance was by no means toned down.
    Together with France and Germany, they blatantly refused to add troops to the International Armed Forces, and Jack almost felt like he was constantly meeting with the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister on this matter. The whole situation didn’t look good, since NATO
    headquarters were situated in this country, and Jack had been given precise orders: make them take America’s side in this conflict.
    The fact that Jack didn’t agree with his government’s point of view didn’t help. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, and he knew very well that his own feelings on the matter were completely unimportant.
    There was one upside to this, though. The British Prime Minister had stuck his nose in and had promised British help. Normally this would fall on the shoulders of the British Ambassador, but since he had been given an extended vacation, his Deputy Head of Mission was in charge.
    As taking on both jobs was a little much even for a competent man like Sean Gallagher, Jack hoped he could ask for Lucas’s help on this.
    In the car on his way from SHAPE, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, going back to the Embassy, Jack couldn’t keep his mind on the papers he wanted to review. The crisis at the European Union over the war had kept him busy all weekend, but now for some reason, his mind kept wandering to what had happened at the exhibition opening on Friday. Kissing and touching Lucas had felt good, for sure. But was it the D i p l o m a c y | 53

    right thing to do? The young Brit clearly had less apprehension about the encounter then he did. Lucas was probably more experienced or felt less guilty about being unfaithful to his girl.
    Jack kicked himself for thinking too much, but was it right for him to lust after a man? He had denied these feelings in himself for most