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“And it was great. I want to repeat it as often as possible.”
Luckily, Lane and Mia adored each other, allowing space for them both to simply be themselves. When Mia was feeling like getting out of the house, Lane was always up for anything. When Mia wanted an evening at home, Lane didn’t push.
Too hard, anyway. Although she considered it her job to make sure that Mia didn’t retire from society altogether.
Cory turned out to be a nice man with pale blond hair and brown eyes, and a quiet demeanor. He was handsome without being over the top, and he had a decent sense of humor. He’d laughed at her jokes or at least pretended to which was head and shoulders over the last guy they’d tried to fix her up with. Lane had said that they thought she would like him because he was quiet.
Yes, he was quiet. Until later in the evening, after he’d had a few. Then he’d become a total jerk, screaming at the televisions in the sports bar like a maniac. Mike had ended up taking his friend home because he’d had far too much to drink to get behind the wheel.
“Fix-ups are always weird, aren’t they?” Cory said with a smile. There was a big crowd in the bar because of the baseball game on the many televisions around the room so it was hard to hear him. “But I have to say that you’re everything Lane and Mike promised and even more. I’d like to ask you out on a date, Mia. See where this might go.”
He was a nice guy. Far the best that she’d ever been fixed up with, to be honest. He seemed like a decent guy who held down a responsible job and was a good friend. So far in the time that they’d talked, she hadn’t seen any huge red flags. They did have a few things in common although Mia wouldn’t classify it as “tons” as Lane and Mike had. They didn’t hate each other’s politics, they were both homebodies, and a little bit of workaholics, too. Was that enough to start a relationship? Mia didn’t have a clue, but if she was going to move forward and stop looking back, it might be time to take a few chances. She had to stop standing still and then being surprised when nothing changed.
There was a brief moment of panic as she opened her mouth to say yes to the request for the date. The room went blurry for a moment, but then came back into sharp focus. The crowd around the bar parted for a moment…
And there he was. Grant Anderson.
Standing there with another man. They were both holding bottles of beer and laughing about something. If Mia lived to be a thousand years old, she’d remember every detail of Grant’s face. That stubbled jawline, the scar at his eyebrow, the slightly crooked nose that looked like it might have been broken sometime in his youth. His hair was a bit shorter now, but he still looked mostly the same.
Immediately, she was transported back to that night less than four years ago. She’d been scared to death and barely holding onto her sanity. He’d been an anchor in a literal storm, making sure she was safe and cared for.
But this couldn’t be real. She’d been living in this town for over three years, and she’d come into this sports bar many, many times. She’d never seen Grant before. It had to be some sort of mirage or maybe someone that just looked a lot like him from across the room. He couldn’t be here.
Mia had almost convinced herself she was seeing things and needed to look away when his gaze seemed to find her as well. He could see her, and she could see him, and the rest of the world melted away as they stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few moments. She couldn’t say for sure there was recognition in his eyes. They were too far apart for that, but there was something in his stance - the way he held himself - that was different. His shoulders had tensed, his entire body completely motionless. The smile on his face was frozen, too.
He’d recognized her. She was sure of it.
It was Grant Anderson, against all the odds. What was the damn movie she’d seen as a kid? Bogart had run into Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca or something. But she was no Bergman, and Grant wasn’t Humphrey Bogart.
“Hey, you’re a million miles away again,” Lane whispered, elbowing Mia gently in the ribs. “Are you okay? Have you had too much to drink? We can get you a coffee.”
With that, Mia’s attention had been abruptly jerked away from Grant and back to the three people at the table who were now looking at her with somewhat concerned expressions.
“No,” she finally replied, shocked that she could even form words at the moment. “I haven’t had too much to drink. I just?—”
She broke off, not sure how to even describe what had just happened to her. It still felt like electricity was flying through her veins, her entire being on high alert. She hadn’t felt this alive in years. Maybe…ever. It was as if she’d been sleepwalking and was suddenly awoken with a live wire.
“What?” Lane asked, her forehead furrowed in confusion. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Mia’s gaze traveled back to where Grant had been standing but he wasn’t there anymore. Had he ever been? Had she simply imagined the whole thing? She might be finally losing her ever-loving mind. Too much Florida sun, perhaps.
She blinked a few times, but he didn’t appear again. Her gaze darted around the room, to every corner and back again, but he wasn’t there. He’d never been there. Her mind had been playing a cruel and nasty trick.
Hot tears burned the back of her eyes, and she jumped up from her chair, almost knocking it backwards in her haste. She had to get someplace and breathe. Breathe. Regroup. Pull herself together.
“I need some air. I’ll just be a minute.”
She couldn’t go on like this.
* * *
Of all the things that Grant had expected on this fun weekend to visit an old friend and do some fishing, he hadn’t thought that he would run into Mia. Sure, he knew she lived in the Naples/Fort Myers area but that was about a hundred thousand people. A needle in a haystack. The odds were astronomical…
But it had happened. At first, he’d thought that he was seeing things. Or a woman that looked like her. Then he realized that it really was her. She was looking back at him, too. He couldn’t be sure that she’d recognized him, but he thought she had.
He’d almost taken a step toward her, and then he’d seen that she was sitting with a man. There were two couples at that table. She wasn’t alone.
Mia was with someone. A man.
