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The counter was crowded, making me have to squeeze my way in to try and flag down a bartender. I waved and yelled but there were a dozen other people doing the same thing, louder and more impatient then I was willing to be. This is going to take forever.
An arm bumped into me rather hard. I spun to see a handsome young face with bright blue eyes and sandy blond hair, standing tall in a dark suit. I only had eyes for Luca but there was no denying this man was a package women would fight dirty for.
“Shit. Sorry beautiful,” he threw out as he went to move by. Then his head did a double take and froze, running his eyes up and down my body in not so much a hungry way, but pleasantly surprised. His destination forgotten, he scooted his way up to the bar next to me.
“Hi there. What’s your name?” He asked with a smile.
“Why?”
“Because I think it might haunt me the rest of my life if I don’t find out.”
I smiled with a roll of my eyes. “It’s Becka,” I offered plainly.
“I have to say Becka, you are incredibly beautiful.” He had a dangerous smile playing on his lips.
I smiled at his complement. I’m a girl. Of course I liked compliments. “Thank you. And you are…”
“I’m Shaun.” We shook hands. “Are you here with someone?”
“Yes. My husband.” So don’t even try it.
“Oh. Damn.” A sly smile tipped his lips. “You don’t have an accent. At least, not an East Coast one. You are not from around here are you?”
“Just recently moved here.” More like kidnapped and imprisoned by marriage. Apples and oranges. “I’m actually from northern California.”
“No shit. What part?” His voice went from smokey seductive to genuinely interested. A moment ago I was about to give him the, it was nice meeting you, but his reaction had me curious.
“Chico. I also graduated from Chico State.”
He laughed, throwing his head back. “It’s definitely a small world. I did my pre-law at Chico State, before I went to Harvard. That was a crazy party town for sure. My buddy had a boat so we would go to the lake like every weekend. It was some seriously good times.” Shaun’s face took on a boyish look as he sipped his drink with happy reminiscing lighting up his eyes. “Can I get you a drink?”
“Umm… sure.”
I couldn’t help myself. As soon as Shaun mentioned home, the conversation ran away with me. We talked about crazy party houses, the lake, the best places to get food at three in the morning. Which bars had the best drink deals.
“Ok. What was your favorite bar?” he asked, ordering us another round.
“Bar? The Bear, hands down.”
“Really? I would guess The Beach every time.”
"The Beach was ok but The Bear is just so unique. All the random stuff on the walls and ceiling, you always see something new.”
“Did you ever try the their burger with peanut butter on it?”
I wrinkled my nose. “No. You?”
“Yep,” he answered with pride.
“How was it?” I cringed.
“Actually, not bad.”
“Gross.” We both laughed.
Then the world got even smaller when he mentioned hiking many of the same trails Grandmother and I did. Whiskeytown. Shasta. Lassen. I lost all track of time reminiscing on the things that still made my heart ache for what used to be my home.
It was like a door cracked open that had been slammed shut in my face. Talking and laughing— innocently—with someone who could relate to my past, flushed my system with joy. Part of me I thought died was still out there, just shut away in a closet where I couldn’t get to it. Until this conversation.
