Page 13 of Twenty Years Later

"Will you have another drink with me?" he asked. "We barely had a chance to talk tonight."

That was true. My friends had definitely monopolized the night. "Sure," I said.

His eyes. Oh, my, those eyes looked intense like I had just agreed to... I didn't know what.

"Good."

He took my hand in his, causing my heart to flutter, and led me to the nearby bar where we ordered some wine. The glasses were filled to the rim, and I tried not to let any liquid slosh over the side as we found a little table in a secluded corner of the lobby, hidden by plants.

After we sat down, Alex made a toast. "To you. To tonight. And to the future."

"Cheers," I said, while carefully clinking my glass to his.

Our eyes met above our drinks, his heat melting me even from across the table.

"So," he began, "would you believe I don't even know where you live?"

"Right." I couldn't help laughing. "I guess we never got to that. Well, I live in Maine now."

His eyes widened. "Whoa, that's a long way from Miami."

"Just a little, right?"

Nodding, he gave me that Alex smile. "Where in Maine?"

"In Portland, right by the water."

He whistled. "By the water, huh? Can't take the Florida girl out of you."

"That's the truth." I laughed. "But I've only lived there for the last four years. So I still feel kind of new."

"Where were you before that?" he asked.

"I lived in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, for a long time, basically, since I got married, soon after college."

His eyes looked thoughtful. "You were married a long time."

"Mm-hmm. Twelve years. Blake was my college sweetheart. Well, we met our junior year. But once we started dating, that was it."

"That's amazing," he said.

For some reason, I found Alex easier to talk to this evening, and I had no problem telling him about my past. "Then after he died, I moved to Maine to be near my parents who moved there a while back."

"Don't they kind of have it wrong? Going from Florida to Maine?" he teased, a glimmer in his eyes. "Shouldn't it be the other way around as you get older?"

I laughed as I took another sip of my wine. "That's exactly what they say. They travel a lot in the winter, though, now that they're retired."

"You must get a lot of snow."

"So much snow. But I adore it. It's so nice to curl up inside, fire blazing, a hot beverage, writing. That's the life for me, at least when my daughter's not around. Otherwise, I'm out there freezing my butt off building snow princesses."

He burst into laughter. "Snow princesses. I love it. So tell me about this daughter of yours. She's four?"

"Four going on fourteen."

"Oh, man." Alex let out a sigh.

"Yeah. Her name's Audrey, and she is a bleepin' handful. Smart and very strong-willed. Likeevery single day, I have to pick my battles with her becauseeverythingis a battle if I let it become one."

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