Before any of them could answer, I got up and headed across the dance floor. Three years ago, I walked away from my brothers sitting at the table and danced right there like I had no sense. I didn’t care who was watching me or what they might think of me then. That was before I noticed Kelly. Now I wasn’t going to stop to dance or to do anything else. She was the only thing in my sights, and I didn’t want to wait another second to get to her.
My heart was pounding in my chest and my palms were sweating. I had no idea what she was going to think seeing me again. When I first got that note, it didn’t even occur to me there could be anything more to it. She was leaving town. It was as simple as that. But there she was. Was it possible she had just come up with the idea of telling me she was leaving town so she could slip out of the house and not have to face me in the morning? Maybe I’d walk up to her and she’d be upset I was there.
That wasn’t exactly the most pleasant thought, but I couldn’t let it stop me. I’d been thinking about her for three years, and I wasn’t going to walk away without talking to her just because I didn’t know how she was going to react. I took a few deep breaths to settle my nerves and slid onto the stool beside her.
“Fancy meeting you here,” I said.
I was proud of how strong my voice sounded, how the words came out sounding steady and confident. Kelly, on the other hand, looked shocked as hell. Her big blue eyes snapped to me, and her mouth fell slightly open. Like everything else, the surprise looked good on her.
“Oh, my… Darren. I can’t believe you’re actually here,” she said.
I looked around and glanced back at the table overflowing with my friends and family.
“It’s tradition,” I told her. “Plus, my brother is friends with the owner, and we come here pretty often.”
Just as I said it, I noticed Lindsey coming toward us. The owner of the bar would probably surprise most people. A bar this old and rowdy seemed like it would be owned by a grizzled man who’d spent decades in it. That used to be the case, but a couple of years back, he’d passed it along to his daughter, Lindsey. She was a family friend, but particularly friendly with my brother Nick.
“Hi there, Darren,” she said. “Having a good night?”
“Hey, Lindsey,” I said. I looked at Kelly and gestured at her. “This is Kelly. Kelly, this is Lindsey. She owns the bar.”
“Nice to meet you,” Lindsey said, her eyes moving up and down Kelly as she sized her up.
There was a gleam in those eyes that told me she hadn’t come over here on her own volition. Nick would be hearing all the details about this.
“Can I get some nachos, Lindsey?” I asked, wanting to end the slightly uncomfortable standoff.
“Absolutely. You’re the birthday boy,” she said. “Coming right up.”
She walked away, and when we were alone again, I turned back to Kelly.
“You’re back,” I said. “I think.”
“You think?” she asked, and then she seemed to realize what I was saying. “You think I was lying when I left that note for you?”
“I don’t want to think you were,” I said.
This might be already going downhill. Maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words. Kelly stared at me for a second, and then her shoulders dropped just slightly, and she shook her head.
“I wasn’t. I really did have to leave the next morning. My twin sister and I were only visiting Charlotte for a short time, and that was the day we were set to go home to Canada,” she told me.
That was the accent. I’d never been able to place it but could only remember her voice was so soft and lovely. And now I knew why.
“What brings you back now?” I asked.
“To Charlotte or to this bar?” she asked with a slight smile.
“I mean, both, but we’ll start with the bar. Why did you come here specifically?” I asked.
I didn’t see any of the friends who she was with the night we’d met. In fact, it seemed she was completely alone. Kelly looked at the bottle of beer she held between her hands, and a faint smile came to her lips.
“To toast you,” she answered.
Now it was my turn to be shocked. And a bit confused.
“To toast me?” I asked.
She nodded. “For the last three years, I’ve had a drink for you on your birthday. This year, since I was back in town, I figured why not come back to the bar that started it all. You didn’t seem terribly comfortable here then, so I didn’t think you would actually come back. Not for your birthday, anyway.”
I wanted to ask so many questions. There was so much to unpack about what she’d just said. On one hand she said she had a drink for me every year on my birthday and had come back to this bar because it was where we’d met, but she also made it a point to say she didn’t think I would come back here. What could she mean by that? I wanted to dig into it, but I heard my name from the other side of the bar.
I look back to the table and saw my buddy Colby leaning toward me, gesturing for me to come back. A devotee of CrossFit, he looked somewhat out of place with a beer in one hand and half a massive burger in the other. But he was having a good time, and the truth was he was there for me. They were in the midst of celebrating my birthday without me, and I couldn’t get away with just ignoring them. I waved at him to let him know I would be there in a
