“Hello, what can I get you?” a pretty redhead with her hair slicked back in a tight bun asked with a thick German accent.
“Oh hello, I’ll have a pinot grigio, please.” I placed my phone on the bar as I waited for my wine and scrolled through Facebook. I hadn’t actively been on in months; with the exception of the travel group I had joined for solo travelers of the tour company I was using for this trip. It had been a godsend with answering questions and giving me the courage to move forward on this trip alone. I hadn’t realized that there were so many people who traveled alone. Just in our group there were five of us.
“Danke,” I said to the woman behind the bar as she placed my drink in front of me.
I was engrossed in a post from my friend Aimee when Kate took a seat next to me. “Care if I join you?” she asked.
“Oh no, not at all.” I put my phone back in my purse, happy to have some company. “How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Much better.” She ordered herself a club soda with lime, then continued. “I really passed out when we got back to the hotel, and now I’m wide awake.”
“Same here.” I lifted my glass to my lips and took a sip. “I didn’t want to even get up to come down for dinner, but now I have a second wind. I don’t know how people who travel a lot deal with this whole ‘time change’ stuff.”
“I was lucky in that respect; it was only an hour difference for me.”
“So, I’m assuming you’re from the same part of England as your brother?”
“Not too far. I work in London, so I’m a little bit closer than he is.”
“Doesn’t your brother work in London as well?”
“He does, but when his job doesn’t have him traveling the globe, he gets to work from home a lot.”
“Ah, the benefits of working remotely. It saves me from having to go into Manhattan so much.”
“I wish I had that luxury.” She stabbed the plastic stirrer into the lime in her drink. “But I suppose if I didn’t have to go into work, I’d never get out of my yoga pants.”
I gave her a one-shoulder shrug. “Is that a bad thing?” We both laughed.
“It also gives me an outlet for some adult conversation. I love my yoga pants and my baby, but sometimes it’s nice to get a little break from both.”
“Oh, you have a baby?” I creased my forehead, surprised by that news.
“I do,” she said solemnly.
“How old?”
“He just turned fourteen months.” She pulled her phone from her purse and tapped around on the screen. Her face lit up and she held her phone out to show me a photo of an auburn-haired little boy with rosy round cheeks and a huge smile.
“He’s a doll!”
“Thank you,” she whispered as she put her phone away.
In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder who was taking care of her child while she was here. Was her husband at home watching over him? Parents? I wanted to ask, but it wasn’t my business. The same way my personal life wasn’t any of hers. We were to be mere acquaintances for the next ten days and after that we would go back to our lives and never hear from each other again. So, I was perfectly fine with casual conversation. Beyond that, I didn’t really need or care to know.
“So, have you ever been to America?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation light.
“I have three times actually. Twice to New York and once to Los Angeles.”
After finishing my first glass of wine, I ordered another. Kate finished her club soda, then ordered a glass of wine as well. As the time passed, I found myself opening up to her in ways I said I wasn’t going to do. I told her about my father leaving me as a child, and how I never quite felt like I fit in with my new family, which consisted of my mother, stepfather, and the two children she had with him. I went even further by telling her how my father had come back into my life a few years ago expecting a reunion, and how I fiercely rejected him. I had shared more with her than I normally would with anyone, but my guard was still up with the most important part of my life—my marriage. That was something I wasn’t willing to speak of with anyone. I was thankful she didn’t ask, allowing me to divulge only what I chose to her. I was certain the wine was aiding in my endless chatter, but there was something about Kate that made me feel so comfortable in her presence. She divulged a little about herself to me as well. She was twenty-nine years old and a single mom. Like me, her father left when she was very young, and her mother passed away when she was fourteen. Her brother, who was nine years older than her, had stepped up and become more of a parent figure to her.
“So, is your brother married?” I asked.
“He was for nearly two years. Theo…” She blew out a breath. “I love him to death, but he’s not husband material.”
“Oh? Why’s that?” I
