by Alexa Land
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I swore under my breath and rushed from the room and down the stairs. Benji and an older man in a suit were standing behind the desk, and the kid said, “Hey! Good morning, Rick. This is my uncle Sy. We both want to apologize for what happened with the locks last night, and—”
I blurted, “Where’s Ryan?”
“He left about an hour ago, right after the power came back, and he asked me to let you sleep. I hope that was okay.”
“Do you have his address or phone number from the raffle?”
“No, I was only given your names.” He stuck an envelope in my hand and said, “This is a lifetime pass to The Great Escape. I gave Ryan one, too. We know we screwed up big-time, but we hope you’ll come back and see us. We really are sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I murmured, as I stuffed the envelope in my pocket. “You didn’t know that would happen. I have to go, but I’ll talk to you soon, okay?” Benji handed me my overcoat, and his uncle not-so-subtly mentioned the waiver I’d signed and suggested litigation would really just be a waste of my time.
I ended up walking home, which took over an hour. The rain had stopped, and the city sparkled in the early morning sunlight. Oakland had never looked more beautiful.
Eventually, I reached my dad’s faded, purple Victorian. I’d moved back home after Chad dumped me. It was supposed to be temporary, but over two years later, I was still there.
When I went inside, I found my father reading the paper at the kitchen table. He was dressed in striped silk pajamas, and his long dreads were neatly tied back with a red scarf. Since he normally hung out in a ratty bathrobe, all of that suggested he’d had company the night before. Dad peered at me over the top of his glasses and grinned as he said, “Judging by your starry-eyed expression and the fact that you’re getting in at eight a.m., I assume it went well.”
“It was fantastic.”
“So, are you going out with this guy again?”
“Absolutely. He’s everything I could ask for, and I think we have a real shot at building something great together.” I headed for the coffee pot and added, “I just have to find him first.”
Chapter 4
Dare asked, “How long are you going to keep this up?”
I took a sip of beer and shrugged. “As long as it takes.”
“It’s been a month and a half, and once again, Ryan’s probably not going to show up this week.”
“You don’t know that,” I said, as I arranged a couple of pencils and a little tent card on my table. All around us, O’Grady’s Pub was bustling with activity as teams gathered for the weekly trivia contest.
“There has to be another way to find this guy,” my friend said. “Assuming he even wants to be found.”
“You know I’ve tried everything I could think of. The organizers of the charity event refused to give me his phone number or address because it’s a privacy violation, and by the time I found the right coffee house through trial and error, he’d just gotten fired. His former boss wouldn’t let me bribe him for Ryan’s phone number, either.”
Dare sighed and took a drink from his pint glass before asking, “How about letting Skye and me play trivia with you? My husband’s going to be here any minute, and you’re allowed up to three people on a team.”
“Sorry, my team’s full. But you and Skye can form your own team if you want to.”
“Your team is you and an empty chair.”
“I know it seems like I’ve gone off the deep end,” I said, “but sooner or later, he’s going to show up. I just know it.”
“I’m worried about you, Rick. What if you’re setting yourself up to get hurt again?”
I told him, “I appreciate the concern, but I’m okay. In fact, I’m better than I’ve been in a very long time.”
“But what if he never shows up? What if he moved out of Oakland?”
My breath caught as I noticed pink hair moving through the crowd, and I murmured, “What if he just walked in?”
“Seriously?” Dare whipped around and scanned the room, and then he exclaimed, “Holy shit, that’s him! I’ll be at the bar. Good luck!”
My friend rushed off, and when I tried to take a sip of beer, I realized my hands were shaking. I exhaled slowly and fidgeted with the items on my table as I waited for Ryan to notice me. I had no idea if he was going to think showing up at the pub was cute or certifiable. It could easily go either way.
When he finally saw me, a huge smile spread across his face. But then, uncertainty crept in, and he approached me hesitantly and said, “Hi, Patrick.”
“Hi, Ryan. Wow, your makeup is on point.” His already beautiful features were highlighted in shades of bronze and gold, and he looked fantastic.
“Thanks. What’re you doing here?”
“It’s trivia night,” I said, as I indicated the people gathering at the other tables. “I’m glad you’re here, because our team doesn’t stand a chance without you.”
“Our team?”
I held up the little tent card. Below ‘Team Lockdown’ were two names: Ryan Sullivan and Patrick Wilson. “I’m sorry to say we’ve gone down in crushing defeat five weeks in a row, because I suck at this. But now that you’re here, I’m feeling much better about our odds.”
He asked, “How did you find this place?”
“I called every pub in Oakland and asked if they do trivia night on Wednesdays. If they said yes, I asked if they knew of a brilliant, pink-haired guy who was a trivia god, and that led me to O’Grady’s. I started to worry when you didn’t show up the last few weeks, but now here you are.”
“I hadn’t really been in the mood for games.” He glanced at me, then broke eye contact and asked, “Didn’t you read my note?”
“Of course I read it.”
“So, you know what I am.”
“Yes. I absolutely know what you are.” I gently tilted his face up with a fingertip under his chin, and when his gaze met mine, I said, “You’re the smartest, sweetest, most fascinating person I’ve ever met, Ryan, and I’d really like a second date with you.”
His eyes went wide. “But what about the thing I revealed in the letter?”
“That doesn’t change who you are.”
He studied me closely, and after a moment, he climbed onto the barstool on the other side of our little table. Then he murmured, “I should have stayed and talked about it. I‘m sorry for taking the coward’s way out.”
“You were worried about how I’d react. I get that.”
Ryan fidgeted with the items on the tabletop, just like I’d done moments before, and said, “I was surprised you asked to see me again, right before I fell asleep that night in the escape room. You were pretty clear about the fact that you were still getting over what your ex did to you, and that you weren’t ready to start dating.”
“That was fear talking. I was terrified of getting hurt again. But you know what I’m more afraid of? Missing out on something spectacular with you.”
His hands stilled, and he grinned a little. “I can’t believe you’re here. I’ve thought about you a thousand times over the past few weeks.”
“I’ve been thinking about you, too.”
He asked, “So, what do we do now?”
“Well, after you destroy the competition at trivia, I hope you’ll let me take you to dinner.”
“Okay. And then what?”
“I have no idea, but I can’t wait to find out,” I said. “It feels fantastic to be looking ahead for once, instead of looking back. But I need to know what you think about this, Ryan. Are you interested in taking a chance and seeing where it leads?”
He leaned across the table, cupped my face between his palms, and kissed me. When we broke apart, I told him, “That felt like a yes.”
His smile lit up the room, and he said, “It is.”
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The End
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Alexa Land is the author of the bestselling Firsts and Forever Series, its spin-off, The Castaways Series, and the paranormal California Obscura Series. For more by Alexa, check out her Amazon Author Page
