Play Along

“To new beginnings.”

He smiles. “To new beginnings,” he repeats

We both take a sip.

“So what do you think of Bogota?” he asks.

“It’s gorgeous.” I can’t hide my surprise. “I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this.”

“I thought this would be better for you than in Columbia itself. It seemed safer and easier for you to get your bearings.”

I smile softly as I imagine him Googling places to drop me off. “My safety isn’t your concern, but thank you.” I sip my champagne. “This is so good.” I hold my glass up to him.

“Hmm, yes it is,” he replies as he eyes the bubbling liquid in his glass.

“So you bought a suit for me?” I smirk.

He smiles bashfully. “I did.”

Our eyes are locked on each other. “It looks really good,” I whisper.

“I had to try and match my beautiful date. I had an advantage. I already knew what she was wearing.”

His beautiful date.

Oh, my.

“Well, you haven’t had a date in six years.” I smirk cheekily.

He laughs. “You caught that, did you?”

I smile. “Yes, I caught that.” I take a sip. “Why haven’t you taken a woman on a date for six years?”

He shrugs and rearranges his napkin on his lap. “I don’t know. Things haven’t gone as planned, I suppose.”

“What were the plans?”

He licks the champagne from his bottom lip and I feel my insides clench. “I just…” He hesitates as he thinks. “I just always imagined I would meet the right person and everything else would fall into place.”

“The right person?” I ask.

He nods.

“You say the word person as if you didn’t mind if it were a male or female?”

“Would it bother you if it didn’t matter to me?” he replies.

I shrug. “Not really.”

He smiles sexily as his eyes drop to my lips. “I like women, if that was the hidden question. But, you already know that.”

“And you haven’t met her? Your person.”

His eyes hold mine and he shrugs. “I had a serious girlfriend in college and then when I went into the marines it got too hard to be faithful. I was young, dumb, and full of come on different continents of the world, away from her. The stopovers became…” He pauses as he thinks of the wording. “Complicated.”

“You broke her heart?”

He nods once and I can see the remorse in his eyes.