MANifesting

“Um, maybe fruit? And a little chocolate or caramel.”

“Exactly. Now compare that to regular beer.”

I shook my head. “No way. Those other beers tasted like corn and pine and chemicals compared to this.”

Kellan took another sip, then leaned in to kiss my cheek. “It’s worth the wait and the trouble to find something amazing, isn’t it?”

Sliding my skin against his palm, I nodded. “Yes.”

He leaned in to kiss the tip of my nose, then sat back. We sipped the incredible beer, but I pushed my glass toward him after I had a little more.

Kellan peppered me with questions about my job, and the things I’d like to do. He was clearly interested in my entire life.

I learned more about him, and how much he loved running three bars. And about his brother, who apparently had a wife that sounded like a piece of work.

“Do you believe in the concept that the right person arrives for us at the right time?” I asked.

Kellan made a pinched face while shaking his head. “I don’t think so. Not in the great cosmic perfect person sense. People come and go, and we need to find the people we really click with. The problem is, they’re sometimes hard to recognize.”

“What do you mean?”

His forearm leaned on the table, and I saw another curl of ink peeking out of his shirt sleeve. “My brother Dale had all the potential in the world, and he threw it away for the first woman he fell in love with.”

“And you don’t think she’s right for him?” I asked.

“I really, truly don’t. She bosses him around. Constantly controlling him. She just wants a husband and provider, and doesn’t care about any of his dreams.”

“Did you ever specifically ask him what his dreams were? I mean, people have all kinds of wild ideas when they’re young. People change.”

“He wanted to go into medicine so that he could help people,” Kellan said sadly. “Do people really change that much?”

I thought. “Sometimes. Maybe he realized the impossible hours weren’t for him. Or that he couldn’t stand the sight of blood.”

He chuckled. “I hear what you’re saying, but his life changed on a dime when he met Cheryl. It was instantaneous.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s a bad sign.”

“What’s a good sign?” he asked me. “I think it’s a great sign that we met at a singles event without being at the event itself.”

I don’t think I’ve ever giggled so much around another person in my life, and hope that he didn’t think I was ditzy. “I wasn’t supposed to really meet anyone that night,” I admitted. “It was supposed to be sort of a pre-date, icebreaker situation.”

Kellan took my hand on the table. “Why? Are you one of those super anxious girls who need to take things in baby steps?”

My breath stopped as my body froze. But I forced myself to look up at him and nod. He might as well know the truth now.

“Geez, Allie, I’m so sorry,” he said, sipping the last of the beer from both glasses and setting them aside on a tray. “And here I have you down in the basement with a strange guy. I didn’t even think. I just wanted to talk with you somewhere quiet.”

He led me back upstairs, and I wasn’t sure whether I was relieved or not. I’d really enjoyed being so close to him, even though it did make me a little nervous.

“Have a great night, Jackie,” he called out, giving the bartender a wave.

As we stepped out onto the street, he took my hand automatically. He began to laugh at himself, shaking his head.

“Someday, I’m going to come to pick you up, and I’ll have another woman’s lipstick on my collar or neck. Trust me when I say it’s just Jackie. She’s a big hugger, but she also tackles me out of the way sometimes behind the bar. We’re really close friends.”

“She seems cool,” I said. Honestly, the thought of being jealous had never even occurred to me.

“May I walk you home? How far is it?”