I couldn’t look away from those hazel eyes that seemed to see right through me so I clumsily felt for my lemonade to take another drink and wet my suddenly bone-dry throat.

I saw that the cashier was trying to catch her attention, and failing, as we continued to look at each other. The impatient man behind her walked around her to go to the next available cashier before the friendlier mom-type holding the hand of her active toddler, and who’d been finishing up paying for their food trays said something to Harley. Harley must have finally taken notice, and then broke our shared look to smile at the cashier waiting for her.

Somehow, I felt that Harley would look at me again after she paid for her food, so I patiently kept my eyes trained at her.

I was right.

We continued to look at each other as she walked towards our table, occasionally breaking our shared look up, as she glanced around her in order to negotiate her way to us safely.

I thought I heard Sheryl asking with some concern, “… was it something that you swallowed, Aerin? You haven’t touched your food for over five minutes now.”

I struggled to swing my eyes back to Sheryl, but couldn’t, so I mumbled, “erm… umm … I …”

Harley finally made it to the table, and took a seat opposite mine, next to Sheryl. We both turned to look at Sheryl, who was saying, “…it must be the spice they used in the short ribs? Maybe you’re not used to it?”

I’m not sure but I think she was still referring to my now-neglected food. She could have been talking in Martian for all the sense the words were making to me at this moment.

Everything else around me felt like they had dissolved, and the only thing my mind could make any sense of was this ethereal creature sitting in front of me. Her beauty was breathtaking, and the healthy glow the slight even tan she sported everywhere would have been envied by every New York socialite who’d paid a fortune to salons for a look just like hers.

Those reddish lips were moving and that musical voice was saying something, “Aerin … is something wrong with your salad?”