“When did this place open up?” I asked, staring into my drink. As I waited for an answer, I ran my finger along the rim of the glass, feeling the soft vibration crawl under my skin.

“Hmm?” Dahlia answered, her voice distant.

“I said, when did this place open up? It wasn’t here while we were in high school.” I turned in my seat to face her, thinking that maybe she couldn’t hear me over the obnoxiously loud hipster music blaring from the speakers. I would have thought Pit Bull would have gone out of style by now, but I guess some things never change.

“Oh!” She finally snapped back to reality.

“What was that about?” I raised an eyebrow in her direction, wondering what had distracted her.

“Nothing.” She swiveled in her chair, facing the bar once more.

“Let me guess, you spotted some hot guy in skinny jeans and a beanie?” I teased.

Her lips pressed into a tight line at my comment. Dahlia could get so easily offended sometimes.

We were quiet for a moment as we both contemplated our drinks. I sighed, taking a sip of mine, savoring the warmth that traveled down my throat. The aftertaste of cranberry lingered in my mouth.

“Would you like another?” the bartender asked.

“I’m good, thanks.” I smiled at him, swirling around the ice in my glass. I looked around. The room was full of people decidedly under the age of twenty-five. “When did we become so old, Dahlia?”

“Old?” Dahlia perked up at my question. “Who says we’re old?”

“Look around. Most of the people in this place are probably twenty-one. Twenty-two at best. I’m almost thirty.” The word sounded vile, like some sort of profanity my mother would chastise me for using.

Not that it was old. It wasn’t at all, really. It’s just that I’d imagined a life here for myself — a big family. A home, even if it was a modest one. And Braden. I’d imagined him, too. In every fantasy for the past ten years, I’d been with him.

It made me feel old.

Leaving this town hadn’t been the solution I’d thought it would be. And here I was, right back where I started.

I couldn’t help wondering when I’d see him again. If I’d be able to resist.

Dahlia shrugged. “So, what? You haven’t aged a day since you were twenty-five, Adele. I don’t know how you do it, but I’d like to know your secret.”

I rolled my eyes, trying to shake off the impending sense of melancholy. “You’re just flattering me. I certainly didn’t have crow’s feet when I left.”

“You know, we came here so we could catch up. You haven’t told me anything about what happened to you overseas. How was it? Did you see anything gruesome? Did you fall in love with a dying soldier and nurse him back to health? Any star-crossed lovers on the other side of the battlefield?”

I sighed and pursed my lips. “You’ve been watching one too many Hollywood war movies. None of that really happens.”

“So, what? You just bandaged gunshot wounds all day long?”

“Pretty much,” I said. I’d be lying if I didn’t think about some of those things before I left. But being a medic in the military was much more mundane. I left romance behind at home, along with all of my plans for a real family.

There had been dates. A few brief relationships. But no one I could see a life with — not a real one.

“Well, I guess that could be interesting.” Dahlia paused, and then she laughed, giving up. “I mean not really.”

“No, not really,” I said. “It was okay. The military is paying for vet school, so I can’t complain too much. It was my master plan.”

“Your master plan used to involve a certain someone and a million of his babies.” She winked at me, and I punched her in the arm.

“Yeah, back then I thought a lot of things,” I said, a defensive tone creeping into my voice. “Right now, I’ve got to get through vet school. ”

“What? But that could take years! Don’t tell me you’re going to stay single all that time.” Dahlia frowned.

“I don’t know…” I bit my bottom lip in hesitation. “I’d rather get my life in order before I start messing around with a relationship. I want a kid — but — jeez, Dahlia. I really don’t want to talk about this. This is our first night out since I got home. Your first night having a babysitter in — how long?”

“Look, I know you, Adele.” My sister gave me her best drunk-serious look. “You want kids. You want to settle down. You also want to be a vet. You can do it all.”

“Not like there are men lining up to play baby daddy,” I said.

“Speaking of which, have you talked to Braden since getting back? Mr. One Million babies? I think he might be wanting to line up—”

I nearly choked on my drink. His name alone was enough to bring back a slew of memories. The night of graduation. The fight. My stupid morals, his ridiculous need to keep me away from his family. We were both so wrong. Yet he always felt so right.

“Is he still in town?” I asked nonchalantly.

“Oh, yes. He’s one of the local firemen. I haven’t seen him in a while, though. Usually, he’s cooped up in his ranch. I never thought he’d be such a hermit.” As she explained this, she jumped off her stool, fixing her skirt. “I do know he’d like to see you.”

“Where are you going?”

“To the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” She snatched her purse and scampered toward the back of the bar.

The neon sign that spelled out ‘The Dive’ flickered ominously. Such a stupid name for a bar, especially when most of the décor consisted of blank picture frames and quasi-hunting trophies. Hipsters sure did have a strange sense of style. Not that I was complaining. At least the booze was good…

I was about to take another sip when I realized that my glass was empty. My cheeks were already warm. I knew I shouldn’t have another.

Wanting to occupy myself until my sister came back, I turned slowly, surveying the crowd. For the most part, people were engaged in light conversation. A few girls were leaning into their counterparts, trying to score a free drink or two. The men, of course, drank it all up, their eyes wandering over their curves with obvious hunger.

A pang of desire flared inside of me. How long had it been?

Just then, someone walked through the doors. The overhead bell chimed with a soft twinkle of sound.

The second I saw him, my heart skipped a beat.

No. It couldn’t be him. Could it?

Our eyes locked.

My breath hitched in my throat.

Braden.

Of course he would show up. Just my luck. Then again, this was the only bar in town. It was almost guaranteed that I would run into someone I knew: I just didn’t expect it to be him.

He smiled at me, his blue eyes blazing.

I don’t know how it was possible, but somehow, he had become even more attractive. His shoulders were broad, his physique well-toned. Had he gotten taller? The subtle five-o’clock shadow suited him well, softening the hard edge of his jaw.

I tried to be subtle in my staring, but I knew I was doing a horrible job of it. I just couldn’t look away.

“Hey, I’m back.” Dahlia tapped me on the shoulder. “You ready to go home?”

“Um, actually… I think I’m going to have another drink.”

“Really?” She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “I was under the impression you were done drinking with all these young kids.”

I proved my point by beckoning over the bartender. He placed a fresh drink in front of me.

“Are you alright? You’re acting strange and your face is all red.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” I tried to play it cool, but all I could think about was Braden. I could feel his eyes burning a hole into the back of my head.

“Adele. Girl, come on.”

“What?” I could feel my cheeks grow even redder.

“What happened while I was in the bathroom?”

“Nothing happened.”

“I know you’re lying.”

“Shut up.” I took the tiny red straw between my lips, thinking the alcohol would calm me down. I couldn’t understand why my old high school boyfriend was having such an effect on me. I hadn’t seen him in almost ten years.

“And now you’re sipping your drink through a straw? There’s definitely something wrong with you.” She placed her hand on my forehead. “You’re burning up.”

I swatted her hand away. “I’m not one of your first-graders. You don’t have to take my temperature.”

“Then tell me what on Earth is going on.”

I sighed. “Fine. To the left.”

She immediately craned her neck, trying to see past me.

“Not so conspicuously! Jeez.”

She giggled, a mischievous glint in her eye as she stood on the rungs of her stool, hoisting herself above the crowd.

“Dahlia!” I tugged her down. Leave it to my baby sister to make a scene.

“Was that Braden?” she cooed, a bright smile on her face. “Did you guys make out or something while I was gone?”

“No!”

“Then, why are you smiling like that?”

“We just… Looked at each other.”

“And that made you all bashful?” she asked, unconvinced.

Well, I wasn’t about to tell her that the mere sight of him had stirred up a slew of fantasies, most of which were on the naughtier side. I couldn’t help it. He was drop-dead gorgeous and had always reeked of sex, and I was attracted to him. It wasn’t my fault that my mind had already undressed him ten times over, trying to imagine what he was hiding under that tight t-shirt of his.

I’d returned to those fantasies dozens of times while I was away. I had skimmed over the parts about how we left things. I’d pushed away that fight that ended everything.

And right then, under the veil of alcohol, the fight was increasingly hard to remember. All I remembered was the way he smelled, the musk of his skin. The tight, sinewy grip of his muscles.

“Well, are you going to talk to him?”

“Are you kidding?” I snapped, coming back to reality. “After what he did to me?”

“Do you even remember why you two broke up?”

“Of course I do. How could I forget?”

“Alright, so why did you?”

“You know why,” I shot back, my voice taking on a sharp edge. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have.

“If you ask me, you two should bury the hatchet and start fresh.”

I sighed. Maybe she was right.

But, then again, I didn’t know if I could forgive him. Braden had been dishonest with me and once you break my trust, it’s not easy to get it back. Still, we were just kids. Did we really know what we were doing?

These thoughts swirled around my head like an angry vortex as I struggled to make sense of them.

Thud, thud, thud.

Heavy footsteps headed our way. I looked up to find a brick-wall of a man standing right in front of me. He smirked as he leaned onto the counter. “Can I offer to buy you ladies a couple of drinks?” he asked, his speech slurred and his breath putrid with the stench of booze.

“No thanks,” I answered politely. “We were just going home.”

I slid off my seat and started for the exit, but before I could make much leeway, he grabbed me by the arm and reeled me into his body. “Oh, come on baby, don’t be like that,” he whispered into my ear as his beefy arms wrapped around me like a vice, threatening to snap me in half.

“Let go of me!”

“I just want a little kiss. What do you say, baby? Can you do that for me?” His lips approached mine.

The urge to vomit stirred in my stomach.

“Let go of her, you big brute!” Dahlia hit him with her purse, but to no avail. “She already said no!”

He growled, like some sort of aggressive dog. “Stay out of this, you little bitch.”

Dahlia gasped, her face growing red with anger.

Suddenly, I sunk my teeth into his arm.

He howled in pain and stumbled backward. “Now, why did you have to do that?” His beady eyes darkened with malice. “I just wanted to buy you a drink, but now, you’ve made me angry.” He advanced toward us, his fists clenching and unclenching by his side.

I stepped back, trying to maintain my distance. “Look, I don’t want any trouble.” I tried to reason with him, but I should have known better. There was no reasoning with a horny drunk man.

“Is this man bothering you two?” A deep, husky voice rang out in the dark of the bar.

My eyes widened when I saw Braden standing there. Even though he was tall and well built, he was dwarfed by the man that stood before him.

“Who the hell are you?”

Braden just smiled a knowing smile before he wound up a punch, letting it fly toward the man’s face. His attack was so quick that I barely saw it happening. One second, the brute was standing there and the next, he had collapsed into a heap on the ground.

I watched in disbelief, my jaw practically hanging agape.

“Come on, let’s get you two out of here.” The second Braden hooked his arm with mine, it was like my whole body exploded with a surge of energy. After the initial shockwave, it shimmered under my skin, reached every nerve ending until the colors of the world became brighter and the air sweeter.

Our eyes locked once more and for a second, it felt like the whole world had come to a screeching halt. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“Don’t mention it.” Gently, he pinned a strand of my hair behind my ear, his fingers lingering on my cheek.

I found myself leaning into him, my heart pounding in my chest.

After all these years, he still made me feel the same way. It was as if we were still in high school.

The fight was gone, forgotten.

I tried to focus on it for a moment — the yelling, the insults hurled back and forth. The harsh words I’d held onto for years and years.

But instead, I focused on Braden’s eyes. The curve of his full lips, the long line of his jaw.

And just like that, I was back where I was all those years ago.

In his arms, about to make a fool of myself.

I guess some things never change.