A stranger sat at her table, claiming to be her soulmate.


“Um…excuse me,” she sputtered softly, trying not to attract attention.


His eyes were the color of a blue-green ocean wave- more green than blue. His mop of dirty blonde hair and his skin were obviously sun-kissed. He didn’t waver. He held her eyes. He didn’t hesitate or look away but held her in a softly intense gaze, akin to a caress. She could feel his fingertips along the edge of her face but he hadn’t moved. It felt like a dream- or a memory…and then it was gone.


She could feel her heart racing and realized she was holding her breath. Breathe, dammit, breathe- there’s a reason you got that stupid tattoo. Breathe….and flow…like the ocean…Her heart sang while her brain admonished it. How foolish.


The stranger was, in fact, beautiful. He had a soft knowing, a deep understanding, a soft patience.

BUT- she didn’t believe in such things. People who did were desperate and lonely and took a likeness (or a fancy) to mean something it didn’t. He was probably a serial killer.


“Can I take your orders?”


“Ice cream, please.” They said in unison. Drumming and waves in her ears. Well, she was at the beach sitting at an ice cream stand/food truck. The waiter took their identical orders and retreated.

 

“I’m sorry, I really don’t know what this is all about, but I haven’t a clue as to who you are and I’m certain I’ve never seen or met you before…’, her voice trailed off as she was about to say… Sean


“Sean, my name is Sean, but I can see you already knew that.”


“You just look like a Sean is all. I didn’t, don’t, know anything about you. I don’t mean to be rude (I kind of did) but I would really prefer you try this on with someone else. I really don’t believe in what you are talking about and even if I did, I find it hard to believe that some ethereal being would plop down in front of me and announce themselves in this way.”


“Lucy.”


“Wha…what did you just call me?!”


“Lucy.”


“No one knows me by that name. No one calls me that. Where did you get that?!” Ok- NOW I was starting to freak out a bit. Breathe, breathe, breathe- fucking breathe…tingling in the nape of my neck, slowly sizzling its way down my spine. WTF


“Two double vanilla cones.” The waiter- do you call food truck servers waiters?


As I fumbled to accept my cone without fumbling, Sean produced payment, smiled at the kid-waiter, and told him to keep the change, and then boy-waiter was gone.


Impasse. I wanted to fuss, give him what-for, but I couldn’t. I certainly didn’t want to lick an ice cream in front of this man… BUT…It was an undeniably beautiful ocean-front day. Soft, warm, whirling breezes teased Sean’s hair. He maintained a relaxed, calm silence as he ate his ice cream- fully enjoying it. He had a definite boyish charm while having a continuous deep intelligence in his eyes.


I wasted more than I ate and made a huge mess. Sean came to my rescue, with quiet, soft control got water and napkins and cleaned up the mess, and me. He was washing my hands and was about to clean my mouth and chin when I caught myself. Had I been dreaming through this? We were standing, he had my chin in his fingertips, examining me when I suddenly caught his proximity and ocean eyes and jarred free. It terrified me that I had become so relaxed in his presence and that this all had felt completely normal.


I stumbled back a bit, feeling a void when I did. He caught me- strong but gentle, he had a concerned and wounded expression. I could trace in my mind, by a lingering sensation of warmth, every part of me that he had touched.


“Look. Sean (it fell out of my mouth so effortlessly), or whoever you are. I really don’t understand what is happening or going on here and this is all making me really, really, uncomfortable.” Was it though?


“I understand.” He looked like I killed his puppy. I wanted to console him, my voice softened. “I am just here on holiday, we can’t know each other. I live 10,000 miles away and this is literally me awake when I should be asleep. How did you know to call me Lucy?” Why am I being sweet to a serial killer? WTF is WRONG with me? Maybe I am desperate and lonely…


“I saw you sit down, lift and turn your face into the sun and smile to the universe. Then the name Lucy jumped into my mind, just like Sean did yours, and I knew something I’ve never known before in my life. I knew you.”


Fuck


Now I can’t tell if I’m somehow trapped in a smut novel or true crime episode. Scariest fact- I kind of didn’t care.


Fuck


What am I supposed to say to that? Then I realized I was just standing there, staring down at our hands. His strong, shapely fingers holding mine, absently rubbing the sticky spots left from the ice cream, me loving it…I don’t even know when it happened, I didn’t care because I was just absorbed in this warm peace that had spread through me.

“Oh, look at that! What a mess- please excuse me while I go wash my hands.” I stepped to the public restroom, washed my hands and splashed cold water on my flushed face, then promptly snuck away to my hotel while Sean provided directions to an elderly tourist couple.


Twelve hours of deep sleep, interjected with swirls of a series of happy family lives that I’ve never had, and children I never bore, and the persistent soft voice of Sean calling me “My Love” and asking in hurt tones why I left. That’s what I get for traveling 24 hours to burn in a climate exactly opposite to mine, when there are perfectly good beaches where I live. UGH- what a twitty dumb-ass… “Please don’t talk to yourself like that” drifted softly through my awareness…


OK- no outside today. I must have heat stroke. I’ll go shopping. Just a little. I can get something to read and hang out in the shade at the hotel pool. Yes, that is still outside…Why am I arguing with me?


I Googled bookstores, I wanted the local experience- a used book seller, not a big chain. I walked to the local shopping district. Yes, I know- still outside. It was just so damn beautiful here…I wandered up and down the aisles for hours as is my fashion. I saw every inch of that store at least 5 times. I was just enjoying the smell of old books and kept retracing my steps, unable to make myself leave.


 Seriously, how was I supposed to get all of this back with me? Just as I was about to call it a shopping day, I remembered a book I had wanted to go back for but told myself I couldn’t. What was just one more going to do at this point… It was gone. As I turn my dejected self about, a set of familiar eyes meet mine and a soft, steady hand catches me- again…


“Sean.” I say a little too loud, my pitch a little too high, and a definite feeling of butterflies and breathlessness. Fortunately, I only mentally blurted out, “I dreamed about you all night last night.”


I’m doomed