The Swan and The Sergeant - Alana Albertson Page 0,35

we be guided by our ancestors. As one of my spiritual teachers once told me, ‘When you do what you fear most, then you can do anything.’”

A breathtaking view of the Golden Gate, Bay, and Richmond bridges wowed me as we toasted.

I glanced at Bret and was thrilled that he wasn’t even making a face to Robyn’s New Age toast.

I raised my glass higher. “I’ll drink to that.”

“Cheers.”

Before I could sip my champagne, Bret pulled me toward him. His mouth covered mine, and when our tongues touched, the taste of him made my body throb. Was this really happening? Ten years later, I was kissing my first love. The girl inside me squealed, the woman inside me hungered for me.

“Yeah!” Xavier exclaimed.

Robyn put her hands in a prayer position and nodded.

I looked up at Bret. “What was that for?”

“I waited ten years to kiss you again, Sel. I didn’t want to wait any longer.”

We kissed again as the fog crept higher on the world’s most beautiful bridges.

Bret

Kissing Selena was even better than I imagined and remembered. I couldn’t wait to get her alone.

I proposed a weekend getaway to the wine country. And Selena readily accepted.

After checking in and dropping Banjo in the hotel room, we pulled up to Mustards Grill in Napa. My father had often taken me here when I was a boy. It was my favorite restaurant—just good, hearty, all-American food without a hint of pretension.

The drive over had been pleasant. Selena now placed her hand on my leg while I drove, but we still hadn’t had the difficult conversation. We had a deep history. But could we have a future? We were so different. For now, I was enjoying being close to her.

“Bret, I love this place. So rustic. What are you having?”

“The calamari and the hangar steak. And a beer. You?”

Selena perused the menu. “A burger sounds good. I’ll have the mushroom and spinach burger.”

I laughed. “You realize that’s not actually a burger, right? It’s made out of vegetables.”

“Oh, I know. I just haven’t eaten meat in, like, five years.”

I sighed. A vision of future dinners made with tofu and tempeh flashed before me. I loved to barbeque chicken, ribs, hot dogs, and burgers with my buddies. But I could be convinced to throw some zucchini on the grill to make her happy.

A waitress stopped by the table and took our orders. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Selena, but if she recognized her, she didn’t let on.

We made plans for the weekend. I wanted to take a long bike ride the next morning. Selena wanted to book a couple’s massage in the afternoon, which I agreed to as long as I had a female masseuse. I didn’t want some dude rubbing his hands all over me.

The waitress delivered the calamari and Selena’s salad, with dressing on the side.

I pierced a crunchy calamari ring with my fork and watched as Selena dipped her fork first into the dressing and then scooped up a piece of lettuce.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, it’s a diet trick Vika taught me. Instead of pouring the dressing on your salad, you just dip your fork before every bite.”

I shook my head. “You realize how weird you are, right? You weigh barely a buck, and you don’t have an ounce of fat on your body. How is a little dressing going to hurt you?”

Selena dipped her fork again. “It’s not that simple. Everything shows in the costumes. I just want to be careful. And I ate a bit too much last night with Dima. I was nervous.”

“Well, I think you’re too skinny. Live a little. Pour that dressing all over your salad.”

She looked up at me and smiled. She picked up the little dressing dish and saturated her salad with blue cheese. Her fork scooped up the now soppy greens, and she stuffed them in her mouth. “You’re right, it tastes so much better this way.”

I laughed.

Selena’s eyes scanned the room. Her voice lowered, “Bret, I have to tell you one more thing. About why I broke up with you.”

I exhaled. Though I had asked about this the other day, I had come to realize that we were both so young that it didn’t matter. I didn’t want her to tell me something that would anger me and make me doubt her now. “It’s the past, Selena. I know we were really young. Let’s just try to move on.”

Selena bit her lip. “But I just really need to tell you what happened.”

The