The Meeting Point by Olivia Lara

Twenty-Seven

It takes me minutes to recover. I don’t know why, but I just… I thought that it might be him. How incredible would it be if I randomly find him on my first day here?

But I don’t know if it’s him, and I can’t do this to myself whenever I see a Lift driver. I’m sure there’s more than one in Carmel.

There’s no sign of Ethan’s twin, Celine, so I have to come up with a plan. Another plan.

The line calms down after a while, and I make my way to the press shelf to see if they have any local papers. Maybe, I don’t know, maybe there’s something in there about him. An event, a reading, or whatever it is that authors do. A party I could go to, uninvited. I chuckle to myself. Where are these crazy thoughts coming from?

The server stops by to ask if I need anything else and if I’m enjoying the food, just as I’m closing the second magazine. Nothing about him in either of them.

And just as I’m telling her I’m all set and wonder if I should ask about the owner and how to do it, I hear a man calling out, “Celine!”

My head snaps in the direction of the voice.

The server turns too. “Just give me a minute, Hugo,” she says, and then turning to me with a big smile on her face, “Duty calls.”

My face drops. She’s Celine. She’s Ethan’s twin sister. My God, she looks fantastic for thirty-three. I look old compared to her.

I met her last year and I didn’t know who she was. Funny if not ironic. I study her, trying to find similarities with the man in the photo. She’s tall, slender and has light brown hair with sandy highlights, and light brown-amber eyes. She’s very pretty. He probably has brown eyes too and that short hair in the photo is most surely brown. So, I guess they do look alike.

As the fascination fades, I’m left with the question—now what? Should I ask about her brother? And how? If I tell her the truth, it might not go well. If I say I’m a fan, it won’t help because I doubt she’ll offer any information about Ethan. She seems nice, and I don’t want to lie to her, but I don’t know what to do. I should’ve thought about all these things before I came. I get that I went from never doing anything in the spur of the moment to doing everything in the spur of the moment, but this is simply stupid.

I text Alisa and tell her Ethan’s sister is the woman I met last year. Fate, Alisa texts back.

Sure. Yes. Delayed fate, but still counts.

So, did you find out anything from her?

I don’t know how to ask.

I don’t know Miss ‘I’m on a mission’. Is the sister friendly? Just chat her up.

Me and chatting someone up.

You can do it. Didn’t you say you’re a different person in Carmel? Be that person!

I bought his earlier books. What if I put one on the table? Maybe she’ll say something.

You might as well just call yourself his biggest fan and beg for an autograph.

Very helpful,I say.

Yes, priceless. Now go talk to her.

Talk to her about what? Hey, how’s your brother? Still writing books? You know where I could find him? There’s some stuff we need to talk about.

Nope, not going to happen.