The summer was at its peak, the days were hot, the nights along the coast were cool, and the nightlife was at it's craziest this time of the year, especially on weekends in the small beach community of Driftwood. New bands were performing and their sound was coming in and out of the small pubs and bars that lined the streets near the beaches. This Saturday night, the music throbbed as Amanda Michelsen passed the doorways, most of them a variation of country or rock and sometimes a jazz sound would emerge and vibrate the windows near where she walked.
She'd been hanging out at the beach for the summer, even renting a cottage a block away from the sand so she could attempt to get her head together after "the disappearance" as she came to call it with a man that disappeared from her life with no explanation. Mark Waters was just gone after they'd spent three years together. The day of his disappearance, she called the police to make sure that he was all right, so they entered his house one day to find no signs of foul play and nothing out of the ordinary except that he left everything there! His credit cards, identification, and as far as she could tell even his clothes! His truck was still parked outside and his boat was still in its slip along the back of the house, so he didn't go sailing or driving anywhere.
Amanda called his parents, but that proved fruitless as well. They hadn't heard from him either. Of course she tried his office, he was the head of the advertising department at a local television station, but they didn't have any explanation either for his disappearance. They even ran a news story about him. So he was officially listed as a "Missing Person" and the station hired someone to replace him after a few weeks. The story went cold there too. All the calls that came in saying he was seen somewhere, turned out to be a hoax or in error.
She still had her job working for another local station, not in any high-tech job or even one that was glamorous, but receptionist do get to meet a lot of interesting people and Mark was one of those people! Those memories of their first date flooded back to her as she realized that one of the country bands in a bar nearby was playing "the song" that became his and hers. Her footsteps on the sandy sidewalk slowed and stopped as the song continued to blare from the open door of the bar.
She leaned over and took one of her red pumps off to eject some sand that had found it's way into the shoe, probably through the open toe. It felt like a boulder was in there! Amanda hadn't intended to actually go to this particular place tonight, but was dressed for more of a party atmosphere in her red pumps, red butt hugging jeans, and white peasant girl crop top. It exposed a lot of cleavage and it allowed her to show her dangly navel piercing jewelry. After leaving work, the night before, she had time to get her nails done, long and red, and even had her roots lightened to match the rest of her long blond hair that was genetically a mousy brown. She was a couple of months after her 26th birthday and knew things had to change, and tonight was the night.
After getting the boulder out of her shoe, the song still played. She leaned up with her back against the wall and closed her eyes. She struggled with emotion and told herself not to cry. She needed to change directions! She had to stop being torn apart each time something reminded her about him! It had been 21 months, 10 days and some hours and minutes since she'd seen him last. She hadn't been touched by someone in almost a two year period. Tonight seemed a great night to put it behind her!
She still wanted to keep Mark. But she knew she had to purge him from her as well. So she took a deep breath, and walked into the country bar and immediately felt like a milk bucket under a bull. Everyone had a cowboy hat on but her. Everyone had on western wear but her. Worse yet, everyone had on cowboy boots except her. But she didn't break her stride as she went to slide onto a bar stool. A number of guys stopped what they were doing and took a good long look as she made her way to her perch.
