The memories of that night flooded back to her on a rainy day in Elko, South Carolina. It was June 21, the first day of summer and Drew’s birthday. She’d been crying all day and couldn’t stop. That whole episode had happened only two months before, and Lexea found she was normally able to control the crying and trembling, but not today. After the incident she had hopped on the bus that was going from Portland, Maine to Elko, South Carolina; she’d been their ever since.
She couldn’t help but wonder if her father was looking for her, surely he would be. He’d be out looking for her like a wolf hunting its prey. However, she had led a discreet life in Elko. Lexea had even bought her house under a different name, Lexea Morf. She didn’t particularly like the name but she soon found it growing on her.
***

In Elko, she made a point to not conjure up small talk with anyone, not even the nicest of people. She feared someone would learn her secret and try to help. Lexea knew that nobody could help and quickly learned to keep her feelings bottled inside.
“Travis? Travis Ryan? Is that you?” Travis heard this being called loudly and he turned his head.

“Hey Brenda,” he said when he saw who was calling. Brenda was an eighty year old lady who owned the only descent restaurant in town and loved to make a scene. After all Travis was one of the youngest, most successful businessmen in America, so when people heard he was back in his hometown of Elko, South Carolina, they’d surely start talking.

He’d gone on a trip to Europe to attempt to close a deal on a new business and everyone in the small southern town was aware of this. Now he was back and he knew people would start asking questions.
“How was Europe?” Brenda asked when she walked over.
“Oh, you know,” Travis was doing this on purpose; he knew she didn’t know which was what made it funny, “the usual.”
The elderly lady whined, “Travis!”
Travis Laughed, “Okay, okay. I closed the deal!”
Brenda was dancing with joy, again, causing a scene. “And to think this is the first place you come when you get back!”
That actually wasn’t true, Travis had been in town for about a week and he made sure to keep a low profile, exactly for this reason.

Brenda finally seated him at his table and his waitress appeared. She was beautiful, even in her work outfit. She had gorgeous green eyes and stunning dark blonde hair. As she gave Travis a napkin and silverware, she introduced herself, “Hello, my name is Lexea and I’ll be your server today. Is there anything I can get you?”
Her voice was like a purring cat, it was quiet and smooth, but Travis could sense something else in it, sadness.

“Yes, could I please have a coke?” Travis asked.

She nodded and strode off. Other people might have thought that was rude, but Travis had seen everything and that was nothing in comparison.

When she came back with his coke, he thanked her. She seemed to shake subtly when she set down the glass, but it could have been his imagination. “Are you ready to order?” Lexea asked in that purring voice of hers.

“Sure, I’ll have the baby-back ribs if I could.” Travis couldn’t keep his eyes off her, no matter how hard he tried, she was breathtaking. He knew that most of the men probably felt that way, and in the twenty-four years of his life, he hadn’t seen anyone so striking. Lexea seemed sort of reticent, and that’s what interested him most of all.
On his walk home that night, in the humid air of June, he thought about her, Lexea.

Lexea sat at her kitchen table sipping the glass of wine she’d poured herself. She couldn’t stop thinking about work or, more accurately, the man she’d served at work.

When she’d arrived in town, Lexea had assumed it was a town where everybody knew everybody, and she wasn’t wrong. All night at work the employees had been talking about this man who should be coming back from Germany soon, Travis. The women had talked about how good looking he was and the men talked about how much fun he was to hang out with.

Lexea had to admit the man she’d served was very good looking with a muscular build, brown hair, and the most astounding sapphire eyes she’d ever seen. She knew he’d found her attractive but she tried her best to ignore it.

Lexea was finished with her wine and got dressed into her pajamas. While she got dressed she thought about why Travis had seemed so familiar.

Of course!

He had reminded her of Drew! Not so much in looks, though they did have the same build, but their personalities seemed almost exactly the same.

She went to bed that night thinking of the great memories her and Drew had shared.
***

For the next couple of weeks, Lexea worked and Travis came to the restaurant almost every day. What was crazy about that was she was his waitress every single time! Even though she vowed she wouldn’t make small talk, but he seemed to be her one exception. Every time he came in they’d talk more and more. Travis was also very good at knowing when Lexea wanted to talk and when she didn’t.

She was thinking about this when Travis walked in.

“Hello Travis,” Lexea said as he sat down at what she believed to be “his table.”

“Hey Lexea, how are you?”

Travis could tell she was hesitating and he didn’t push her. Finally, “I’m fine.”

All Travis did was nod as he ordered his usual, a coke and baby-back ribs.

Lexea didn’t know what to do; she was letting her guard down and she couldn’t let that happen. However, she didn’t want to keep her guard up, she wanted a friend and Travis was the closest thing she had. As she walked over to give Travis his meal, he seemed to be concentrating on something, she laughed under her breath as set down his dish, breaking his reverie.

“Will you please sit down for a second?” Travis asked her in his dulcet southern accent.

“Travis, I can’t I’m working right—“

“I’m sure Brenda won’t mind,” interrupted Travis with a wink.
Reluctantly, Lexea sat, and she could see her fellow female employees pointing, whispering, and scowling.

“Look I know you don’t want to get to know people in the town.” Travis started as Lexea stood there with her mouth agape, awestruck that he would know such a thing. “I’m just going to say it,” he took a deep breath, “can I take you to dinner tomorrow night?”

Lexea thought about it, she had said she wanted a friend hadn’t she? Did she really want to be in a relationship? Unconsciously, the words came out, “That’d be nice. Yes, I’d like that.”

“Good I’ll pick you up at seven.” He started to get up but she grabbed his arm.

“You know where I live?” She asked skeptically.

Travis tried to ignore the tingling in his arm where she was holding and reassured her, “Don’t worry,” he said soothingly, “I’ve lived her so long I know where everyone lives, after all it’s a small town.” Travis could tell that she’d calmed down and her hand slid off his arm as he walked away, waving as he went.

“Wow!” That was all that Travis could think to say when Lexea answered the door. She looked stunning in her low-cut dress that rose just above the knees. She’d also put on a beautiful set of earrings and a matching necklace to add flare.

“Too much?” Lexea asked sheepishly.

“Absolutely not!” He grinned and offered his arm. Lexea took his arm and he escorted her to the car.

After a few quiet minuets in the car Lexea broke the silence, “I was under the impression that you didn’t have a car,” she teased.

Feigning offence, Travis looked at her and said, “In a small town like this, you barely need one.” Then, with a sparkle in his eye, he added, “But this is a special occasion, I wouldn’t make you walk.”
***

At the dinner table, they talked about everything, until Travis asked the most dangerous question, one that’d been wondering around his mind like a cat in new territory, “Why did you come down here, Lexea?”

She had been looking at him but now had to look away, “Ah,” she tried to get the words out but found it impossible. Lexea began to tremble and, Travis didn’t know what to do.

“Lexea! I am so sorry! You don’t have to tell me!” He almost got up to comfort her but she held a hand up to stop him.

“You don’t have to be sorry,” her cat-like voice turning into a hollowed out monotone, “I—I need to tell someone, it’s just, I haven’t told anybody anything before.” Lexea looked away again, and dove into the painful story.

“My father was an alcoholic, and after my mom died when I was ten, it got much worse. It started with yelling, then turned into hitting.” Lexea took a shaky breath, “My brother, who is five years older than me, Drew was in the marines, six years. He came home two months ago to take me away from the awful house that I still lived in.” She took a peek at Travis, who was listening intently with his breathtaking sympathetic eyes.

“Drew had always been strong and charismatic. He always did what he believed right, and in this case he was going to talk to my dad. That night we both knew he was drinking heavily, more than usual because it was my mother’s birthday. Drew went into talk to him and before I knew it Drew had been shot. So I ran,” Lexea shrugged her delicate shoulders but couldn’t suppress the tears any longer. She started to cry, and Travis motioned for the check.

Outside of the restaurant, Travis steered Lexea to a partially hidden path among the trees. He couldn’t speak, what she’d gone through was awful. He didn’t know how to address it to make her feel better. Lucky for him, it was Lexea who broke the awkward hush that had fallen between them, “You remind me of him you know.”

Travis was completely lost, “Your father?”

“No, no,” she shook her head vigorously, “my brother Drew.” She laughed when she saw the expression on his face.

The air was stilled again, this time it was he who broke the silence, “Do you mind if I ask a question, you don’t have to answer of course,”

She shook her head, “Of course you may ask a question; I would expect you to have a few.”

He looked almost reluctant to get the words out, “Why didn’t, I mean, why didn’t you ever leave?” Travis sounded as if he was pleading with her. “Why didn’t you ever call the police and have him arrested? Why didn’t you ever get out of that dreadful place?” He couldn’t help it, he was empathizing with Lexea, and he was horrified that someone would do that to someone as kind and gentle as Lexea.

She pondered the words before answering, “I tried to leave, before I was eighteen, but he’s the chief of police and I also came from a small town, so he was basically in control over everything; he might as well have been the governor. As for all the rest of the questions, I’d been planning to live with Drew and pay for college, but then he was unexpectedly enrolled in the marines, and he loved it so he stayed.” Again she shrugged her beautifully sculpted shoulders. “I didn’t really realize how dangerous my father was and neither did Drew, not until Drew was gone did I realize I had to get out I had to leave and never look back.”

They had taken the path that led in a circle and were now getting into the car. They rode in silence—not an odd silence—pondering what was said. Lexea couldn’t believe what she’d told him, and she was extremely happy that she did. The burden was lifted off of her chest, she was no longer a secret victim and it felt great!

Arriving back at her house, Travis walked her to the door. After a moments hesitation he leaned down to kiss her.

“Lexea! Lex! Lex!” She heard her name being called with an obnoxious beeping noise in the background.

Dazed and confused she sat up. Then she saw her roommate, Alexandra. She’d been dreaming! It was all a dream! She was happy and sad at the exact same time, she should’ve known, she lived in Elko, South Carolina and went to the University of South Carolina. Her mom and brother were still very much alive and her father was the best person in the world!

She didn’t want that all to be true, she wanted Travis to be alive, to know everything about her! Trying hard not to, she began to cry. Suddenly, everything was quiet and Alexandra came rushing over to her. “Lexea, oh Lex, what’s wrong?”
***

Lexea went numbly through her classes at school; it had been such a vivid dream. A dream, she knew, she would not want to let go of.

Entering the cafeteria, she saw the familiar scene. However, she was focusing on one thing and one thing only. At one of the end tables there was a group of college boys, among those college boys sat a very familiar face; a face that was handsome and had dazzling blue eyes, a face that belonged to Travis Ryan. Travis caught her eyes and held them. Lexea thought she might’ve been going crazy, but she watched as Travis excused himself from the table of friends and started his way toward her. As remarkably as if she were in a dream, with every step he took, she felt a piece of her fall into place.