“Do you want to sit inside or outside?” she asked. The parking lot was only half full which meant that the beach wasn’t too crowded and they were in between crowds at the restaurant. The swelling afternoon was beautiful and full of promise.
Evan shrugged nonchalantly, a smile hugging his cheeks. “Whichever you prefer,” he accommodated.
“Inside it is.” The Boathouse looked like nothing more than a great shack on the beach, but was anything but haggard. Inside it was contemporary with bright natural lighting, a great blue couch that wrapped around a wall with enormous glass windows looking out on a small strip of sand and the expanse of the Pacific, the Channel Islands languishing out in the distance. An outside deck accommodated more than a dozen tables, while a wall of half-cement, half-glass shielded guests from wind and sand.
Two young girls stood at a podium at the entrance to the outside dining area, one giving directions on the phone while the second greeted Zoe and Evan with a cheerful smile.
“Welcome to the Boathouse!” she greeted.
“Hi. Two for inside please,” Zoe replied.
“Sure! Follow me.” She walked them by a fully-stocked bar just inside the entrance and placed their menus on a table against the floor-to-ceiling glass wall. Zoe sat on the blue couch while Evan sat across from her and the uninterrupted view of the beach and ocean.
“More islands?” he asked as he looked out over her shoulder to the view.
Zoe glanced back and nodded. “Same islands.” They didn’t need to talk about that. When she looked up again Evan was looking right at her and a small wave of uneasiness rippled in her chest. She wasn’t used to such direct attention from anyone, let alone a perfectly handsome man who had taken her around the world.
“So,” she started, hoping to stomp down the uneasiness. “You have a sister.”
His eyes rolled and he nodded in confirmation. “Sorry if she made you feel uncomfortable. She has a habit of being very forthcoming.”
Zoe shrugged. “She seemed nice enough. It’s a shame she was unable to join us.”
“I wasn’t expecting her to show up in my hotel room this morning, Or at all for that matter. I guess I’ve lost track of how long I’ve been here.”
A young waiter approached and welcomed them to the restaurant before pointing out the special of the day on the menu. He left and returned a short while later with a pitcher of water, pouring them each a glass as he asked for their order.
“Can I get a cross between the California Benedict and the Smoked Salmon Benedict, but substitute the salmon for crab cakes?”
“You got it And for you, Sir?”
“I’ll have the Dungeness Omelet,” Evan ordered.
“Very good. I’ll be back shortly.”
“That’s really delicious, by the way,” Zoe exclaimed. “Anything they make with crab cakes is delicious.” Oh dear, please don’t babble, she chided herself.
“You sure have an enthusiasm for food,” he mused, a wide smile brightening his face.
“Do I? I think I just find things that I like and then never order anything else. I like consistency.”
“So you go out to eat a lot?” he asked before taking a sip of water.
“Not every day but probably more than most people. I can’t cook so sometimes it’s a choice between nibbling on whatever is in my fridge or going out. Anyway, we were talking about your sister,” she reminded, hoping to steer the conversation away from her babbling. “How long has it been since you last saw her?”
Evan leaned back in his seat and expelled a breath of air. “I’m not exactly sure. Maybe a few weeks by your time. Time is measured differently where I’m from.”
It was difficult for her to fathom time moving any other way than what was natural to her. “Different how?” she asked.
“Here time is broken down into minutes, hours, decades, and so on and so forth. Back home it is generational. Our measurements are more abstract. A single lifetime in Terra can be hundreds of years here on Earth.”
She shook her head incomprehensibly. “If that’s so then how old does that make you? If you don’t mind me asking?” she added the last part as an afterthought.
His smile never once faltered. Maybe he found humor in explaining the differences between the two worlds to her?
“How old do you think I am?”
Zoe arched an eyebrow and sat back against the cool blue cushion of the couch. “You don’t look more than thirty.”
Evan nodded appreciatively at her assessment. “I suppose if I were from here that’s about how old I would be, give or take a year. There really isn’t an equation in which to convert Terra into Earth.”