“My parents passed away too. I know how hard it can be.”
“I’m sorry,” I say and it feels like we’re connected in that moment.
“Thanks. Losing them is part of why I decided to finally do this actually.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, I always said that I was going to have an adventure but then I got so busy with work that I kept putting it off.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a writer. My parents were both writers too.”
“Hmm.”
“What?” He asks, leaning on the table again and almost upending the whole thing when he puts too much weight on it.
“I can’t see you as a writer. You seem like you have to much energy to sit still for that long.”
“So what do you see me doing? Lumberjack? Construction worker?”
“God no! Something with padding and no sharp edges. You’d die on a construction site. You’re way too clumsy.”
He laughs with me and our waitress brings over our food. We both dig in and I moan at the first savory bite. I look up to see Owen staring at me. He swallows hard and gives me a smile but it looks a little forced.
“Is your food okay?” I ask, growing concerned.
“Yeah, it’s great,” he says, clearing his throat and digging into his own food.
We eat in silence for a bit until we’ve both made a pretty good dent in our food. That’s when I ask the question that’s been on my mind this whole time.
“What adventure are you going to have then?”
“I’m going to find buried treasure.”
7
Owen
“Buried treasure?”She asks, looking at me like I might be crazy.
“Yeah.”
“Why treasure?”
“I’ve always wanted to explore sunken ships, bring up something from the ocean floor that’s been forgotten or lost.”
She’s quiet for a minute, chewing her bite of shrimp while she thinks.
“I know some treasure hunters. It’s a pretty hard life,” she warns.
“I don’t want to do it for life. Just once. I love writing and I’m good at it. I just got tired of writing about adventures instead of having any of my own, ya know?”
“Yeah,” she says quietly
“Come with me!” I say, growing excited about the idea.
“Um, what?”