There was a woman sitting next to Paula who looked vaguely familiar. Paula didn’t think she’d ever seen her before, though. She was very pretty, with fair skin and dark, almost black hair that was cut in a chin-length bob. She had an intriguing looking drink in front of her. It was creamy and blue.

“What is that?” Paula asked.

“It’s a Blue Hawaiian. I haven’t tried it yet. Frank said it’s like a Pina Colada. I told him I wanted a vacation drink.” She took a sip. “Oh, it’s really good!” She smiled and Paula had that same feeling again that she knew her, somehow.

“Are you on vacation?” Paula asked.

“Yes, a nice long one. I’m actually here for two months. It’s going by too fast. Are you on vacation, too?”

Paula smiled. “No, I work here, actually. I’m Paula Whitley, the general manager.”

“You’re Paula! I’m Bella and this is my sister, Julia. I went fishing with your brother on Sunday. We had so much fun.”

So, that was why she looked so familiar. Paula glanced at Hallie and saw she was chatting with Frank, the bartender. But still she lowered her voice a little. “Has anyone recognized you? I wouldn’t have known if you hadn’t told me your name. No one else on staff knows, by the way, just me and my sister Lucy that checked you in.”

“I wondered about that. You haven’t told Nick?” Bella asked.

“No. You should be the one to tell him, if you wish.”

“Thank you. It’s kind of nice that he doesn’t know, to be honest. Everything changes once people know.” A hint of sadness filled her eyes for a moment.

“Nick should be along any minute, actually.” Paula didn’t think Nick would change how he acted if he knew Bella’s true identity. But he might be disappointed that because of who she was, having a normal life and settling down somewhere outside of L.A. probably wasn’t going to happen.

“Oh, good. I want my sister to meet him.”

“Who do you want your sister to meet?” Nick said with a teasing tone. He’d walked up to the bar and neither of them had seen him coming.

“Nick, you’re here! I wanted to introduce you to my sister, Julia. She’s here for the week.”

Julia smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. Bella said you had fun fishing.”

“We did. We had a good day and caught some stripers.”

“Nick cooked it up for our dinner and it was so good,” Bella added.

Paula got Frank’s attention and Nick ordered a beer. When it came, he held it up and toasted Hallie and Paula. “To surviving Davina’s tasting.” They all clinked glasses.

“Who’s Davina?” Bella asked.