I look up at the price list on the wall. I can afford it for three nights; four, if I don’t eat anything. That should be fine; I doubt I’ll need more time.

“Good evening. I was wondering if you have a room. Three nights for now, but it might be more; I won’t know until tomorrow.”

“I have good news and bad news,” she says. “We do have a room, but only for two nights. We have two large groups of tourists arriving Tuesday. The madness started on Memorial Day and it won’t stop until Labor Day.”

Not exactly what I want to hear, but at least I have a place to sleep for now. I’ll have to go around town tomorrow and find other options.

“That’s fine,” I say. “I’ll take it.”

I give her my ID and my credit card and after a few short minutes, she gives me a key. Room number 7.

“Are you on vacation?” she asks. “Will anyone be joining you?”

“No. It’s just me,” I say.

I’m not comfortable talking to strangers. I try not to come off as unpleasant or too good for chats, but it’s just who I am. I guess that’s why I hold on so tight when I do get close to someone. Because it’s hard for me to warm up to people and let them in. It’s strange, if I think about it, given my profession in the last five years. As a journalist, you have to talk to a lot of folks. But that’s just a job, not real life.

It was one of the things that struck me last year, when I arrived in Carmel. How quickly I became comfortable smiling at and talking to strangers all throughout that day. Almost as if someone else inhabited my body or I had left all my insecurities and inhibitions at the airport, and a different Maya boarded the bus.

The most surprising of all, was how lightning fast I became familiar with Max, talking to him about anything and everything. How easily I let him in. Maybe it’s because we only texted. I don’t think I would’ve ever been that open and flirty or agreed to meet him in real life.

I’ve thought about it many times, wondering if I would’ve gone through with it if David hadn’t shown up. Maybe I would’ve chickened out anyway or hid somewhere to see what he looked like and then left. I don’t know. My behavior that day was so out of character, it still haunts me. Anything could’ve happened, but I didn’t see the dangers of it. I only saw the excitement, the adventure. I do remember I was happy. Although alone in a new place, I was so absorbed by my surroundings and my growing fascination with him, that I let down my guard and didn’t put up the walls I usually surround myself with. I was so curious about how that text ‘relationship’ would translate into real life. It’s maybe because I’ve never hit it off with someone so quickly, someone with a similar—albeit quirky—sense of humor, someone who seemed genuinely kind and just right for me. I’ve never felt so much in such a short amount of time for someone.