Chapter 36: Calm, Content, Safe

“So, Michaela,” Vernon said. “You can only imagine my surprise when one day, the same man that had just been passing through only a few years before—and left quite the impression while he was here, I must say—comes walk’in back into me tavern, half naked!” He shouted out the last part boisterously, slapping his knee.

Michaela sat forward on her seat, more alert than before. “I can’t imagine!” she said. “Tell me!”

Holding up a hand, Vernon said, “Okay, but I want to do this right. Let me get back into my story form and do it from Detrick’s perspective the best I can…”

***

“Detrick? Is that you?” the large tavern keeper asked as he dried a mug behind the bar.

Detrick couldn’t help but smile. He was pretty sure that Vernon had been doing the exact same thing, in the exact same spot, when he had left over three years ago.