Abby was riding high as she entered the boarding house and headed into the tavern. She’d not only landed a job at the town’s newspaper, but her new boss, Cal, had just let go of the reins a bit and allowed her to actually do a bit of reporting, as apposed to refilling his coffee and emptying the trash that she had endured her first few days on the job.

"Glass of your finest wine that $10 can get me," Abby told Steve, as she sidled up to the bar and handed him the bill.

"What are you celebrating?" a male voice spoke into her ear next to her, then added, "if you don’t mind me asking, that is."

Startled, Abby turned around and found herself face-to-face with Colin O’Brien, who had seated himself next to her at the bar. She smiled back at him, lost for a moment in his sea-green eyes, then answered, "Life."

He chuckled, took a swig of his beer. "Life, huh? That good, I take it?"

"It is now," she replied, as Steve handed her the glass of Chardonnay.

"Must be nice," Colin replied, staring into her big brown eyes. He wondered how he hadn’t noticed her in here before now.

"Well, it wasn’t always that way, I assure you," Abby replied, then extended her hand to him. "My name’s Abby, by the way. And you are?"

Colin shook her hand, smiled, and replied, "Colin. Nice to meet you, Abby." Her petite hand felt quite soft and delicate in his larger one, and he held on to it a moment longer than he probably should have, then shyly let it slip away. "Don’t think I’ve seen you ‘round here before. You new in town?"

"Been here a few weeks, actually," she told him, running her finger absently down the stem of her wine glass. She liked the way he had held her hand that extra moment and was almost sad he’d let it go. "Just lying low, I guess. Though, I must confess, I have seen you around here before."

He smiled broadly and cocked an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"

"Yep, sure have."

Colin grinned at her, wondering exactly when and with whom she’d seen him. "Ah, been stalking me, have you?" he teased. "Should I be nervous about that?"

She chuckled. "I don’t know, should you?" She picked up her glass and drained the rest of her Chardonnay, then set it down on the bar.

He giggled, shook his head. "Buy you another?" Colin asked, motioning for Steve to get them both another drink.

"Sure. Thanks," Abby told him.

"So, you gonna tell me what’s really worth celebrating in your life?" he asked.

"Depends," she answered, "you gonna tell me what’s not worth celebrating in your life?"

Colin stared at her a moment, trying to decide whether or not he really wanted to open that can of worms.

"Maybe," he answered, then took a drink of his beer. "But you first."

"New town, new job, bit of a promotion, first paycheck..." she stared into his eyes, added, "good company... Life is good."

Colin smiled and nodded. "Well then, here’s to your....new life. Cheers." He clinked his bottle against her wine glass then took a drink.

"Your turn," she told him, resting her chin on her hands.

"Right. Well, okay....what’s worth not celebrating in my life... Let’s see, I let my girlfriend talk me into moving here...building a house, starting up a new business, getting myself deep into debt. She decides she’s bored, doesn’t wanna work in the new business with me anymore, so I hired a couple of blokes to help out...getting me deeper into debt. Then, clear outta the blue, she decides to take off and leave me for some rich wanker, humiliating me in front of the whole town. So yeah, life’s pretty shitty in my books. Cheers."

"Her loss, I say," she told him, placing her hand on his and giving it a squeeze.

Colin smiled at her. "Thanks," he said, then nervously cleared his throat, looking down at the bar, "Yeah, well, life goes on, I guess."

"Yep, it does at that," Abby replied, brightly. "Well, Colin, looks to me like you might have something worth celebrating after all."

"That right?" he chuckled. "And what might that be?"

"New life, new possibilities," she grinned, looking into his eyes.

Colin stared at her, nodded, "Here’s to...new possibilities," he said, raising his beer and touching it to her glass, "Cheers."