Hollywood Lust by M. Z. Kelly

on a masters in…” He chuckled. “Actually, I don’t know what she’s getting her degree in. It seems to change every few months.”
    “She sounds like a girl with lots of interests.”
    “And a know-it-all.”
    “Oh, no. One of those.”
    He took a bite of his sea bass and nodded. “Maggie has never found a subject she’s not an expert on.”
    “She sounds a little like my sister, Amanda.” I took a moment, filling him in on my sister, who was living in Europe and trying to spend her husband’s considerable inheritance. “Needless to say, we don’t have a lot in common.”
    Our talk about sisters made me think about Lindsay. I doubted that she would talk to me after our previous conversation, but I was still worried about her. I decided my best bet was to have Robin call her and make sure she was okay. My brother had a compassionate side to him, and I knew that he and Lindsay got along well.
    I worked on my sashimi as Noah told me he also had a brother named Chase who was in the Navy. He then mentioned the time he’d spent in Iraq, the conversation eventually focusing on how he’d lost his leg during the war in Iraq almost a decade earlier.
    “After a lot of fighting, Fallujah had finally been secured. We were on a routine morning patrol when our transport hit an IED.” His blue eyes misted over. “I guess you could say that’s when my world changed forever.”
    “How long were you in the hospital?”
    “Almost two years. There were a couple of surgeries and lots of rehab. I spent some of that time suffering from PTSD.”
    I reached over and touched his hand. “It must have been so difficult. How did you…” I took a moment to gather my thoughts. “Are you still trying to deal with everything that happened?”
    His gaze drifted off as he considered my question. “I guess, in some ways it will always be with me, but it also seems like it all happened a long time ago.” He smiled, looking back at me. “It probably sounds a little crazy, but it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
    “I’m not sure what you mean.”
    He took a moment, sipping his wine before answering. “What happened defined my life. Before my injury, I was…I guess you could say I was a little lost, trying to find myself. It took losing my leg to gain a larger perspective and begin to appreciate each day for the amazing gift that it is.”
    I smiled, thinking about his description of life being a gift and about my love-dad saying something similar. As strange as it probably sounds, several weeks ago I’d had a conversation with my love-dad after Ted’s suicide. I still wasn’t sure if that discussion had been real or imaginary because of the trauma I’d suffered. All I do know is that my dad had told me that a gift is born into the world in the shadows of loss. It was a message that had helped me deal with the loss of Ted and the other losses in my life.
    “What about you?”
    What he’d said made my thoughts surface. “I’m sorry?”
    He smiled. “Have you ever had an experience that defined your life?”
    Maybe it was the wine working in my system, or the fact that, despite it being our first real date, I felt completely at ease with Noah, but I had no apprehension about telling him about my family situation. I took the next few minutes filling him in on everything, starting with what I knew about my love-dad, his murder at the hands of Ryan Cooper, and my current search to find my bio-dad. When I’d finished with the story, I told him about meeting with Collin Russell and about the letter my mother had written that I still hadn’t read.
    After telling me that, in many ways, we were both survivors, Noah asked, “When do you think you’ll be ready to read her letter?”
    I took a breath, thinking about his question. “I’m not sure. I think it’s like a lot of things, when the time is right, I’ll know.”
    He smiled. “It sounds like we’ve both come a long way in our lives.”
    “It’s been a