At dinner Jalea lifts her glass and proposes a toast to unmarked beach spots. We clink and drink.

“This our favorite restaurant on the west side of the beach. There’re more options in old town but it’s not as close to our place,” she says.

I pause putting my napkin in my lap. “Oh, do you both live here?”

“Yeah, we moved to the coast a year ago. I love it here but Gavs not so much.”

Gavs shakes his head. “That’s not true, I like it plenty. I only needed a little convincing.”

“I’m just here for the conference,” I say.

“Oh, how’s that been?” Jalea asks.

“I don’t know yet, I’ve just arrived. I only really need to attend the final day but I’ll probably do some schmoozing while I’m here. You know, work obligations, boring stuff…”

Gavs grins. “Doesn’t sound boring to me. Chatting up powerful people, throwing blowout parties in the hotel suite on the company expense account. Count me in.”

I laugh. “I wish. I work for a chemicals conglomerate. It’s not that glamourous.”

Jalea takes another sip of her drink. “Well, you get to come here.”

“That’s true,” I say. “But sometimes I wish I didn’t have so many people counting on me. The responsibility.” I run my finger around the edge of my glass. “On the other hand I go crazy if I have nothing to do, so there’s that.”

Gavs and Jalea look at each other. I hope I haven’t hit a nerve.

I change the subject. “How old are you both, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Jalea responds, “I’m twenty-one, Gavs is twenty-two.”

I wonder how to put this delicately. “What’s been your experience so far with the…”

“The affliction?” Jalea jumps in. “It’s still weak for me but growing. I find myself having a hard time with the big stuff. We remodeled our bathroom last month, and picking between the different contractor bids, all the different tile choices, faucets, paint colors, tub models… I would get this generalized anxiety that was completely irrational. I knew it didn’t make any sense, yet I was paralyzed.”

Gavs weighs in. “Mine is worse. Any kind of decision can set it off for me now. I can still get by with the easy stuff but anything bigger… And it’s harder if it’s a situation I haven’t faced before.”

The conversation dies. I shift uncomfortably in my chair. “Sorry to have killed the mood. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, not at all. We don’t mind talking about it.” Jalea’s open expression tells me she means what she says, or at least I hope she does. “And you, you’re still young, you should be out enjoying every second!”

I smile. “I’m trying, I went out to dinner with you two tonight, didn’t I?” With that they both raise their glasses. “And in the spirit of the evening, what do the two of you say to coming up to my paid-for-by-corporate-expense-account hotel suite after dinner?”