My how time flies. Here it is Wednesday again and it’s time for new words. I have some. They are random. Mostly. I mean, they fit into the Russiona Wolves setting of Brighton Beach but the RFL? No real clue who she is. Same with the RML. Don’t know what that means? It’s Romantic Female Lead and Romanctic Male Lead. At least for this snippet. I get tired of typing hero and heroine. LOL Anyway, last week’s Thursday Threads prompt is: *It felt like years.* As this is a random snippet, you know as much about what’s going on as I do. 🤷🏼‍♀️

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On the boardwalk, I stood back out of the way. The place was crowded on this first warm day of spring. I inhaled deeply, the mixed aromas filling my nose. Salty air, seawater, popcorn and caramel, foods from many cultures. I should keep walking, get to my destination but I didn’t move. I just stood there, soaking it all in. It felt like years since I’d been to Brighton Beach.
As a freshly-minted college grad, I’d packed my bags and skedaddled. I didn’t want to be here now and not just due to the family drama that sucked me back in.

Once upon a time, the beach and boardwalk of Brighton Beach was my favorite place. Splashing in the surf and building sand castles grew into summer tans and boy-watching with my girlfriends. They were all married now. Not me. No, I’d run for the hills, as the saying goes. And I never looked back.

They—whoever they are—say hindsight is twenty-twenty. They also say love is blind. It had been. Blind, though in hindsight, it hadn’t been love. Nope. Just a deep infatuation that faded into the misty corners of memory. Or so I told myself. They also say that you can’t go home again but here I stood, living proof that you could.

Someone bumped me and my purse strap slipped off my shoulder just as the purse itself disappeared. I reacted but too slow. I took about four steps before stumbling to a stop. A mountain blocked my way and I looked up into the eyes of the man I’d never forgotten. He’d collared the now-struggling purse snatcher.

“Well, hell.” I muttered the curse but he heard me anyway.

“I am happy to see you again too, solnishka.”

If only I believed that.
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We shall see what we shall see. FYI, I did add a little so it’s more than the requisite 250 words for the #flashfiction challenge. I’m thinkig the RML’s name is Luka–which is on my character list for this book. The RFL? I ain’t got no clue. It might turn out to be Mikhail, who might be related to a certain president of an outlaw MC. Shhhh. Anyway, that’s the story for today and I’m sticking to it. Writers, feel free to steal and scribe away. Readers, what’s your favorite “they say” saying?