Free A Change To Bear (A BBW Shifter Romance) (Last of the Shapeshifters) by A.E. Grace Page A

anything?” the waitress asked, her English fluent. Terry was a little surprised, but this was, after all, the capital of Vietnam, and probably the biggest tourist spot.
    “Pho Bo?” she asked, using the Vietnamese name for rice noodles with beef.
    “Of course. Any coffee?”
    “Yes, drip coffee?”
    “Of course,” the waitress replied. She smiled, bowed a little, and then walked off.
    Terry returned her gaze to the old couple exercising, wondering how many years – or decades – they had done that together for.
     
    After several hours of exploring the city, poking around the shops and stalls, circumnavigating the potato-shaped lake, and looking at tour packages she could take out to various nearby attractions, Terry was pretty much ready to call it a day. But it wasn’t even dinner time yet, and she wasn’t about to waste what was certain to be a buzzing night life. So far her travel guide had been accurate, and there was no reason to doubt it now.
    With the heat been baked into her, she decided that nothing would be more soothing than a cold gin and tonic, and so she set off back toward the district around Hoan Kiem. There was a small lane where all the hippest bars were supposed to be, and she figured why not? It was a major tourist hotspot, and she was bound to see something interesting there.
    Weaving her way through mopeds and alleys alike, she found herself in a narrow street lined with small hole-in-the-walls that sat beneath low-rise blocks of guest houses. Already, at sunset, the place was heaving with what she guessed were tourists. There looked to be a number of local expatriates, too, judging by the number of mopeds that were lined up outside each bar. Most of them didn’t look like the rented sort, which were often branded with bright logos that stood out, so that tourists couldn’t easily steal them, or if there was an accident, they could be easily identified.
    She walked up and down the street, wondering if she’d chance upon Liam. Did he seem like the drinking type? She couldn’t really gauge that one. At least, he didn’t seem like the fun-loving type, not on the surface, at any rate. Maybe having a drink or two loosened him up a bit. She wondered what he was so tightly wound, or why he was the way that he was. She figured that it was rare that someone as well traveled as he claimed to be would be so socially closed off. Chronic travelers were usually the outgoing sort, and Liam was completely against type.
    Choosing a bar without a name, but with a big yellow banana as its logo, she sat at one of the tables directly below a ceiling fan, happy for the cooling breeze and shade. She’d chosen the place because it was quite empty, save for some people at the bar and one or two nestled snugly at a back table. She asked the waitress for a gin and tonic, using her finger and thumb, spaced about an inch apart, to signal a half-half mix. The waitress told her that it would cost more, but that was fine with Terry.
    One drink turned into three, and the music started, the televisions were changed to European football matches, and everything started to fill up even more. People wandered down the street, a variety of sorts, some dressed well in suits, others more casually in typical backpacker attire. She watched from her two-stool table as groups of youngsters, no more than nineteen years old she guessed, flocked from bar to bar, drawing attention to themselves. School wasn’t out yet, and so it couldn’t be a post-graduation trip.
    She was content to watch them, examine the crowded night life, and otherwise while away her own evening doing not much of anything at all.
     
    “Hello, darlin’.” Terry looked to her side. Three men seated at the bar were looking at her. Bomb signals were already going off in her mind, but she ignored them.
    “Hi,” she said, before clearing her throat. She offered them a brief smile before returning her gaze to the street scene