The Wine's Divine | Complete

IX

When Ember pulled into her driveway her headlights landed on a figure sitting on her porch steps. She got out of the car and slammed the door as hard as she could.

"Tell me everything!" Bel stood up from where she had been waiting, matching Ember's ferocity as she followed her to the front door.

Ember fumbled with her keys, practically falling through the door as she unlocked it. She stomped inside trying to regain her composure and tossed her keys haphazardly onto the kitchen counter. She started for the living room but instead found herself pacing the length of her kitchen.

Bel leaned against the wall watching her friend unravel. "Well?! What happened?" She exclaimed after Ember paced for several silent minutes.

"Tyler came to my job, well... my ex-job now."

"You quit?!"

Ember crossed over to her pantry and grabbed one of several merlots Amara had shoved into her bag on her first day of work, "It's important to be familiar with your inventory." She heard her say in the back of her mind, god knew Amara was familiar enough for them all. She grabbed two glasses on her way back to the counter, shaking them and the bottle at Bel. "It's a long story, I figured this would make it easier to hear, and retell."

Ember dove right in from Amara's endless drinking, to the suspiciously attractive men that were always hitting on her and the lingering question as to why the hell Amara cared so much about her love life. She took her time going over the meeting with Jude, as it was chiseled into her memory and the grim experience of Tyler's letter was her grand finale. She abandoned her glass and drank directly from the bottle.

Bel held her hand out, "Let me read it!"

Ember pulled out the crumbled letter from her pocket and stuck it in Bel's hand, she unfolded it and her eyes scanned the page all the way down to the bottom where a name was signed in pink ink.

"That bitch!" Bel hissed.

"I know right? Miranda had him hand deliver a letter to my job just to tell me that they plan on getting married after college. If I knew all I needed to do was put Tyler's balls in a vice grip I would have done it years ago." She couldn't fight it anymore, the tears sprang free, running down her face in hot streams of grief and regret. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? She hadn't even tried to text Tyler, even though she wanted to. She'd been trying to move on and forget all the dreams they shared, all the sweet nothings and late-night talks. It was as if Miranda sensed it as if she knew Ember was close to freeing herself from the pain, and she just couldn't help it, she had to reopen the wound and remind her that she, Miranda Milton had stolen everything away, even her future.

"That asshole isn't worth your tears, Em, you're better off!"

"Am I? Two years of planning our future, of falling in love, of building the foundation all for nothing." She cried, "I should have never taken that job, they probably saw me there and just couldn't help themselves."

"I swear if I ever see that girl I'm going to slap the nasty smirk off her face."

"She'll probably have her daddy expel you if you touch her." Ember wiped at her tears and shook her head, she was stronger than this. She wasn't going to fall apart over Tyler anymore, she wasn't going to hold out hope that he would come running back. If anything, this letter was her ticket to freedom, Tyler was never going to be hers again and she had to move on.

"Why don't you just text that guy Jude back? Take your mind off Tyler and the Southern Belle Witch?"

"For what?" Ember bit, "So that I can fall for him and be tossed aside when someone better comes along?"

"Then don't fall for him," Bel shrugged as if it were that simple, but she hadn't laid eyes on Jude, she couldn't possibly know that his face was painted by the gods, or that his eyes were hypnotizing, and then there was his voice. Heat blossomed in Ember's belly and she threw her hands over her mouth to hide the expression that betrayed what she was thinking.

"Are you smiling?" Bel squealed. "Whatever that emotion is, run with it! Just hang out with him, no strings attached baby, we all need something pretty to stare at."

"Hang out?" Ember groaned, "If I hang out with him he'll get the wrong idea."

"Then I'll come," Bel grinned, "Just two girls hanging out with a new friend."

Twenty minutes later, Ember was still staring at her cell phone, the text message from Jude opened on the screen while she analyzed his intentions with Bel.

Hello, Ember. I hope you're well and that hearing from me isn't a terrible surprise. I realized you never told me exactly what it is you're studying and for some reason, I can't kill my curiosity. I hoped we could chat over drinks. x Jude.

"He's definitely interested, but can you blame him? You're beautiful."

"You sound like my mother," Ember rolled her eyes. She thought for a moment, what would someone like Jude gain from a drink with her? "I got it!" she snapped her fingers, "What if he wants to offer me a job?"

"Okay... yeah, I can see that. Maybe he was impressed by you and he just wants to see if you two can form a strong work relationship," Bel said the last three words slowly and added a wink for good measure.

It wasn't a bad idea, Ember thought, the work part, not the relationship. Maybe he was only interested in her professionally, and why shouldn't he be? She grabbed the phone and began to type.

Ember: Hi Jude, apologies for the late response, I would love to grab a drink and chat.

"No, wait," Bel snatched the phone, quickly retyping the text before handing it back to Ember.

Ember: Hey Jude, it was great meeting you as well, a drink sounds great, how about Wicked Brew at 8?

"That's so forward and not really professional! What if he doesn't want to go to a college hangout?" Ember protested.

"Let me see," Bel leaned over the phone, her finger hovering above the words before she quickly hit the send button.

"Annabel Cruz you wench!" Ember shouted. But before she could continue her phone chimed and they stuck their heads together to read the response.

Jude: It's a date.