Twist of Fate

The light squeak of the corkscrew seemed to echo through the empty kitchen. Georgia’s left hand stabilized the bottle of Merlot while she slowly cranked the top with her right, watching as the arms rose to the top in accolade of the process. Placing a hand on each of the raised arms, she slowly lowered them and watched as the cork raised up and out of the bottle. With a soft ‘pop’ she pulled upwards and relieved the bottle of its oppressor. She glanced again at the clock that read 7:30 PM. Forty-five minutes late, with a sigh she rolled her eyes and grabbed a large wine glass.

“How long should wine ‘breathe’ before pouring?” She asked to no one in particular. “Oh well.”

She tipped both the wine glass and bottle towards each other as the dark, deep-red liquid reached out of the bottle to land gloriously into the bottom of the glass, creating a low ‘glug’ with each surge. The fruity aroma, laced with a deep earthiness, wafted up from the glass and she swirled the blood-like beverage, entranced with the motion. With a sigh and a slight smile she closed her eyes as she lifted the glass and tipped the heavenly beverage towards her parted lips.

Georgia was a beautiful and curvaceous woman. That is to say at five foot two inches; she was no runway model, nor fitness queen but she did enjoy working out and could run a half marathon. No matter the extent of activity, her body just held on to those curves. She fit comfortably into a size 10/12 but always just had a little extra. “Built for comfort not for speed!” She would always say. Perhaps it was her love of food or it could be something genetic for all she knew. For years she had wrestled with her weight feeling uncomfortable and insecure, but she had finally learned to embrace who she was and love every bit of it. If someone wasn’t into her, that was their issue not hers.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

With a start she righted the glass and set it back on the counter, taste buds still aching for the luxurious liquid to dance across them, and walked to the door to her apartment. She turned the bolt open and pushed the handle down, pulling the door inward.

“Uh, hello! I’m Geoff.” came the timid greeting from the seemingly nervous, quite handsome, relatively lean, six-foot man standing on the other side of the threshold.

Georgia eyed him speculatively, “You’re late!” she stated as she turned and walked back to her wine glass leaving him to decide whether or not to enter.

“Um, yeah – I’m really sorry about that, normally I’m prompt. I -- should have text you that I was running late but had wanted to get here as quickly as possible. I had something come up just as I was walking out the door that required my attention.” Geoff fidgeted a little as he stepped inside and closed the door with a soft click and secured the deadbolt. “I would still like to take you to dinner if you’re interested?”

“Wine?” She asked, dodging the question and reaching for another glass.

“Sure, that would be nice, thank you.”

Hands in his trouser pockets, Geoff made his way over to the island in the kitchen where Georgia was standing.

“You look really nice, that color compliments you,” he said.

Georgia glanced up as she reached for the wine bottle; holding the new glass in her hand, she returned to her task of pouring a glass for him and smiled.

“Thank you, kind of you to say so.”

Handing him the glass she took a deep breath and sighed softly, eying him speculatively.

“I normally don’t entertain gentlemen in my home that I haven’t been out with yet, nor consider said date still when he is nearly an hour late.” She raised one of her eyebrows but managed a playful grin.

“Completely understandable, and you have my humblest of apologies. If you would care to hear of my obstacle - I’d be happy to share.”

“Well, it does seem as though Kara and Brett felt we would get along well. I’m willing to give it a chance. You've known Brett for three years? Also, are there reservations somewhere or are we good on time?”

“Yes on the three years, and no on the reservations. I wanted to share this little Thai place with you I found not long ago that I’ve come to love. It’s a bit of a hole-in-the-wall but exceptionally clean inside and the food is to die for. I hope you like Thai?” He sounded hopeful.

He was looking directly at her, his hazel eyes almost sparkling with golden flecks as the corner of his mouth turned up in a smile that caught her off guard. She cleared her throat.

“You wouldn’t be referring to 'Thai Palace', would you? The one over on State and 4th?” Her face lit up, she couldn’t help it; she got a little excited talking about amazing food discoveries.

“You know of it?! Yes, it has to be one of the best pad Thai places of all times!”

“Right? Of ALL times,” she followed up awkwardly. It was now her turn to fidget a bit, she was never one to be overly smooth and flirtatious. She glanced around the room, picked up her glass of wine and raised it towards Geoff. “Cheers?”

“Cheers!” He said as he stepped a little closer and lightly clinked his glass against hers.

They both raised the glasses to their lips, tilting their heads back slightly in unison. The room-temperature, velvety liquid, stretched across their palate waking up more than just Georgia’s taste buds as their eyes met again.

Quickly she averted her eyes, looking down she caught a dark red spot on his tan leather shoe.

“Oh no, I think I may have splashed some wine onto your shoe!” Quickly she turned, grabbed a cloth and retrieved a bottle of club soda from the fridge.

“Oh! Uh . . here, I’ll handle it.” He hastily set his glass down and reached for the items she held, turning away from her as he knelt down to attend to the spot on his shoe.

Georgia came around and watched as he furiously dabbed with the cloth on his shoe, creating a larger wet spot, masking the smaller one. The color drained from her face as she watched, he pulled the white cloth away and the stain on the was unmistakably a crimson red, the color of blood.

Geoff looked up at her, his countenance shifting to a darkness she hadn’t seen before.

“Allow me to explain.” Slowly he stood up to his full height, keeping his eyes locked on hers, she noticed the corkscrew sitting on the counter in her peripheral, just out of reach.