Page 34 of The Art of Falling in Love with Your Enemy
She opens her eyes. “That was my silent scream. It needed to come out.”
“That text is no good?”
“That ex is no good.” She pulls her eyes from mine, going back to her chopping duties. “My ex-husband seems to think we have something to talk about. He wants me to make time for him, and that’s one thing I don’t have much of to give right now. Especially to him.”
“Things didn’t end well?”
“They ended amicably, at least I thought they did.” She shakes her head, holding a knife in the air and waving it as she speaks. As she’s slicing the air while her hands are shaky and she seems to be getting worked up, I really hope she doesn’t let it go.
I place another tortilla on the burner, and here’s where I make my mistake: I chose to look over to see if Etta’s okay and not throwing her knife as I do this. However, I don’t see the flame as it licks my sleeve, and I don’t even realize my arm’s on fire until Etta looks up at me, her face shrouded in horror.
By the time I realize what’s happening, she’s already grabbed a damp dish towel and tosses it over the flame, putting it out.
“Oh my…are you okay?” she asks, her eyes wide.
“I guess I should be glad your brother is in the fire department; it seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
“Not sure if that’s the right analogy to use here.” She shakes her head, staring at me incredulous.
When we look at my arm, I’m amazed nothing more happened than my sleeve was burned and my hair was singed. “That could have been worse; I shouldn’t have been listening to you tell me about your evil ex.”
“Don’t blame this on me,” Etta starts to hiss, but when she looks into my eyes, I know she can tell I’m joking. “I think we need to take a five-minute break.”
“Okay.” Figuring she probably wants to be alone, I head outside to check the grill. “Where are you going?”
“I’m gonna hang at the grill.”
“No, no, just turn the heat down. I want to show you something.”
I do as she tells me and follow her out the door. She indicates with her chin across the
parking lot to the two small buildings that sit on the edge, both under renovation. “Follow me.”
I trot behind her to the first building. It’s in good shape, but when we peek in the windows, I can see it’s been ripped apart inside. It’s a shell, a hollow vessel in need of more.
“So…” I hold my hands out, unsure why we’re here. “Are you going to make me eat my dinner here tonight?”
“This is why I’m so mad at my ex.” She presses her nose to the window, peering inside lovingly. “I had what’s called an urban winery when I was in D.C. We owned it together, but it was my idea. I found wineries in the area that I worked with, and I brought their wines to my restaurant to show them off. We planned wine tastings, we’d do wine pairing dinners, and held wine parties. You name it…if it could be done with wine, we did it.”
“That’s a cool idea. I guess it was urban since you were in the city and you didn’t have your own vineyard?”
She nods. “Exactly. And, I want to do that right here, in this building. There are so many amazing wineries in the Carolina region, and I want to introduce tourists and our locals to them all.”
“You want to replicate what you did in D.C.”
“But, I can’t.” She sighs, stepping away from the window. The sun has gone down, disappearing behind pastel pink and purple lined clouds before we had slipped out of the kitchen, so it’s hard for me to see her. The shadows fall across her face, keeping her true feelings hidden from me for the moment. “He’s taking me to court over our business, and to top it all off, he’s holding a large sum of money, which I’m owed, over my head so I can’t use it.”
Cue me wanting to give this woman every cent I have in my pocket. “Were you going to use the money to open this place?”
“Basically.” Etta steps out of the shadows and back into the parking lot, where lamplight reigns. Her features are dark, and I hear the emotion in her voice as she talks about her old business. “Him taking me to court is hurtful, and he’s stopping me from doing what I want, which is to simply start over and just be.”
“He won’t listen to reason?”
She shakes her head. “He’s determined to stop me and I don’t know why. I just know he’s wasting a lot of people’s time with this lawsuit.”
“And no one comes out of it feeling good, huh?”
“I guess. I’m not sure why he’s decided to pursue this.” She shrugs. “People never cease to amaze me.”
