The Winemaker's Dinner: Dessert (The Winemaker's Feast) by Dr. Ivan Rusilko Read Free Book Online Page A

he wanted to be.
    As she closed the gap between them, he began to tremble in anticipation, nervousness, or fear—he couldn’t discern which one. But it didn’t matter, because he had to get a grip on whatever inconvenient emotion was bubbling up to the surface. He looked down, covering his face with one hand and fumbling with his phone in the other. He tried desperately to blend in. He wasn’t ready for any form of contact, and he didn’t know if he ever would be.
    After a moment he couldn’t help but raise his head and admire her—the way the red dress clung to her curves—as she passed. But his admiration was cut short when the freak offered his two cents: Lying, cheating bitch.
    Maybe talking to her was what he needed to let go and move on. He had to quit punishing himself before he spiraled further out of control. I know what you need…
    “Here you go, sir.”
    “Thank you,” Ivan managed as he looked down at his favorite dish. But the sight of her had caused him to lose his appetite. The freak roared in his ear, urging him to go and lose himself in his next fix, but he ignored the beast’s taunting and allowed his mind to fill with thoughts of what could have been.
    If she hadn’t shattered their happily ever after, they would’ve been planning a wedding together this very moment. They’d be the “it” couple of South Beach, enjoying fantastic careers and the fruits of all their hard work. His new practice would be the freedom and joy he’d wanted it to be, not just the endless grind of additional work it sometimes seemed like. She would visit him in Miami Beach to soak up the sun and relax, and he would go to L.A. to spoil her and provide temporary relief from the hustle and bustle of entertainment life. Their lives would have been full of colors and feelings that blinded with their brilliance, not this mundane, sepia-toned half life he was living.
    Nevertheless, he was thankful for everything the business had required of him lately. He ran both hands through his hair. Where he was and what he was doing was his dream. Yes, Jaden had for a time been part of that dream, but he still had a plan, a purpose. Before things fell apart with her, he’d believed he was putting everything he had into his career, but without her, he’d discovered how much more he could make himself give. The current ahead-of-schedule success of his new practice was no doubt a direct result of the pain and heartbreak he’d experienced. He was a master at masking his devastation with determination, and he’d funneled all his extra time and creative energy into his work. He shuddered to think what he and the freak might become without it. It was a bittersweet return for such an investment, but if she hadn’t crucified him and their relationship, he wouldn’t be where he was now. And it was exactly where he wanted to be, wasn’t it?
    He knew in his heart it wasn’t. It had sounded like a lie from the moment he formed the thought, but her gigantic clusterfuck of a mistake had kept his storybook ending from being written. There was nothing he could do. Suddenly Ivan knew there was no way he could survive with her in his Miami Beach bubble. He had to know why she was here.
    Wait, mistake? Is that what it was? But he shook the thought from his mind as he hailed a passing waitress. It was so much more than a mere mistake. He handed the waitress a fifty-dollar bill and pointed to the Rastafarian still scrounging for change outside. “Could you box this up and give it to that man right there, please? And you can keep the change.”
    And with that he strolled off in the direction opposite the one she had just come from, hands in his pocket and a hole in his bleeding heart.

Chapter 9
    “Somebody That I Used to Know”
    “L ET’S G O , B ITCH !” Tasha yelled as Jaden scurried up the concrete steps that led into Bianca.
    “I’m coming, I’m coming, but these shoes are killing me,” Jaden replied, pointing to her new pair of