When Things are Right -  Collaboration with NightGoddess

When things are right, you can just taste it. Simple things can make your day, like the cheese melting on a perfectly crusted slice.

As chef, I was responsible for that imported mozzarella slowly congealing at the right temperature and tempting the juices on my tongue as if nothing else factored into its perfection.

It was like that when I saw her; everything was just perfect. Wearing a tight black dress with an overlay of lace, sheer in areas that would have made any one else blush, I stayed strong, and remained in control. Yet, as she turned, I found my eyes wandering away as the others had done, only to be directed to her beautiful legs and sexy high heels.

My art hung everywhere and when my eyes regained their courage, I watched her consume my works. Those abstracts were a piece of me, each painting representing a corner of my soul and it wasn’t until that moment did I realize it.

This is my town and I operate in the solemn area of this oasis catering to those with a lonely heart and a story to tell over a good bourbon. Clearly, my world compelled her to walk in dressed like high society rising above my meager establishment.

I had to learn her story and after two glasses of my finest Chianti Reserve, she relinquished that a romance gone bad had left her lost and stranded. The lure of comforting aromas invited her in like dinner at grandma’s house.

Hers was not a lonely heart story but one of strength and courage, and we both talked, and we both listened, and we shared ingredients in the recipe of life.

Unexpected things can alter you. A private little table in the corner becoming a portal to an unanticipated romance in a pizza joint turned-art-gallery, to shared memories fetched by talks with a beautiful stranger, lasting for hours but feeling like minutes, changed me.

Her heel accidentally swiped against my leg, blushing as she apologized, our conversation resumed only as eye contact.

Remaining in command, I offered her lodging in one of the upstairs rooms. After all it was my attention which compelled her to stay past closing. My voice cracked slightly when I made my offer, but I’m sure she didn’t notice.  Her ‘yes’ joyfully weakened me when she accepted my invitation to stay the night.

Her long blonde hair swept across my skin and I told myself I was still in control. I extended my hand to guide her, and as we approached the top stair she thanked me for the pizza, the mozzarella was amazing. Then she said things are going to be all right, I can just feel it.

Happy Valentine’s Day