Chapter 1 #2
Ember flipped him off as she made her way to the door, unable to get out of the place fast enough. As soon as the door closed behind her and she was briskly walking away from the tavern, she pulled out her phone, blocked his number, and deleted her profile from the dating app.
I am soooo done with men.
She’d seen plenty of videos on social media of other women telling their nightmare dating stories. Ember had her own share, but this one took the top spot on her worst dates list.
Why couldn’t she meet someone decent? Someone who didn’t judge her based on her looks or mock her for what she wore?
She’d been dealing with it ever since grade school.
You’d think that as men grew older they’d mature, at least a little.
But nope. Some men remained juvenile pricks their whole lives.
You should stop expecting to find love and romance like in the novels you read, Ember.
Her lips curled into a smirk. The men in her favorite books weren’t human, they were otherworldly aliens and supernatural monsters. Big difference.
But unfortunately, they weren’t real.
Ember was lonely and tired. Tired of getting her hopes up, tired of searching for something, for someone, that didn’t exist.
Except that wasn’t true. Her friend Maggie had found a wonderful man who worshipped the ground she walked on. She’d found true love, a Gomez and Morticia type of love.
Why couldn’t Ember?
She gazed up at the sky.
Maybe love isn’t in the stars for me?
Fifteen minutes later, she reached the path leading to her front door.
She stopped and looked at her new home. The green two-story Victorian was a bit of a fixer upper, with a patchy, shingled roof, peeling paint, and a porch with a bit of sag, but it was hers.
All her hard work and saving had paid off.
She couldn’t help but smile to herself, chest swelling with a sense of accomplishment.
Ember walked to the front door, fishing out her keys.
The porch creaked as she stepped onto it.
As soon as she let herself in and locked the door behind her, she removed her boots and made her way through the gloom to the kitchen, where she flicked on the lights and set her purse on the counter.
Having missed out on dinner at the tavern, she threw together a turkey and cheese sandwich and ate it while putting away the dishes in the dish rack.
The quiet in the house was deafening, making her all the more aware of how alone she was.
With a sigh, she grabbed her phone, turned off the lights, and took the stairs up to the second floor, entering her bedroom and plugging in her phone to charge on the nightstand.
In the connected bathroom, Ember brushed her teeth and took a quick shower, washing away the scent of the tavern and the disgusting feel of Trent’s touch.
As minor as it had been, it still had made her skin crawl.
Once she’d blow dried her hair, she pulled on a white nightgown and slipped back into her room.
After the noise of the bar, the quiet was preferable, even despite the loneliness that came with it.
So she lit a stick of incense and picked up a book to read to unwind before bed.
She could lose herself in a fantasy world filled with sexy monsters and forget about the shitty date.
She could forget about shitty human men altogether.
But not long after she lay down, the heat in the room grew uncomfortable.
What she wouldn’t have given for central air conditioning. But it wasn’t in the budget yet, and the coming fall was bringing cooler temperatures. If it would just bring them a little faster, she’d be set.
Sitting up, Ember opened the window next to her day bed, letting in the night air. The breeze brushed over her, and she closed her eyes as it cooled her skin.
She opened her eyes and stared up at the sky. The full moon hung low, dimmed by hazy clouds. The stars weren’t bright, they never were here in the city, but she could still make some out.
A bright star streaked across the sky, disappearing behind the clouds.
Ember’s breath caught. When was the last time she’d seen a shooting star? As a child?
She chuckled as she folded her arms atop the metal frame of her daybed and leaned out the window. She didn’t know what possessed her, didn’t know why she was filled with a sudden, whimsical urge to make a wish, but the words came out nonetheless.
“Starlight, starbright,” she began, face heating, “first star I see tonight. I… I wish for love. A deep, abiding love. A love that’s unwavering, unconditional, that’s never judgmental. A love that feels…fated. Please, send me someone who I can forever trust with my heart.”
As soon as she’d made her wish…nothing happened.
Well, of course nothing would happen. What did you expect? To feel a rush of magic? To see fireworks go off in the sky and form a giant arrow pointing you right to your fated lover?
With a wistful sigh, Ember dropped back onto her bed, feeling absolutely ridiculous. But she couldn’t help the sadness creeping into her heart as she picked up her book.
She lay down and tried to forget she’d made that silly wish. “I guess I can continue dreaming about fictional love…”
And so she read, losing herself in the story, until her eyelids drifted shut and she lost herself in her dreams instead.