Glass Jaw

Chapter 6

Every step that I took toward the plain wooden door felt monumental. Like I was a bride walking down the aisle. Or a soldier stepping onto the battlefield. Each time my foot thudded onto the pavement, I felt the reverberations in my heart.

When I finally reached the door, I took a stabilizing breath and steadiest my shoulders. I wouldn't be this nervous if it wasn't for the awful nightmare I had last night. I'd dreamt that I showed up on Jules' doorstep and she laughed at me for thinking her invitation was serious. Then her face had morphed into Tatum's as the laughter became more manic. Then in an odd twist, Tatum grew three sizes and became Landon. His laughter was much meaner as I shrunk under his cold eyes and soft, dark laughter.

I gulped and flexed my hands to clear the jitters from my fingertips. "Positive thoughts only," I whispered before forcing myself to knock.

Within seconds the door swung open and Jules stood there beaming at me. My anxiety slipped away as she immediately stepped back for me to walk inside.

"About time, lady," Jules said as I pulled off my jacket and passed it to her.

"Sorry," I laughed, relief pushed the last of my awful dream away from my mind. "I got caught up with a book and lost track of time."

Jules fixed me with a withering stare but the twinkle in her chocolate brown eyes softened it. "I'm going to ignore that I had to wait to crack into the alcohol because you were reading."

"Tatum and Jackson aren't around?" I asked as I followed Jules into the empty kitchen. She waltzed to the fridge and dug around as I sat on a stool.

"They take longer to get ready than I do," she called over her shoulder as she dug around on the back shelf. "There you are!" she exclaimed as she pulled out a large green glass bottle with a gold label.

"I wasn't sure if you drank or not but I was feeling like some champs. This baby only set me back $12 but look how fancy it looks."

I laughed as I eyed the label. It wasn't even close to the champagne that Aunt Felicity served at her parties, but I found the more expensive the bottle, the more it tasted like soap.

"Look's good," I smiled in agreement.

Jules opened a cupboard and pulled out two wine glasses that looked somewhat like fishbowls. She poured a healthy dose of champagne into each glass and then went to the freezer before she paused. "Are you a purist or can I put ice cubes in the glass?"

"Ice cubes please," I grinned as I rocked on the stool under me. Aunt Felicity would have been absolutely aghast by the fishbowl glasses for champagne, but adding ice cubes would have really made her head explode.

I'm not saying that the thought of that made the champagne taste better as Jules passed me the heavy glass, but it didn't taste worse. The bubbly golden liquid danced across my tongue tasting like fruit juice that had been mixed with a few sour grapes.

"That's dangerous," I said as I set the glass down.

"I don't know why but I assumed you didn't drink," Jules said as she leaned against the counter across from me.

"I've never gotten more than a light buzz," I admitted. "But I've been having wine with dinner at parties since I was sixteen. It's kind of just a part of life where I lived before."

"France?" Jules joked with raised eyebrows.

"Oakford," I amended through a sip of my champagne. Drinking truly had never been a big deal back home. Waiter's passed around glasses to anyone who wasn't wearing a bow in their hair and no one blinked an eye. Of course, that didn't mean there weren't limits. I'd never had more than two glasses in fear of stumbling in front of Aunt Felicity's friends or something. There was something freeing about sipping from a fishbowl and knowing that nothing I did could get back to her now.