What To Do With Cheap Wine? Melbourne Nights Settling Old Wounds.
What To Do With Cheap Wine? Melbourne Nights Settling Old Wounds.
Day 135 of The Andie Chronicles
“Why are you sitting in the middle of your office?”
Sophia stood over me as I twirled my favourite grey lead in my fingertips. In my best version of the splits, I wrestled with an oversized sketchbook. There was also a scattering of pencil shaving littered the floor, with just as many swatch books stacked in uneven piles.
I would have had a Pantone book by my side too, if I could have reached what was on my desk.
“Thank god. Can you pass me my water bottle?” Sophia leaned over me, grabbed the bottle and handed it to me. “You look like you’re doing some good work, here.”
It wasn’t my best, I admitted to myself privately. I was keeping what I thought were the truly masterful sketches for the Highway I wanted, the version of our business I hoped to take back.
And I had to admit, it was nice to hear I was getting something right.
“Ta.”
“But why on the floor?” Sophia climbed down next to me.
“I couldn’t work at my desk. It didn’t feel right. You know how it is? You have to go where the creativity takes you.” I looked around at everything beside me. “And it took me to the floor.”
Sophia nodded. “I’m having dinner with Malcolm tonight. Do you mind if I show him some of these? I bet he will love them.”
It was kind of her to want to show her boyfriend my work, but I didn’t quite understand why. “Sure, go for it. Send him my love.”
“I will. And hey, these are good. Really good. I’m going to tell everyone how good they are.”
Coming home, I kept thinking about Sophia’s praise. But more so, I could hear it in her voice, she wasn’t saying it to shut me up. Or keep me happy and smooth things over. She meant it. I could feel how much she believed in what she said.
I hated that it took climbing down to the ground of my office to bring out some of the creativity in me. I didn’t used to have this problem.
Yet, as I walked into 1 Lovelock Drive and saw my dining room table there, I understood why this was never an issue.
I had the perfect place for inspiration at my fingers tips. There were no creativity issues, and no stunted thinking when seated at this wooden beacon.
Now, back to its original state as a dining room table, I loathed it. It was mocking me, all bare and unloved. It kept reminding me what had changed, what I no longer had, what my reality was.
Charging over to my wine fridge, I pulled out a cheap bottle of red I secured from Aldi.
Opening it up, I tipped the liquid all over the wood, coating the grain with the amber liquid. It pooled in the middle before dripping off the sides and onto the floorboards below.
Fuck it, I thought. Fuck it all.
You’re reading The Andie Chronicles, the 2023 romance-fiction series from the 1 Lovelock Drive (1LD) universe.
By the way, this all started when Andie turned thirty-five, and her then-boyfriend didn’t call her.
Or the day after that.
Or the day after that, too.
Everything started to unravel when her BFFs got into bed with her ex, too… ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️
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