Lisa Ernst

Fate & Merlot

Fate and Merlot By Lisa Ernst The candle danced in the crystal votive throwing patterns of light skittering across the table linen. As the flame flickered, it glinted off the glass of merlot in front of him, which remained barely touched but bought with the idea it would calm his nerves. The dim lighting in the restaurant had a welcomed calming effect on the man seated at the table. Adjusting his tie again he caught his image in the mirror on the wall across from him and he forced himself to be still. He had no recollection of being like this on a date before, but then he had never been set up with a person that he knew little or nothing about, who he never met or even seen, and may or may not be “just his type,” whatever that meant. If not for David’s insistence, or more to the point David’s wife, he never would have envisioned this scenario happening at all. It was not how he usually went about this, but then, the way he normally went about things hadn’t worked.