Second Chances: Love Nibbles Read Online Free

kitchen and opened the wine while she unwrapped dishes from newspaper and rinsed them.
    Camilla smiled and sipped from the glass Ryan offered her. Her husband, the wine snob, would’ve turned up his nose at the idea of drinking this cheap vintage out of a plain glass, but she had to admit to kind of liking the sweet, fruity flavor. It reminded her of the Ripple she and her girlfriends had drunk back in her undergrad days. It was all they could afford and gave them a buzz which was all that mattered back then. Simpler times. Simpler pleasures.
    The dining table was loaded with boxes so, after they’d filled plates from the various cartons, she led Ryan into the living room. Her couch looked different here, too formal perhaps or too much a part of her old life. Sitting on it beside her gentleman caller, she thought she’d be too nervous to eat, but one forkful of the shrimp fried rice hit her empty stomach and she began shoveling it in. Ryan devoured his with equal gusto, which relieved her self consciousness about wolfing her food.
    “This is great. Thanks.”
    “The least I could do. You guys worked so hard today. I don’t know how you do it every day.”
    “I don’t plan to keep this job forever. I’m taking classes again and this fits around my schedule and pays okay, too.” He slurped in a bite of Thai noodles, which left his lips glistening. Camilla stared his lower lip, plump and shiny and so biteable.
    “Uh, what are you studying?”
    “Stagecraft. Lights, scenery, audio, all the backstage stuff.”
    “That sounds really interesting. What a great field.”
    “Glad someone thinks so. My dad wanted me to be a plumber so he could add and Son to the side of the truck. And my girlfriend left when she realized I’d never be a financial whiz. I’d almost finished a bachelor’s in business, but after she moved out, I took time off school. I worked at different jobs while I figured out what I really wanted to do.”
    Camilla finished her wine, a fine, warm glow spreading through her. “Do you want to work in touring shows or local venues? Or do you plan to head for Broadway?”
    “Anything in the field really. I’ve done some lighting work in a local theater and worked soundboard for a band, but I’m sure it’ll be a long time before I can quit my day job and make a career out of it.”
    “It’s admirable you didn’t settle for someone else’s expectations. Some of us spend a large portion of our life unaware we didn’t choose a career path, merely stumbled onto it.” Camilla paused, wondering how she could segue into finding out his age without being completely blunt about it. Eventually she simply asked, “How old are you, Ryan?”
    He paused with an egg roll halfway to his mouth. “Are we going there now? Are you really going to worry about age?”
    “Not worried, just curious.”
    “I’m twenty-five. And you’re what? In your mid-thirties? Not that big a difference.”
    “Forty-one and trust me, it is a big difference. I’ve lived with it. My husband was almost twenty years older than me.”
    He gestured with his egg roll. “We’re just eating a meal together, spending some time. Relax. Don’t think too hard.”
    He was right, of course. She was over-thinking, but she hadn’t had much practice with light affairs and casual sex. Not since her early twenties and rarely even then.
    Camilla took refilled her wine glass and changed the subject.
    As the food slowly disappeared, the cartons emptying one by one, their conversation ranged over politics, life in the city and plans for the future. When the dialogue wandered toward the meaning of life, she remembered long nights of conversation with friends back in her youth. It seemed she hadn’t really talked about philosophical subjects for years—not with the people she knew now, and not even when Sam was dying. Ryan’s idealism and energy and questioning about life were refreshing, invigorating.
    “I can’t tell you how many of my