Read Deeply, Desperately for Free Online

Wine. Good stuff too. I love Raphael."
    Em stood near the marble console table, frozen as if her feet had been cemented to the floor. Her gaze had landed squarely on Aiden.
    Aiden stared at her with wide blue eyes.
    It didn't take a psychic to see how he felt.
    "I, ah, was just leaving," he said.
    "You don't have to go." Em set down her handbag and hung her coat on the rack.
    Marisol elbowed me, eyebrows raised and waggling. I could practically read her mind about how Aiden could be a great tool in getting rid of Joseph.
    No way. Uh-uh. That was much too risky.
    Color rose along Em's neck. She raised her hand to her throat as if trying to keep the heat in check. There was no missing the giant rock on her ring finger.
    Aiden stammered. "S-sorry, but I can't stay. I have, ah, the national anthem ..." He glanced around like a caged animal. "Tell Raphael I said thanks."
    He made his escape before any of us could get a word out.
    "That was interesting," Marisol said, taking his vacated stool after grabbing a wine glass.
    "What was?" Em slid onto the stool on my other side.
    "Come on, you'd have to be blind not to see it."
    "See what?" Em said, finding great interest in the tines of a fork.
    "The way he looked at you! I want a guy to look at me like that."
    "You're seeing things," she said.
    Marisol gaped at me. "Lucy, tell her."
    Em tipped her head, waiting. The three of us had been friends for so long, there was little we didn't share with each other, including our love lives. But this ... this flirtation between Em and Aiden ... it wasn't something I wanted to delve into. I was already feeling guilty for breaking and entering into her private life. "I didn't see anything." I sipped my wine.
    "Lucy!" Marisol cried, her dark bob swaying. "How could you?"
    "How's Butch?" Em asked Marisol, blatantly trying to turn the tables.
    Butch, Marisol's latest boyfriend, also happened to be Aiden's roommate. I could imagine the phone call he'd be getting tonight. Would Marisol be able to rope him into her plans?
    Undoubtedly. She had that effect on men.
    "All right," Marisol said.
    "Just all right?" Em asked.
    I kept silent, already having had this conversation today. I poured myself another glass of wine and filled a glass for Em too.
    "Why don't you break up with him?" Em asked.
    "He looks just like Matt Damon!"
    I laughed. Marisol cracked a smile. Em shook her head.
    "I know I ought to end it," Marisol whined, "but Christmas is coming up. I hate being alone at Christmas."
    No one liked being alone during the holidays, and with Valentine's Day fast approaching, my father would be working long hours to match lovers. This was one of the busiest times of the year for Valentine, Inc.
    I knew I'd spent far too many holidays alone. This year would be different. I had Sean. And maybe, finally, our relationship would move out of slow motion and creep into something less torturous.
    "It's no reason to stay with someone," Em lectured, her red hair tamed into a ponytail that snaked over one shoulder.
    "And what is?" Marisol countered. "Comfort and familiarity? Like you and Joseph?"
    I gaped, shocked. Not because she'd asked the question, but because she'd actually said his name.
    Em sputtered. "What are you trying to say, Marisol?"
    Marisol pushed her glass back and forth across the quartz countertop. Soft wrinkles burrowed on her forehead, her expression serious. Softly, she said, "Have you gotten your Christmas tree yet?"
    I refilled all our wine glasses and looked around for another bottle. It was going to be that kind of night.
    "Not yet," Em admitted.
    "Why not?" Marisol pressed.
    "Joseph's been working long hours."
    Marisol raised her eyebrows.
    "And not just him," Em added. "I've been working hard on the wedding now that my mother isn't talking to me."
    Em's mother had been outraged when her daughter gave up her M.D. to teach five-year-olds, which, according to her, was "beneath a Baumbach."
    "They're saying they won't pay for the wedding"--Em