The girl walked into the dimly lit, practically empty bar and looked around. There was no one there but the mid-aged bartender who was just reading. The notes of an old Billy Joel song filled the silence and the girl vaguely wondered if it was closed. It seemed like a nice place and yet it was empty. She checked her watch, it was about ten. Surely it wasn’t already closed?

                “Hey, can I help you?” The bartender suddenly spoke, making the girl jump.

                “Sorry, are you…closed?”

                “Nope, just not very busy.” The older woman chuckled, setting her book down. The girl shrugged and made her way over to the bar, sitting down across the woman. She was glad that she wasn’t alone in here with some large scary dude. “You look pretty busted up.” The bartender noted, making the girl shrug. “Well we can go into the grand old tradition of you unloading to the older and wiser bartender if you like,” The woman offered, making the girl chuckle. “I’m Ashley,” The woman stuck her hand out, pulling her chair over so that she was sitting across from the girl.

                “Ellie,”

                “I like your name, very original.”

                “Thanks. I think I just want a glass of wine,”

                “Sure, which?”                

                “You pick,” Ellie said, getting out her ID so Ashley could check it before pouring two glasses of red wine. She sat back and down and pushed one glass towards Ellie while taking a sip from the other.

                “Okay, tell me everything.” Ashley said, making Ellie laugh before examining the woman. She was caught off guard to find that the woman was gorgeous, even though she had to be nearing 50. Her brown hair was pulled up and while the skin was soft and lined with age it still held a certain beauty. She could tell that the woman had to have been stunning when she was younger. Kind brown eyes stared back at her amusedly as Ellie thought it over before taking a sip.

                “I got married three weeks ago.”

                “Congratulations,”

                “To a girl,” Ellie was surprised to not see shock on the woman’s face, just a kind smile. “We’ve only been together for a couple of months, but I just knew that she was it.” Ashley smiled and nodded, her eyes sparkling as if holding a secret. “We had our first real fight tonight. You know we’ve had our differences but tonight was just terrible. I couldn’t stand it. I just…left and ended up here.” She shrugged. “I mean, I know that everyone fights but some of the things that I said to her…” Ashley chuckled and Ellie looked up from where she had been twirling the wine around.