SMACK.

A worn leather purse fell, a bit violently, onto a sticky bar table at a local pub.

“Jesus Em, have some respect for your vintage wares! I swear, somewhere in the afterlife, Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent are crying at your lack of respect for fashion.”

“It’s been a long day Coop,” Emily sighed in exasperation, brushing her strawberry blonde hair behind her ear, “can we just get some drinks?”

It was a weeknight, so the pub was bustling with some after-work traffic. A group of men in business suits were huddled into a nearby booth arguing about overbearing clients while a honeymooning couple sat at the bar, nudging each other and flirting incessantly. In a far corner at another table, a lone stranger in a black suit and tie was sipping what looked like straight whiskey.

"Ugh, I’m gonna puke in my mouth,” Coop complained after scanning the bar and seeing the couple’s public displays of affection, “We don’t all need to see your mushy happiness.”

“Oh,” Em started, “maybe we should invite the funeral director over to join us in our misery.”

“Yeah dude, who invited the Men in Black?” Coop laughed, nearly choking on his own spit as he tried to keep his voice down. The stranger in the corner didn’t seem to take any notice.

The two friends continued to chuckle as they settled into the dark, warm pub after ordering some well-deserved drinks. Coop settled for a Mexican martini with salt on the rim while Em got her usual gin and tonic. The friends clinked their glasses together and sighed in unison. Adulthood was not as glamorous as they thought it would be.

“So what’s got you throwing purses around the bar? Your male friend not taking hints again, or did Aunt Flow come to hang out?”

Em paused, tilted her head and glared at Coop for a moment before sipping her gin and tonic again.

“Wow Coop…no I’m just stressed. My mom called again, she’s been sounding more upset than usual lately. I think my stepfather has started drinking again...” Em trailed off as she traced her delicate finger around the rim of her glass.

“Oh shit, and I’m just upset that I haven’t gotten laid recently. Is Momma alright?” Coop asked as he swung back his martini like it was water.

Em sat, transfixed on the motion of her finger tracing her glass, trying to choose her words carefully. When it came to her stepfather, she was completely powerless. The thought that he could be up to his shenanigans again was heartbreaking, and she couldn’t help but resent her mother a bit for allowing these transgressions to occur. There must have been so many flags in the past, so many times when her mother could have prevented all the heartache Em’s stepfather had caused.

“I’m not sure honestly. Since I’m no longer living at home, he could be taking all kinds of repressed anger out on her. She doesn’t like to talk to me about it, but I’ve seen her scars. Her voice cracks whenever she’s trying hard not to think about it.”

“Fuck dude…haven’t you tried reporting him? I guess there’s only so much you can do since he’s a cop,” Coop looked at Em, concerned about what he was hearing. It had been a few years since anything major had happened to Em’s mother, but there had been a time when she was supposedly beaten senseless by a burglar. Em and Coop had driven to the hospital shortly after to find Em’s mother unconscious and bruised from head to toe. Oddly enough, the security footage from the house had been deleted shortly after the incident.

“I’ve tried Coop, they always say that they will look into it, but it just gets covered up. He has too many friends in law enforcement,” Em’s eyes started to water as she choked back more of her drink, trying to distract herself from all the thoughts flitting in and out of her head.

Coop sat on the other side of the table, half-frowning and perplexed. The two friends ordered another round of drinks and then sat in a somber silence. Next to their table, the booth of businessmen was getting louder and rowdier as the night edged on while the couple at the bar tried (and failed) not to suck face in public.

“Sorry, I’ve really killed the mood,” Em apologized while forcing a smile, “but I’m going to check on Mom this weekend. Hopefully it goes well…”

“I think Romeo and Juliet sucking face over there already killed the mood. But dude, that can’t be safe. You need to be careful. Do you want me to go with you?”

Em smiled meekly, “I appreciate it Coop, but I don’t want to drag you in anymore. The moral support is more than enough. Feel free to distract me with your dating horror stories.”

“Oh honey, don’t even get me started,” Coop rolled his eyes and proceeded to launch into a full-fledged story about a man who lied about being married to a woman and how he was always asking Coop for weird favors.

“…I mean, I’m okay with his kinks and all, but his teenage son almost walked in on us! I was horrified! He said he was divorced with shared custody but hell no. They all live in the same house.”

Em and Coop were a few drinks in at this point, and their cheeks were flushed as they tripped over their words and reminisced about failed dates and how horrific high school had been. Coop was giggling like a mad hatter as he finished his last martini and licked salt off of his reddened lips. Em proceeded to finish her own drink as well, although it was mostly melted ice at that point.

Em stood up sluggishly, proclaiming that it was time for her to ‘break the seal,’ and started towards the bathroom. She wasn’t completely wasted, but the sudden change in position caused the blood to rush from Em’s head, making her stagger into a passing stranger who was leaving the pub. The stranger grabbed Em to help her steady herself, trying not to cause a scene.

Em was too embarrassed to look the stranger in the face, but she noticed from the suit that she was holding onto the stranger from the corner.

“Oh God, I’m so sorry. I just lost my balance,” Em stammered as she spoke into the stranger’s chest. Sweet, musky cologne crept from the stranger’s well-kempt, black suit and into Em’s nostrils making her face flush even further as she pulled away from the stranger’s arms. Before they could respond, Em walked briskly towards the restroom without looking back. Coop was giggling almost violently as she walked away.

* * * * *

The cityscape was littered with an array of lights, like the night sky had fallen closer to the earth bringing all of the stars with it. Em and Coop stood on the curb outside of the pub, pulling their jackets closer to their bodies against the autumn chill as they waited for a cab to take them home. Coop was still snickering about Em running into the “sexy stranger” while she groaned in humiliation.

“Ha! Well maybe if you’re lucky you’ll see them again,” Coop chuckled, “Oh, by the way. When you were in the bathroom, I was watching the news on the pub’s TV. The local authorities think the Agency struck again.”

“Well that’s no surprise, they’re pretty active in this city yeah?”

“Yeah but…this dude ate a shotgun. Apparently there was masking tape on the wall behind him or something. The splatter left some crazy artwork,” Coop said as his warm breath carried into the cool, night air.

“Christ…” Em cursed under her breath as a yellow cab pulled up beside the two friends.

“Go ahead and take this one, I’ll be going in the opposite direction,” Coop said as he opened the cab door, ushering Em to sit inside.

“Are you sure –?” Em began to sputter.

“It’s no problem love. Call me if there’s any news about your momma. Ta-ta!”

The cab door shut behind Em after she clamored into the backseat, ready for the night to be over. A nervousness began to envelop her as she thought about the approaching weekend and how she might be seeing her stepfather sooner than she had hoped. It was sad to say but, nearly any memory she had attached to that man left a bitter taste in her mouth.

The cab soon pulled up to Em’s modest, urban apartment where she climbed out of the backseat and bid the driver farewell. Her heeled boots clacked against the pavement as she walked up to the front door and reached her hand into her jacket pocket. Next to her keys, she felt her fingers graze against something foreign that wasn’t there before.

Puzzled, Em pulled a white business card from her pocket and inspected its sleek, black lettering:

Call Promptly

XXX-XXXX

Emily’s eyes widened as they continued to digest the contents of the card. Underneath the typeface of the inscribed phone number was a black, minimalistic image of a bird in flight.