Page 164 of The Snowball Effect

Especially not when it seemed Audrey was possibly drunk?!

Cautiously, Regan approached the bar, where she could see her sister sitting on one of the stools.

Audrey’s fine, silky blonde hair was pulled into one of those ponytails that Regan often thought could only be accomplished by social media influencers or something. She wore diamond earrings with a matching necklace – jewelry that wasn’t flashybut was definitely expensive as hell. The sleeveless dark blue dress she wore was undoubtedly designer, and the cream-colored blazer she’d definitely worn over it to work was draped over the back of her chair without a single wrinkle to be seen.

Regan had never seen Audrey at work at her fancy PR firm, but… yeah, this was exactly what she would have imagined her sister wore in her everyday life.

The wine bar itself was one that Regan would never have stepped foot in; she doubted she could afford to buy a bottle of anything in here. And, in her sports bra and overalls, she didn’t exactlybelongwith the other clientele.

She cleared her throat as she approached her sister, alerting her to Regan’s presence.

Audrey spun on her stool so quickly, she nearly fell off of it. Quickly, Regan jumped forward to try to help stabilize her, baffled by the fact that –yeah. Audrey really was drunk!

“Regan! Hey, you!” Audrey’s cheeks were rosy, and her green eyes were a little glassy, and Regan felt like her world was flipped on its fucking axis.

“Uh, hey… you.” Slowly, she removed her hands from her sister’s arms, making sure that Audrey wasn’t going to slip off of her stool again. “What’s going on?”

Audrey ignored her question and turned to lift the briefcase that had been draped over the stool next to her, as if she’d been saving it. “Come and sit,” she commanded, in that imperious tone. It was a little less imperious, though, when she was clearly not in full control of her faculties.

She turned sharply, waving at the woman tending the bar.

“Marlie, this is my sister, Regan. She’ll have what I’m having.” Audrey used one of her hands to swirl the red wine in her glass. Thankfully, there was very little left in said glass, or it would have sloshed right out.

Swearing she could hear horror movie music play in her head, Regan perched herself on the stool. “So–”

“Actually,” Audrey started again, looking up at Regan with a considering frown. “Do you even like wine, Regan? Because,ha, I have no idea if you do. It’s a Sangiovese, made and imported from a vineyard Armando and I toured in Italy last year.” She laughed again, mirthlessly, as she tapped her fingertips against the bar. “Actually– only I went on the tour. But Armando had a ticket, so…”

She shrugged, as if to saythere you go, and lifted her glass again, taking a large gulp to down the rest of the liquid.

Regan could only stare for several beats, finding herself at a loss for words. Mostly because what she wanted to say waswhat the fuck? But she bit that back.

“Um… wine is… fine. No punning rhyme intended.” She smiled apologetically at Marlie as she poured a glass for Regan and refilled Audrey’s, wondering exactly how difficult it had been for her to manage Audrey so far. God, Regan hoped her sister was going to tip well.

“Wine is fine. Indeed, it is.” Audrey sighed in agreement, as she nodded toward Regan. “So – go on. Drink up.”

Regan tugged the glass toward her carefully – this was thelastplace she needed to accidentally drop a glass and cause a scene – but kept her cautious gaze trained on her sister.

“Tell me what you were up to today,” Audrey stated rather than ask, turning an expectant look at her.

Still feeling vaguely like there was a prank being pulled on her, Regan blew out a slow breath. “Nothing much. I’d just finished baking a batch of cookies when you’d texted.”

“That’sright. I saw on your Instagram that you do that, now,” Audrey’s voice dipped into something low and thoughtful.

Again, even though they’d definitely turned a corner, Regan couldn’t help but be surprised that Audrey knew about herbaking or that she kept up with Regan’s socials. “Uh, yeah. These are for a retirement party, actually.”

Emma’s gram had not only gotten Regan a referral for this party, but two other potential events in the last week. Which Regan was still having trouble wrapping her mind around; people werepayingher to bake? People liked the things she created enough to want her to cater parties?!

She was approaching this new avenue with as much caution as she could, but she was undeniably thrilled by it.

Audrey pursed her lips as she nodded decisively at her. “You know, Regan, that’s great. That is really wonderful, that you have this passion.”

Her eyebrows arched high on her forehead as she took a little sip of wine. “Thanks. It’s been–”

“Now, tell me: are you dating anyone?” Audrey asked with as much laser-focus someone could have when they weren’t sober.

Choking on her sip, Regan quickly sat the glass down;thatwas why she wasn’t supposed to touch the wine glasses in fancy restaurants. “What? Why – Audrey,whatis going on?”

There was a knowing glint in her sisters’ eyes as she leaned back. “Ah, so you are dating someone.”

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