Page 113 of Flirting Lessons

“Well, you can give it to Erica the next time you see her.”

Sooner than Taylor would have thought, they were done cleaning up and just needed to bring the folding chairs and tables back into the basement of the winery building. And who should come strolling outside at that moment but Luke.

“How’d the shower go? Need any help?”

“We definitely do,” Taylor said. “Can you help us carry this stuff? Once we finish this, we’re done.”

Luke picked up a folding table in each arm, while Avery and Taylor each grabbed a stack of chairs.

“How is it that you always turn up here at the winery to helpout right when we need you, even though you don’t work here anymore?”

Luke grinned.

“Well, at first it was because I was in love with Margot, and now it’s also because I’m in love with Margot.” Taylor and Avery both laughed at him. “Other than that, though, I was out of town and just got back, so I swung by the winery to say hi, since I know she can’t leave until late. But she’s schmoozing with some VIPs, and I saw you two out here, and I thought I might as well make myself useful while I wait for her.” He looked from Avery to Taylor as Taylor opened the door to the basement. “What more do you two have to do other than get the rest of the stuff out there back in here? Because if that’s it, you guys take off, I’ll take care of this.”

“Luke, you don’t have to do that—” Taylor started. But Avery talked over her.

“You’re the best, thank you so much. And yeah, we’ve taken care of everything else, and there are some great leftovers up in the staff kitchen.” She grabbed Taylor’s hand. “Do you have everything?”

“Yeah, but he doesn’t have to—”

Avery tugged her outside.

“Bye, Luke! Thanks again!” she called over her shoulder. She smiled at Taylor as she hurried her toward the parking lot. “Don’t argue, just let him do it. Aren’t you ready to get out of here? He needs something to keep himself busy until Margot is free. Win-win.”

Avery had a point. Who was she to try to keep a man from doing her work, especially something she didn’t particularly want to do?

Once they were both in Avery’s car, Avery looked at her expectantly. It took her a few seconds to realize why, but she finally gotit: Avery must know something was wrong. That’s why she’d gotten rid of Sloane and Erica, and that’s why she’d been so eager to let Luke take over. Thank goodness she could finally relax and not have to keep up the pretense that she wasn’t angry and hurt.

“Well?” Avery said. “Aren’t you going to ask?”

What was she talking about?

“Ask?”

“About your surprise?” Avery said.

Oh. She’d forgotten about the surprise. All she’d been able to think about for the past hour and a half had been Erica’s bet against her.

“Right. My surprise.”

She tried, and failed, to say it with some excitement in her voice. Fuck, now Avery looked hurt. Taylor was furious with herself. Avery was excited about this damn surprise, and Taylor probably would be, too, if she hadn’t overheard her best friend shitting on their relationship an hour and a half ago.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say it like that,” she said. “Can we try that again? ‘Oh right, my surprise!’ ” She winced. Great, now she just sounded sarcastic. “I’m sorry, I swear it’s not you, I’m—”

“It’s fine,” Avery said, in a voice that made it clear that it was absolutely not fine.Fuck, fuck, fuck.She wasn’t good at this shit. Maybe Erica was right about her and relationships.

No, fuck that.

“No, seriously, Avery, listen to me. I’m sorry that I’m being shitty about your surprise, it has nothing to do with you. I’m upset about something that happened at the shower; I was waiting until everything was over to talk to you about it, and I was so focused on getting out of there that I forgot all about the surprise, I’m really sorry.”

Avery’s shoulders relaxed, and her expression softened.

“Oh. Okay.” She started the car. “What happened?”

Taylor took a deep breath. She hadn’t actually planned to tell Avery about this. She didn’t want to spoil the shower for Avery, who had worked so hard, and she didn’t want Avery to feel insecure around her friends. But now she had to tell Avery what she’d overheard. She didn’t tell her someone had called her uptight; Avery didn’t need to know that. But she told her everything else that Erica had said, and everything else she’d overheard.

“Well,” Avery said when Taylor finished her story. “I’m now invested in making sure Sloane wins this bet. We just have to stay together long enough to prove the haters wrong.”

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