Page 70 of Up All Night

“So two weeks before classes started, my dad sat me down and laid out my future, showing me that Abigail didn’t fit into the plan.”

“Wow. That’s a lot of pressure to put on your child at eighteen,” she said, almost as if to herself before she looked at me. “How hard was it to break up with your girlfriend?”

I blew out a breath of air. “This is the part of the story I still regret. I could have handled it a lot better, but I was young and stupid.” We continued on the path as it wound around, more flowers and greenery on both sides. “As bad as it may sound, I wasn’t crushed at the idea of having to break up with her. I liked her and we had fun, but I wasn’t in love with her. And with us not even being in the same place, it made sense to me to break things off. So I went over to her house and broke up with her like it was more of a business transaction than a year-and-a-half long relationship.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, I’m not proud of it,” I said. “She’s married now to some French guy, living in Paris, designing clothes, so I don’t think she’s too bent out of shape about it, but still.”

She chuckled. “That’s good, I guess.”

“What about you?” I asked, hoping we could get the attention off my dating life.

“What about me? Am I wishing I lived in Paris with a hot French guy? Life could be worse.”

I grinned. “No, were you a serial dater when you were young?”

“I dated a lot, too, but never anything serious until after high school.” She stopped, dipping her head to smell one of the flowers. She started walking again but kept quiet.

When she didn’t expound, I asked, “And what happened with you and the guy you got serious with after high school?”

She sighed. “Teddy was my first love. Or my first infatuation, really. He was a singer in a band. I was waitressing at a diner one night when he and his bandmates came in after a gig. I waited on their table, and we hit it off. He asked me out, and then we dated for five months. I would go to all his shows and be that embarrassing groupie girlfriend.” Her nose scrunched in disgust. “Like you mentioned earlier, I was also young and stupid. He broke up with me, saying if he wanted to be a serious musician, he couldn’t have a girlfriend, which really meant he wanted to hook up with different women at his shows without feeling guilty.”

“I’m sorry.” Being dumped by someone because they wanted to stop feeling guilty for cheating on you couldn’t have been easy.

She waved me off. “Don’t be. He did me a favor by breaking up with me.”

We got to the Moon Viewing Garden and walked out onto the fenced in dock.

Halle looked out across the water at the surrounding trees. “This is so beautiful.”

It was an intimate spot, famous for engagement photos and weddings, and I could see why people thought it was such a romantic place. Watching Halle take in the beauty of the garden around us had me wanting to use the common line of saying it really was beautiful while looking at her. But instead I forced my gaze away from her and out over the pond. I needed to keep things neutral and friendly. I didn’t need to give her mixed signals.

“Yeah, I remember liking this garden the first time I came. It’s very beautiful.” There. That sounded like something a friend would say to another friend.

She leaned against the railing, seeming to be lost in thought. I wanted to ask her what she was thinking, but I decided it was probably better to let her enjoy the quiet.

Conversation flowed easily for the rest of our time at the gardens, but we steered clear of more serious topics, avoiding more talk about our dating lives. We talked about random things, spending a chunk of time brainstorming dance studio names.

It became apparent early on that I wasn’t very good at suggesting names. The best one I came up with was Prance and Dance. Give me numbers and spreadsheets any day. Although I did make her laugh hard enough that she had to stop walking because she was doubled over, so I counted it as a win.

It took us a little over an hour to get to Sonoma to catch the trolley that would take us on our wine tasting tour. Halle took over the music, which I didn’t mind since I only listened to podcasts.

We boarded the trolley that would take us to three different wineries, one of which would also be our spot for lunch.

“This trolley is so cute,” Halle said, looking around at the cable car that had been modeled to look like the authentic ones in San Francisco.

“I thought it would be a fun way to see a few wineries, as well as the picturesque landscape.”

She sucked in her lips. “You sound like a brochure.”

I nodded, realizing she was right. “I think I might have actually read that on their website.”

She laughed, and it made making myself look like a dork worth it.

The trolley driver welcomed all of us on the tour and introduced himself. He began the tour by telling us some of the history of Sonoma, as well as pointing out historic landmarks along the way. He was in the middle of telling us about the first winery where we would be stopping, but I was having a hard time concentrating on his commentary.

All I could think about was the girl sitting next to me. Her ponytail blew slightly in the wind, her eyes looking bright like she was enjoying this experience, and that neck of hers and her exposed shoulders were still tempting me.

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