Page 1 of Love Among Vines

CHAPTER ONE

JADE

“To Ashley!”

Five shot glasses clinked together. Tequila stung Jade Gardner’s throat as it slid down, leaving behind the taste of sweaty gym socks. It had never been her liquor of choice, but it wasn’t her bachelorette party.

She shot a look at the other four girls. They were sitting in a circle around the coffee table in the den of Ashley’s parents’ summer home. Even though it was early October, the air conditioning cranked away. The unseasonably warm weather clung to the hills surrounding Hammondsport, New York, like a second skin.

“So, what are we playing?” she asked when the burn had subsided. If nothing else, the sweaty gym sock juice might help her forget that her life was in shambles.

“Never Have I Ever?” Ashley Moore, bride-to-be and aspiring pediatric oncologist, flashed a mischievous smile. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun, and there was a small champagne stain on the collar of her shirt.

“Yes,” Kenya Jones said with a point of her manicured finger. A fitness influencer and arguably the most beautiful person Jadehad ever seen, Kenya had served as Ashley’s “yes man” for the entirety of the trip.

Penny, Jade’s golden retriever, put a paw on her lap as if to question the decision. In fact, she had expressed her disapproval more than once over the course of the trip.

Maybe she should have listened to the rescue pup.

The wedding wasn’t for another three days, and already this had been the most uncomfortable bachelorette party she’d ever attended. But that was probably because Ashley was marrying Jade’s ex-boyfriend.

“Sounds great.” Jade put up five fingers, then bit the inside of her lip.

She had climbed out Ashley’s bedroom window to play Never Have I Ever on their Midtown fire escape on slow summer evenings in high school.

But that was all before. Before grad school. Before Nate.

“What do you think, Blake?” Kenya said pointedly to another girl, who was staring at her phone and looking bored.

Blake Chan, Ashley’s friend from undergrad at Stanford University and current stick-in-the-mud, had spent the entire trip complaining about the rented party bus and yelling at her assistant on the phone. She had looked Jade from top to bottom on their first meeting earlier that evening and hadn’t spoken a word directly to her since. She was either shy, or she had decided that Jade’s denim overalls and overly enthusiastic golden retriever had already irrevocably tarnished the vibe of her Instagram stories for the weekend. So far, neither an unmatched playlist of 90s summer bops nor two glasses of champagne had loosened her up, but there was always hope.

“Sure.” Blake lifted her hand with as much enthusiasm as someone prepping for a colonoscopy.

“Great idea, Ash,” said maid of honor Camila Bettencourt. A fresh manicure in Ashley’s wedding colors gleamed under theoverhead lights. Her brunette hair was smoothed back into a low knot, and a strand of pearls curled around her neck.

A prickle of curiosity welled in Jade. Camila had FedEx’d everyone a calligraphed copy of the official wedding timeline and bachelorette party events, doled out personalized T-shirts like she was an Etsy shop, and led them through an increasingly elaborate series of bachelorette-themed games. What kind of crazy stories did the extremely type A New York City real estate heiress have under her belt?

Thank god Camila had covered most of the expenses for the trip. Between the thousand-dollar bridesmaid dress and her two-year hiatus from the art world, Jade was hovering on the precipice of financial ruin. But there was time to worry about that later. Her oldest friend was getting married. To Jade’s ex.

What the hell was she doing here?

“Never have I ever…” Ashley’s words derailed those thoughts. “Had a one-night stand.”

Kenya snorted. She, Jade, and Blake drank.

Blake leaned forward to look at Jade. “You don’t strike me as a one-night stand girl.” She almost sounded impressed.

Jade paused. “Well, I didn’t used to be. Now it’s kind of my comfort zone, you know? Can’t get hurt if you keep everyone at a forced distance.” She laughed, but it rang fake in the cathedral ceilinged room.

Oops. The tequila seemed to have unlocked some word vomit.

“Anyway,” Jade said, catching Ashley’s grimace behind her Solo cup. “Never have I ever been to Dubai.”

The game continued, with each claim growing more outrageous.

“Never have I ever given a blowjob under a table in a public restaurant,” Ashley said with a look at Camila.

“How dare you?” Camila’s hand flew to her chest like she had been accused of an egregious crime. She drank.