Page 156 of Love Among Vines

“I’m buying one of the paintings in the back room. As a wedding present,” she added, flashing an engagement ring the size of a Kinder Egg under the mood lighting.

Jade grabbed her hand. “Are you kidding me? Hakeem proposed?”

Kenya nodded. “I hope you’ll come. We’re thinking next September.”

“Not in the Finger Lakes, right?” Jade teased.

Kenya laughed and shook her head. “Definitely not. Love it there, but it’s forever tainted for me after that shitshow.”

“I’m so happy for you,” Jade said, administering another hug. “Have you talked to Ashley?”

“A little. Apparently the divorce isn’t going well.”

Jade shook her head. As much as Ashley deserved to have her marriage fall apart, it didn’t bring Jade any pleasure.

“That’s a pity. Well, thank you again for coming, and for buying. Which one’s going home with you?”

“Karma,” Kenya said. “It’s perfect.”

“That’s one of my favorites,” Jade said with another smile. It made her heart glow to think of one of her creations nestled on Kenya’s walls in Los Angeles.

“Go schmooze,” Kenya ordered, pointing to the back room.

“Yes, Mom,” Jade said. She should probably figure out where Penny had disappeared to anyway.

When she stepped into the back room she had a split second view of a floral arch.

“Surprise,” someone shouted. Someone crashed into her, and something heavy sloshed between them. Was that a bag of wine?

She pulled back to find Tom, Cindy, Elena, Gemma, and Margie all crowded into the back room.

Her heart leapt into her throat. She hadn’t even told them about the showing. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We came to celebrate you, dummy,” Gemma said, throwing herself on Jade.

Jade laughed into her shock of red hair. She hadn’t even consciously realized how important it was to have someone on her side during her first post-Nate showing. And now she had a small battalion of people just waiting to support and celebrate her. Even if Rett wasn’t here. That fact bothered her more than she cared to admit.

“We’ve been waiting to talk to you for like an hour.” Cindy elbowed Tom out of the way. “You’re so popular.”

“Everyone’s just shocked to see I’m not dead,” Jade said.

“Stop it,” Elena said. “They’re here for you. And to fight each other to the death in bidding wars, apparently. Did you see how many ‘sold’ tags you have?”

She glanced pointedly at the far wall, where there were indeed a lot of paintings with tags. She made a mental note to go to her bank on Monday. It was time to set up a retirement account and find a way to make sure that she was never again on the brink of homelessness.

“We are so proud of you, sweetheart,” Margie said. “That one’s coming home with me.” She pointed to another one of the rebirth series.

“The rest of us would snatch them up, too, but we can’t afford you. You weren’t kidding,” Tom said. His Australian accent seemed to have gotten thicker over the course of the bag of wine.

“What’s this?” Elena leaned forward and frowned at Jade’s collarbone. “You got the ice skates covered up!”

Jade’s tattoo had healed enough to be unveiled to the world. A crooked lake with a sunflower at the bottom now covered the last remnant of Nate.

“Let me see,” Cindy said. They all crowded around her.

“It’s perfect,” Gemma declared. “Now all we need for you is to?—”

“Come home?” another voice interrupted.

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