Page 89 of Love Among Vines

She pulled a face. “Wow, that is…warm.”

Rett snorted. “And just slightly alcoholic. Do you think they found it on the side of the road?”

“Definitely. Or maybe the trunk of an abandoned car?” She rolled her window down and dumped the rest out.

Rett did the same, then reached over Penny to put his hand on her thigh.

“What? You look like you have something to say,” she said.

“You know how we were talking about wise financial decisions?” A tight smile was on his face like he was suppressing a laugh. His eyes shone in the fading light.

“Listen, they were kids, okay?”

“And you’re on the verge of homelessness. Maybe let’s try to rein in the spending on backpack cheese and roadside hooch.”

She poked him. “I will give up my apartment before I give up backpack cheese.”

“Well, at least you have your priorities in order.”

She snort laughed, then clapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, I think that apple cider might have given me some kind of exotic infection.”

“Same. Maybe we should skip the date.”

“Don’t you dare. Explosive diarrhea be damned. You’ve made me wait this long. If you don’t shiver my timbers tonight, I’m going to tell your parents we’re not that serious and I’ve caught you looking at pictures of twenty-one-year-old actresses on Instagram.”

“Did you say shiver your timbers?” Amusement sparkled in his eyes again.

“Yeah. What, you’ve never heard of pirate foreplay? You naïve vanilla waffle cone.”

“Do you always insult people so much during first dates?”

“I could say the same to you. I think you’ve called me a poor dummy about thirty-seven times since you picked me up.”

“You’re not a poor dummy,” he said defensively.

“Mmhmm,” Jade said noncommittally. “So, Vanilla. Tell me what’s on the agenda for this date?”

“It’s a surprise.”

She stared at him. “That’s all I get? It’s a surprise?”

“Yes.”

“Well, am I dressed appropriately? These suede boots are not built for nighttime hiking.”

“No nighttime hiking.”

“Great. So we’ve eliminated one of several thousand possibilities. All right, I’m prepared to be wowed.”

Jade didn’t mind a good surprise. Nate had often pulled them off. It was one of his few redeeming qualities, though in hindsight they were usually just bait for his Instagram. She sat back in her seat and buried a hand in Penny’s floof. At least they were almost at Rett’s.

“I forgot to tell you,” he said. “The winery added a booth at the festival tomorrow, and my usual employees can’t run it, so I’ll have to take you home after the 5k.”

“Are you kidding me right now? You’re going to deprive me of my first Finger Lakes fall festival? No way. I’m obviously going to help you with the booth. No arguments,” she said with a pointed finger. “It’ll be great for our cover story for the town to see two lovebirds running the booth. And I’m sure you can give me a crash course on whatever your mobile POS system looks like.”

“You have a point. I’ll get you a T-shirt.”

“And a bandana for Penny.”

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