Page 46 of Feel It All

“Hey, watch it,” I tease. “He’s mine.”

“First, we would never, but even if we tried to seduce him, we would all fail. He only has eyes for you, Win.” Waverley stabs a piece of chicken with her fork and plops it in her mouth.

“See, I told you,” Ivy echoes. “Forget what Sara said, Winry.”

“You’re right, you’re right. Sorry guys, let’s move on to better topics,” I say, dusting my hands of the conversation.

“Are y’all planning something special for the anniversary of opening Crossroads?” Wyla asks in between bites.

“I think we should do something. Ives, what do you think?” I ask.

“I’m down for whatever,” Ivy shrugs. “You are the planner girl.”

“Well, I think we could do like an open house party. Have some samples of our treats and little coffee shots out, and do some door prizes like gift cards, some of our blind date books, and maybe some like coffee mugs. Mom has one of those machines so she could put our name on them.” I ramble off my ideas. “I say we do it the first Saturday in September, which would give us plenty of time.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. See, this is why you are the planner. I’ll let you throw all that together and I’ll make little shots of our favorite drinks and then maybe just have our daily brew set out with some sugar and creamer.”

“Oh, Ivy, make those fruit pizza cookies, but make them like bite sized samples. I love those cookies. Oh, oh, and those chocolate chip brownie tarts. Man, what I wouldn’t give for one of those right now,” Waverley says licking her lips.

Ivy nods, “Yeah, those will be good, and easy to make a bunch of.”

“I’ll handle all the decorations and marketing for it, and Abigal can assist us where we need it. Oh, I’m so excited, I can’t believe we have been open for almost a year.” Pride radiates through me.

“I know, it’s crazy, it feels like y’all just opened it. I mean that’s a big accomplishment; a lot of people don’t have the growth you guys have had in a year. Oh, hold on let’s have a toast,” Wyla picks up her glass. “To Crossroads and the beautiful women who own it.”

We all lift our glasses and clink them together. “Cheers!” We chorus together and laugh.

“Ugh, I am stuffed,” Waverley leans back on the love seat and rubs her belly.

“Me too,” I collapse back also, copying Waverley.

“Let’s take our wine on the back porch,” Wyla stands, grabbing her glass and bottle.

“Oh, yes,” I follow suit and head out the back door with my glass and bottle.

Outside, Blackjack is curled up in the little cat bed I have laid out for him. “Hey there, bud.” I say, giving him a little pet. He meows and swats me away. “Okay, ungrateful, I’ll leave you alone.”

Ivy and I sit on the couch while Wyla and Waverley sit in the hanging chairs. We are at least one bottle deep each, and our buzz is kicking in. I finish my glass and Ivy pours me another.

“This is just what I needed, guys. Thank you,” I reach out and grab Ivy’s hand and give it a squeeze and start to laugh for no reason.

“Oh, here we go, Winry’s drunk,” Waverley laughed with me. I may be a giggler when I get a few drinks in me—sue me.

“Shut up, at least I am a happy drunk.” I laugh again. My phone starts ringing on the small side table. “Ivy, can you hand me that?”

“Sure thing.” Ivy leans over grabbing my phone. “It’s lover boy.” Ivy hands me my phone and does a little dance with her eyebrows which makes me laugh again.

“Gimme that.” I take a deep breath, trying to calm my giggles. I try and fail. “Hey, you.” I say in between laughs.

Ivy hits my leg, “Put him on speaker.” So I do.

“Hey buttercup, what’s so funny?” Graham lets out a light chuckle at my laughing fit.

“She’s drunk, Graham.” Waverly yells. “I hope you like a giggle box drunk because that is what you got.”

Graham really laughs at that, “Babe, are you drunk?”

“Just a little…it’s their fault. They brought a bunch of wine,” I say defensively.

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