Which was true. Especially now. The man had a smile that could swallow you whole, but Ani would not be swept up in it.
The only thing—the one little thing—that didn’t compute was when she said she didn’t date vendors and he didn’t scoff or scorn her. He also didn’t push or try to persuade her, like he apparently did with Lala. In fact, his response was incredibly mature. “I fully respect and fully heard your no.” She had believed him. Still, it didn’t matter. She’d work with him, only talk about the job when they were together, and keep him at arm’s length otherwise. Seemed like the safe course of action.
After they finished the call, Ani trundled into the kitchen, looking for anything remotely filling and healthy to eat. She had settled on a cheese stick to tide her over until she could make some real food when a text came in from an unknown number.
It was a 415 area code, from San Francisco. And it was a link to…a Pinterest board?
Ani almost dismissed it as spam until she saw the preview. Fountains. Domes.
And then another text came in.
Hey, it’s Raffi. Hope you don’t mind. Kami gave me your number.
Then another.Thought I’d get a head start. What do you think?
Raffi uses Pinterest?
When Ani tapped through to the board and saw how much thought had been put into the various pins, how they were pretty great comps to what she had in mind, and when she thought about him scouring the internet to work on this project and then taking the time to show his efforts to Ani, to ask her opinion…her icy feelings toward him melted just the slightest. Just a drop.
4
Raffi
Raffi loved Pinterest.He got a lot of his style ideas from the site, in fact. Luckily, his dad had never heard of it, so no chance of giving his dad more ammo for calling out Raffi on his lack of manliness.
Raffi sat at the laptop in the winery’s office, feeling proud of his text to Ani, that he had shown initiative—and very good taste, he might add—and decided to text his book club group chat, MBD.
You’ll never guess, but Ô is hosting its inaugural wedding, which will be none other than…wait for it…the queer wedding of an indie movie star and my billionaire ex-girlfriend.
The dots began dancing almost immediately.
His friend Kennedy texted back.That sounds like some Hallmark Channel SEO wish list, not real life.
Riley jumped in.WHAT IN THE HOLY VELVET-SUITED HELL.Is there a vibe board? Will tarot cards be involved? I NEED A GUEST LIST AND YES I WILL SIGN AN NDA.
Raffi chuckled to himself. Riley had more energy than the rest of the book club members combined.
Then Lana, in her signature quiet-snipe style, chimed in. I assume you’re emotionally spiraling. Please let us know if you’re okay.
Raffi:I’m fine. The relationship is ancient history. No spiral. Not even a corkscrew.
Kennedy:We’re flattered you chose us as your emotional support coven.
Lana:Okay, reassured. Permission to roast?
Raffi:Wow, thank you all for these calm and reasoned responses. And Lana you know you have standing permission.
Kennedy:You’re welcome. We contain multitudes. Mostly snark.
Raffi smiled down at the screen. God, he loved this group.
During his MBA program, he joined the club on a total whim. He’d always liked books when he was younger, fiction books, and then simply stopped reading at a certain point. None of his friends did, so he didn’t either. Dad had actively discouraged it, on top of that.You read business books, moneybooks, not this garbage.But when Raffi saw their club, titled enticingly Mad, Bad, and Dangerous Book Club, he figured he’d join. He hadn’t realized it was a feminist book club, even though all the other members were women—he just figured,chicks be reading—and to be honest the nature of the club didn’t dawn on him until the third text that was selected, another literary work dissecting the meaning of female identity. He didn’t quit, though. He liked what was happening to his brain, being challenged into expansion. Slowly, over the next six months, he came to meeting after meeting full of questions after having read the work, feeling his entire worldview shift. Realizing…he’d been kind of an asshole to women for too long.
He’d watched a great deal of romance movies with Sevan, and there was often this notion of “fixing” a man. In his reality, it had been a whole group of women. His book club had an AA–like meeting where Raffi confessed, expressed a desire to do better, and his new friends all acknowledged his hopes and told them they’d be there for him. And they were. And he did do better. Not perfect, but better.
The final member of MBD, Maya, joined the group chat then.Sorry I’m late, a six-year-old tried to unionize the snack schedule. Did I miss anything?
Raffi barked a laugh, the sound echoing through the quiet office—right as heavy footsteps approached from the hallway. His father lumbered in.
