I couldn't help myself, and when her eyes grow two sizes bigger and she flushes, I know it was totally worthit.
I wink at her as I cross to the kitchen, where dinner is laidout.
"I thought you said you were picking up food. What's this? Did you cook?" she asks when she sees dinner already served sitting at thetable.
A sharp laugh escapes my lips. "I like to pretend I cook. I'll pick up food from the Italian restaurant I told you about and put it on a plate so I don't feel like I'm eating out all the time. It's lame, I know, but my mom never taught me how tocook."
"Don't blame this on Nancy. She'd hate to hear you eat out as much as youdo."
"She knows, believe me, and hassles me all the time about how I live my life. Can I offer you a glass of wine to go with your lasagna?" I ask, fetching the only two wine glasses Iown.
"Sure, thanks." She pulls up a chair and places a napkin in herlap.
"My boss gave me a couple bottles of wine after we won our last case. He says it's his favorite, and I've been waiting for a special occasion to open it. It's called Chimney Rock from the Stags Leap district of Napa. They supposedly have the best Cabernet Sauvignon around. Should I openit?"
"Sounds good to me. I'm not a huge red wine person, but I'll give it atry."
I pour and take the glasses to the table, handing her one as I hold mine up. "May the best music genrewin."
We clink glasses, and she takes asip.
My mouth explodes with the smoothest wine I've ever tasted. After swishing it a few times, I let it roll down my throat, never getting that burn some wines give. I lift my eyebrows in amazement and glance ather.
"Wow. This is good. Okay, so maybe I do like red wine," she states insurprise.
I nod and join her at thetable.
The first bottle disappears during dinner, and our conversation never stops. After we clear our plates, there is no question about opening the other bottle. We take it and our glasses into the living room, where we’re about to throw down in an epic battle of the musicgenres.
She sits on the couch and pulls her legs up, as comfortable as she can be. I have to admit, she looks good sitting theretoo.
"Okay, lay it on me. You go first, and yes, I will judge everything from your first song, so choose wisely, my friend," Ijab.
"Oh, it's on. I love a good challenge, and I'm prepared to win. My first choice is Sam Hunt’s entire album,Montevallo. Every song is about him and his girlfriend, who’s now his wife, but I’ll only playCop Carbecause I have a story to go with it. He was a college football player who happened to pick up the guitar one day, and let's just say his career as a quarterback took a backseat after that. So, last year Keith Urban, wait, please tell me you've heard ofhim?"
I nod, leaning back on my couch to take this whole scenein.
"Okay good, so, he released this songCop Car,and I liked it but it bugged me because it was more than obvious that he didn't write it. You see, he's married to Nicole Kidman and has been for a while. There's no way they 'fell in love in the back of a cop car' as the song indicates and I don't know why but it really bugged me. So, a few months later I bought this album and guess what song’s onit?"
I playfully shrug my shoulders, having to bite back my desire to tease her about her excitement level over thissong.
"Cop Car!" she exclaims like it's the craziest thingever.
I can't help butlaugh.
"Don't you see? It's got to be about him and his girlfriend. It's just too personal of a story for anyone else to singit."
She sits back, finished with her story and looks at me. "Youready?"
I smile. "Playit."
The song starts off slow talking about trespassing to watch planes take off. When the police arrive, they get arrested and he falls in love with her in the back of the cop car, hence thename.
Even though it's a sappy country song, it has meaning and tells a story. She mouths the words intensely with her eyes closed. The passion she has for the song hits me somewhere I've never felt, and I’m surprised how much I likeit.
It ends, and she hits stop to her music app. "Okay, beatthat."
"I don't have backstory on mine like you do, so I feel like there's some rule-breaking going on here, but how aboutthis?"
