By the time her friends arrived, she had spiced pumpkin candles burning, the gas fireplace was on, and the board was finished and on the dining room table.
“It smells incredible in here,” Dakota said, handing over a bottle of red wine, as well as a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread.
Jenna’s eyes went wide. “This is still warm,” she said, inhaling the rich cinnamon scent.
“That’s because I don’t mess around,” Dakota said. “Also, I almost forgot to make it.”
Veronica had brought her own fall board, and shockingly, she and Jenna had duplicated exactly nothing. Ronni’s cheeses were different, and she’d circled it with homemade pumpkin cookies.
An hour later, they were seated at the table, laughing and drinking wine and simply enjoying each other’s company. These girls’ nights were favorites of Jenna’s, and at one point, Ronni and Dakota were having a lighthearted debate aboutGrey’s Anatomyand whether it should finally end, and Jenna sat with her chin in her hands, simply watching them.
“What are you grinning at?” Dakota asked as she glanced at Jenna.
“You two,” Jenna said with a happy sigh.
“Us two, meaning the one who’s right,” Ronni pointed to herself, “and the one who’s wrong?” She pointed at Dakota.
“Shonda Rhimes is a fucking genius andGrey’scan go on for the rest of time, and I’d still watch it.” Dakota was passionate and punctuated her statement with a raise of her wine glass. “So there.”
“I agree Shonda Rhimes is an absolute queen, but Her Highness needs to understand when it’s time to put a thing out of its misery.” Ronni also lifted her glass.
They both turned to Jenna.
She held up her hands like a robbery victim. “Oh no. No way. I am not about to break this tie. There’s no winning for me. I’ll sit this one out, thank you.” She laughed and sipped from her own glass.
“Hey, how are things going with the evil new neighbor?” Dakota asked, changing the subject and inclining her head toward the middle wall that Jenna shared with Sawyer.
“Well. That’s been interesting,” Jenna said.
“More interesting than her trashing your store in a blog?” Dakota shook her head. She turned to Jenna and waggled her eyebrows. “I kinda love that she plays on your team, not gonna lie.”
Jenna laughed at the phrase Dakota always used when referring to gay women. “It was definitely a surprise.”
“I mean, what are the odds?” Dakota shook her head. “I had to endure months of horror on Tinder before I found a decent guy, but you have a lesbian move in right next door? I call bullshit.”
“Same,” Ronni said, and she and Dakota touched glasses across the table. “I know you think she’s awful, but she’s also fucking hot. So there’s that.”
“How would you know that?” Jenna squinted at her.
“I looked up her blog to see for myself what she said—girl has a serious bias against romance, that’s for sure—and then I internet stalked her.”
“You did what?” Jenna asked, eyes wide as Dakota lifted her glass and touched it to Ronni’s again.
“What? I just looked at her socials. Newsflash: She’s fucking hot.”
Jenna shook her head with a grin.
“You don’t agree?” Ronni asked.
“I’m not saying she’s hot,” Jenna said carefully. “But I’m notnotsaying that either.”
The three of them burst into laughter.
“She came into the shop,” Jenna told them. “To apologize and to buy a book.” She sipped and watched her friends gape at her.
“What?” they said in tandem.
“How did you not text us this?” Dakota asked.
