“Oh,Carawants to get her a bottle?”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh, shut up!”
“What?” She shrugged innocently. “I think it’s cute you want to do something nice for your girlfriend.”
“Aren’t there other patrons you could be bothering?” I adored Rylee, but I didn’t want to talk about Blair with the chance Cara could walk in at any second.
She smirked. “Funny how you didn’t deny she’s your girlfriend. But actually, I do need to check on my other customers, so you got lucky this time. Let me know if you need anything else.”
“Of course, love. Thanks.” I let out a massive sigh of relief when she walked away. I wasn’t ready to label what we had yet, especially not without talking to Blair about it first.
It was crazy to think about how much things had changed since two years ago. I celebrated my best friend’s birthday. I went through a breakup while she had gotten back into a relationship. She got engaged while I stayed single and worked in the store. Blair came into my life and completely turned things around for me. My best friend was married, and my other best friend was thinking about children.
Marriage and kids were never on any list I had, except for one of the things I would never do, but being with Blair has made me reevaluate some of my previous opinions on things.
And now here we were, a few months after we’d started working together again, happy and getting ready for a big accomplishment for Blair. I was finally in a good place in life and I was happy, really happy.
I had been waiting only five minutes when a familiar voice interrupted my thoughts. “Hey, doll!” Cara slid into the barstool next to me with a hug.
“Hey, love. You’re right on time. I just got done with my drink.”
She sat down and ordered a gin and tonic and we spent a few minutes catching up on life.
“I really needed this tonight. It’s been non-stop work between my other clients, and you and Blair… speaking of Blair, you know she still hasn’t told me who she’s been seeing? I’m starting to wonder why she won’t tell me. It’s not like I would judge her. Has she said anything to you?”
I choked on my drink, the contents coming out of my mouth and nose and spraying onto the bar top. That was the last thing I was expecting her to bring up, and something inside my chest cracked at the hurt in hervoice.
“No, she hasn’t said anything, but we aren’t that close. I wouldn’t worry about it. Maybe it’s just not that serious? I don’t know.”
I hoped she would buy the lie. She had no reason to believe I was remotely involved with Blair.
She shrugged. “I guess. I just want her to be happy, you know? Hopefully she’ll tell me some day.”
She looked down at her drink, and I wondered if she could feel the guilt radiating off me. I hated hiding this from her, especially seeing how hurt she was by Blair not telling her something so important about her life. If Fallon did the same thing, I couldn’t imagine how broken I would have felt.
I nodded and took another long sip of my drink. “Speaking of, how’s your dating life going?” I needed to shift the topic of conversation anywhere besides Blair, and I genuinely wanted to know what was going on in Cara’s life.
“You know how it is, going on dates but never dating. I still have hope, though. Someday I’m sure my person will show up and sweep me off my feet.”
“Don’t worry, they will. You’re amazing and anyone would be lucky to have you!”
The host of the wine tasting came around and brought us all a tray with half a dozen tiny cups. Each cup was accompanied by a label, indicating the name of the wine.
They introduced themselves and told us a little about their winery and what they did there. It was really interesting to hear about, and I made a mental note to take Blair sometime. She wasn’t really a big drinker, but it still sounded like something romantic for us to do together.
Cara and I started swirling and smelling the wine as if we had the slightest clue what to look for. We really just wanted to have an excuse to drink and catch up, as well as find something to give to Blair as a celebration for the book signing.
“What about you? I haven’t heard any of your crazy forgotten dildo stories in a while. Are you seeing anyone?” Cara asked. If I had been drinking anything, I would have choked again.
I hated lying to her just as much as Blair did, butI’d made a promise, so I laughed and put a blanket over the truth. “Oh, you know me. Work keeps me busy.”
She gasped. “Good! I have someone I think you will like!
I groaned. I should’ve seen this coming. This was my payback for setting her up with Fallon, I was sure of it. “I don’t know, Cara. I’m really busy with the store, and I’m supposed to be celibate, remember?”
It didn’t matter that that orgasmic boat had sailed a long time ago, and if I had my way, after experiencing sex with Blair, I would never be celibate again.
She scoffed, taking another drink. “You don’t have to have sex to go on dates, Drea. You’ve been so busy with the store that you need to take time for yourself, and I have a few friends I think would be good for you. My friend Kelsie is?—”
