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“Just remember, your sexy lawyer is in love with you.”

I shook my head and laughed. “Are you ever going to use his name?”

“Only when I’m talking directly to him,” she quipped.

“I suppose that’s fair.”

“As I was saying before, I was so rudely interrupted,” she drawled. “He loves you. You’re part of his everyday life, and his daughter barely spends any time with him. Even if she’s upset, it shouldn’t have that much of an impact on your life.”

I wished it was that simple. “She’s still his daughter, Megan.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t make her the boss of him. Seriously, Julian doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’ll let his daughter dictate who he can date. Stop borrowing trouble and be yourself. You’re pretty irresistible.”

“I should have brought cookies,” I mumbled.

“You don’t need to bribe her with food,” she chided. “Just make her dad happy, and everything else will fall into place.”

“Thanks for the pep talk, bestie.”

“Happy to help.”

I stared at the lights zooming past as the driver got off the freeway. “I wish my parents had the chance to meet him.”

When I was going through the divorce, it was the first and only time I’d been relieved they were gone. But only because it meant they weren’t around to see how badly things turned out with Harrison. They would have been devastated to know I didn’t get the happily ever after they wanted for me when my dad walked me down the aisle.

Now I would give just about anything for them to have the chance to see how well Julian treated me. They never said anything bad about Harrison to me, but they hadn’t been happy when I left my job to work at the winery. Then only six months later, the car crash took them from me, and I didn’t have the energy to think about leaving the vineyard.

“Your mom would’ve flirted her butt off, and your dad would have had double the reason to want to brandish a shotgun.”

“He would’ve had to go out and buy one first.” He’d actually threatened to do just that when I went on my first date back during my freshman year of high school.

“Nah, he would have already bought one to shoot Harrison.”

“True.” I stared down at the ring on my right hand, the same one my dad had used to propose to my mom. “I’m glad you knew them so well.”

“Any time you want to reminisce, I’m your girl.”

I appreciated her offer because it was nice to talk about them with someone who understood. “I know, but sadly we’re out of time now because I’m at the restaurant.”

“Good luck!”

“Hopefully, I won’t need it.”

I thanked the driver before climbing out of the back. Then I took a few deep breaths to settle my nerves and headed inside. I’d giggled when Julian told me we were eating at Nobu because it reminded me of our second date, when he’d said he had considered taking me here. I could happily eat several of their dishes every day, especially the black cod with miso. But between music piped through the speakers and the crowd, it wasn’t the best place to go for conversation.

Julian mentioned it was one of Ellie’s favorite spots, so I didn’t voice my opinion about where we were going tonight. I just checked the wine list online to see what champagne options they had since he said that was what she preferred. I wanted to do something special since tonight was a big step, so I called to order a bottle of the Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut in advance.

The server was supposed to bring the chilled champagne to the table when we were seated, and Julian texted me a photo as I walked through the door.

Julian

Have I mentioned that I’m in love with the sweetest woman in the world lately?

Smiling, I typed back a quick reply.

Me

I may have heard something along those lines, but feel free to tell me again. I just got here.