I held my breath for a second, then gave in. “For the kiss.”
Ellie’s jaw dropped. “There was a kiss?”
“There was one kiss.”
“And?” she demanded impatiently. “How was it?”
“So hot,” I said, fanning my face. “Like, really hot.”
Leaning back in her chair, she grinned slowly.
“What’s that smile?”
“It’s a victory smile, because I’m going to win the bet,” she said, her tone smug. “You made out with a hot dude, and you’ve got that look in your eye.”
“What look?”
“The look that says I can’t stay long, I have to go pick out a china pattern.”
“I do not have that look,” I argued, trying to arrange my face in a more casual expression. “He didn’t propose. He just kissed me. I’m perfectly capable of kissing a man without wanting to marry him.”
“Since when?”
I glared at her. “Anyway, it won’t happen again.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he apologized right afterward and left. Obviously he didn’t mean to do it.”
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t kiss someone by accident, Win. It’s not like stepping on their foot.”
“Whatever.” I waved a hand in the air, like a magic wand—like poof, he was out of my head. “It would never work anyway. He’s too old for me, he’s newly divorced, and I’m not really interested in dating someone with a lot of baggage. We’re just going to be friends.”
“If you say so.” Ellie picked up her cup again.
“I do,” I said emphatically. “And that’s that.”
After we finished our coffee and scones, Ellie and I took off on our power walk, a three-mile loop we’d been doing pretty much every Sunday morning all summer. As we huffed and puffed under the hot sun, we brainstormed different ideas for projects we could work on together.
“I love the idea of a joint wine tasting,” Ellie said. “Abelard and Cloverleigh make different enough wines that it could be really interesting.”
“Do you think a series or a one-time event would be better?”
She thought for a moment. “If we can get it on the calendar, why don’t we try a one-time event later this fall? If it goes well, we could make it a series next summer during the high season.”
“Good idea.” We looked both ways and crossed a side street. “Where should we do the first one? Abelard or Cloverleigh Farms?”
She shrugged. “Either place would work. It’s too bad our new restaurant won’t be open for another couple months. That would be the perfect space—intimate and cozy, amazing view of the vineyard.”
“What’s the holdup?”
“You name it. Materials, labor, contractor delays. Even my dad has lost his temper a couple times about it, and you know how laid-back he usually is. Originally it was supposed to open in October. Now they’re saying it might not be ready until after the holidays, and the chef my dad wanted couldn’t wait. He took a job somewhere else.”
“That stinks.”
“They’re interviewing chefs again, but they’re not finding anyone who’s right.”
“I could ask my sister Felicity if she’s interested,” I said. Felicity, who lived in Chicago, had gone to culinary school and was now a food scientist.
“Do it. My parents keep mentioning Gianni Lupo and I would rather eat dirt than work with him.”
I laughed. Growing up around here, the Lupo brothers were legendary. There were three of them, and they were all loud, reckless, and rowdy, constantly in trouble at school for breaking rules or getting in fights—often with each other—and one of them was usually in a cast or sling from some dare they couldn’t resist or stupid thing they’d done to show off. They weren’t mean, except to each other and other boys just like them, but when they weren’t tearing each other apart or pulling pranks at school, they loved teasing girls.
Ellie had grown up with the Lupo brothers because their mothers were best friends, but she didn’t have one nice thing to say about them, especially Gianni, who was our age. Not that I entirely blamed her—he’d always tormented her relentlessly. It hadn’t helped that they’d grown from scrappy, skinny boys with gangly legs and scabby elbows into gorgeous, brawny teenagers with unfair bone structure, thick tousled hair, and irrepressible grins.
Then there was the infamous night of the Cherry Festival when we were seventeen, which involved a dunk tank, several pies in the face, and a highly controversial game of Seven Minutes in Heaven.
“I still haven’t forgiven him for what he did to me,” Ellie said. “It was so humiliating.”
“Come on, that was five years ago. We were in high school. Maybe he’s matured by now.”
She gave me a look that would have singed hair at twenty feet. “Guys like Gianni Lupo don’t mature, Winnie. They don’t have to, because even though they get older, they can just keep dating younger girls who don’t know better.”
“I thought he was in California. Wasn’t he doing some next generation version of the reality cooking show his dad was on?”
“Yeah. Lick my Plate,” Ellie sneered, rolling her eyes. “I can’t even believe my parents are considering hiring that clown.”
“I will reach out to Felicity and see if she’s interested.”
“Thank you. That would save me from death by testosterone. Or going to prison for murder.”
I laughed. “What are friends for?”
Later that afternoon, I was unloading the dishwasher when I heard a little voice coming in through the sliding screen door. “Hi, Winnie.”
I glanced over and saw Luna and Hallie standing on my patio, wrapped in large towels, their hair wet and dripping. “Well, hi,” I said, noticing Hallie wore swim socks. “You finally went swimming, huh? Did you like the pool?”
“Yes,” Hallie said. “Will you come out and swim with us?”
“Me?”
“Daddy said we could ask you.” Luna paused. “Well, at first he said no, we weren’t allowed to bother you, but then we bugged him until he said yes.”
I laughed. “Sometimes that works.”
“So will you?”
Glancing at my phone, I saw it was just after three. I could hang out with the girls at the pool and still have plenty of time to clean up and make it to my parents’ house for six o’clock dinner. “Okay,” I said. “I just need a few minutes to get my suit on. Do you want to come in?”
“We can’t,” Hallie said, glancing over her shoulder toward the pool area. “Daddy said we have to stay where he can see us. And we’re still sort of in trouble for wandering off yesterday.”
“But we have our emergency plan now,” added Luna seriously. “If there’s a fire, we’re going to meet at the pool gate.”
I nodded. “That’s a good plan. Okay, I’ll be right down.”
I hurried upstairs and opened a dresser drawer, debating between a skimpy two-piece and more family-friendly tank. Considering the situation, I decided on the blue and white striped tank. It had a low V in the front with a ruffled neckline, but wasn’t too revealing. I didn’t want to look like I was trying to be sexy or get Dex’s attention.