I glance down at the screen of my smartwatch and see the name flashing on the screen.
“LAINE!It’s Marisol!”
Her mouth falls open, and I lift a butt cheek, my bad arm now a useless ice cube. “Get my phone, it’s in my back pocket!”
She hovers over me and plucks it out of my jeans.
“Accept the call! Hold it up to my ear!” Laine fumbles with my phone, cursing before she shoves it so close to my face, it smooshes my nose. “LAINE!Jesus!”
“Sorry!”
This time, the facial recognition unlocks the screen. “Hello? Marisol?” I breathe out in a rush.
“Zoe, darling, you’ve got the showcase!”
Laine screams. I scream. We all scream for life-changing business opportunities.
“OH MY GOD! Thank you so much!” I yell into the phone while Laine holds it clumsily to my ear. “We won’t let you down, Marisol!”
Her delighted laughter rings up from the receiver like tinkling crystal. “I know you won’t, darling. Now, go celebrate because tomorrow, there’s work to do.”
“Yes, ma’am!” The line disconnects, and I snatch my phone from Laine and chuck it to the side.
“WE GOT THE SHOWCASE! WE GOT THE FREAKING SHOWCASE!”
I grab her by the front of her shirt and pull her down to me roughly, closing the distance between us with a demanding kiss. I pour every damning truth I have into the kaleidoscope slide of my lips on hers:I want you.I need you.I’m terrified of you leaving. But perhaps the most dangerous of all:
“Laine Woods, I’m crazy about you.”
She pulls back for just a second, eyes wide. “And?”
I laugh. “AndI believe you’re crazy for me, too.”
I’ve always thought Laine was beautiful. Since that day in the meadow when I found her lying among the wildflowers, to her rumpled Umbro high school days, to the wine scientist in goggles blending our varietals. But right now, she’s incandescent, like a new sun in my sky, beaming out in every direction. She smiles at me, removing every doubt in my heart.
“Oh, thankGod!”
Her lips are warm and fierce on mine, and she pulls me tight against her until our chests are locked together.
“Does this mean our courtship’s finally over?” I ask, laughing into her kisses.
She breaks away from me just far enough to frown at me. “Our courtship isn’tover, boss. It just means other things have begun.” She smiles at me wickedly and takes my mouth again while a bunch of happy, silly drunks hoot and holler around us, and the world fallsaway.
CHAPTER TWENTY
After we wave goodbye to our friends and watch the last taillights disappear into the settling dusk, it’s just me, Laine, and a deep, joyful contentment that’s flowed through my body ever since Marisol’s call, whisperingwe couldandwe didandwe will.
When Laine’s eyes find mine, their rich brown has gone as dark as the sky. I feel like I could wander inside them and never find my way back.
I entwine my fingers with hers. “Come on.”
“Where we going?” Laine pulls my hand to her mouth and kisses my knuckles softly, one by one.
“You’ll see.”
I lead her into the fallow field, where a large tub sits waiting, its wooden slats pointing straight into the air, ending roughly waist high. Strands of bulb lights ring the tub’s perimeter on flower-pot poles. They sway lightly in the mountain breeze, casting their flickering light across the scene I’ve set.
“No … ” Laine’s eyes widen as she runs her hand reverently over the rim of the giant wooden barrel River built for a previous Community Harvest. “Is this a replica from the grape-stomping scene in—”
