It’s allsoworth it.
After, we walk hand in hand through the rows of vines until our respective to-do lists require us to go in different directions. It’s early, but our friends and family begin to arrive, ready to help execute their parts of the showcase. There’s a world of tasks to be conquered before our doors open at five, and it’s up to us to conquer them. Laine leans down for a long, slow kiss before letting me go, like we have all the time in the world.
Maybe we do.
“I love you,” I murmur as she presses a final kiss to the top of my cheekbone. Her face hovers close to mine, her eyes the rich, tawny brown of the acorns scattered across our forest’s floor. She feels as much a part of this place as I do. Her hand cups my cheek.
“I will never,everget tired of hearing you admit that.” Her face splits into a cocky grin. “Now, chop chop, Chop Chop. We’ve got a ho-case to throw!” She sends me off with a smack on the ass and my own eye-rolling grin.
As for my day, it goes smoother than apple butter thanks to Hannah. She took over planning while I was in Italy, then kept on while I worked day and night with Laine on getting the Brett infestation under control. She’s got a real knack for sweet-talking our vendors into better deals—extra speakers for the PA system, local snacks for our VIP swag bags, bathroom trailers upgraded to deluxe. They even havebidets, for God’s sake. She shows up at eight a.m., my angel of business largesse, ready to help me destroy the remaining to-do list. By two, we’ve pretty much got ’er done.
“Damn, Hannah,” I say, wiping the sweat off my brow after we finish setting up the kids’ play area she conceived, planned, and sourced all on her own. “You’re really good at event planning, you know that?”
Hannah gives me a loose grin. “You know, I think I’m pretty good at a lot of things these days.”
We cheers to that just as Maeve’s white animal rescue van rolls up, with its big Cheshire cat logo grinning on the door.
“Ahem, what?” I ask as Maeve throws open the sliding door, revealing a maze of crates filled with animals.
“It’s our petting zoo/adoption station!” Hannah says brightly, then runs over to help Maeve. I frown at the fenced-in section at the edge of the kids’ area, feeling utterly had as Tristan leads Baahlzebub from our barn over to the pen. He throws his head back and brays to the others like,Daddy’s home, bitches.
“Whoa! What’shedoing here?”
“He’s still up for adoption, remember?” Hannah places her hands on her hips, eyeing me suspiciously. “Why, Zoe Brennan. Have you gone soft on Baahlzebub?”
I don’t know why she’s looking at me like that. I’m just cuddling his head. “No … it’s just—”
Hannah tilts her head. “Hmm?”
“He’s useful. Sometimes.” I scrounge for exactly how. “He eats—weeds!”
“He also ate Rachel’s car. And half your fence.”
“He’s a growing boy!” I clutch him tighter, and hebaas.
Hannah huffs, then removes theADOPT ME!tag from Bub’s collar and replaces it with theADOPTED!one.
“We just had our first adoption of the day, people!” Maeve announces, then points at me. “No take-backsies, Zoe.”
“No take-backsies.” I sigh as Baahlzebub gives me a long, goaty lick. I don’t even vomit about it.
“What is this?” Matthew appears by my side, with his truly preternatural ability to zero in on undiscussed developments. He checks his clipboard, probably looking for the wordHell-Goat. Finding none, he repeats his question louder, a slight panic to his voice. “That fencing looks suspect. Are these animals insured?”
“Fully insured, sir,” Maeve says, puffing out her chest.
“Calm down, everybody, the showcase’s gonna go off without a hitch!” Hannah says with a kitten in her arms to an almost-immediate backlash of groaning in stereo. “What?” she asks, genuinely puzzled as she delivers ear scritches.
Matthew’s eyes flutter closed as he takes five deep breaths. I place my hand consolingly on his arm. “You just jinxed us, Hannah. Youneversay that kind of thing before an event!”
Hannah rolls her eyes. “Y’all are as bad as Killian with that superstitious business. It’s gonna befi—”
We cut her off with loud booing.
When Tristan finishes bar setup, we run a final check through the art installation’s wiring. It was no easy feat figuring out the placement ofprojectors around the vineyard and how to power them, but the early test runs have me giddy to see the final product. With doors set to open at five, just as dusk begins to drape across the sky, we decide to go live at four thirty with the big reveal for all the people working our event tonight. I even manage to flag Laine down.
“Come on, take a minute with me,” I say, pulling her into my side. “I want you to see this.”
She’s already changed into her fancy clothes for the evening—a pair of trousers that hug the long, lean line of her legs, a pale blue button-down, and a wool blazer with the narrow lapel flipped up in the back. She’s got her tortoiseshell glasses on, that just-showered smell lingering around her, and I want to lick her top to bottom. Judging by the way she’s looking at me, the feeling’s mutual. I’m all fixed up now, too, wearing a slim, black suit, the pants cropped high to show off my ankles. The jacket’s fitted with strong shoulders revealing the white silky shirt beneath unbuttoned to reveal what else? In-between-boob. With my bold red lips and black winged eyeliner, Laine can’t look away. She fingers the dainty, hair-thin golden chain hanging in loops around my chest. The way the metal trawls across the delicate skin there makes my nipples tighten viciously.
