I get up and light the citronella candle on the porch railing because the mosquitoes get serious at this time of day. When I sit back down, Sloane is on her second piece of tortilla.
"So," she says. "Vegetarian. Would you date someone who wasn't?"
"Sure. It's just how I choose to live. Doesn't mean I expect everyone else to do the same as long as they won't try to feed me a steak. I grew up like this. Mom's a vegetarian, so I've never eaten meat but what others do is their business. People go to church and they don't expect everyone else to go to church."
"Apart from Ruthie."
I laugh. "Sure. Apart from Ruthie." I turn to her. "Can I ask you something personal?"
"Go ahead," she says.
"What's your type? The men you normally date."
Sloane rolls her eyes. "Honestly? The wrong type. I've always dated bad boys and I've been cheated on so many times I'm almost starting to expect it. They were all charming, tall, confident. Successful in some way that impresses at a dinner party. Selfish in ways you don't see at first and then can't unsee. The kind of men whose mothers tell them they're special when they're four years old and then nobody tells them anything else for the next thirty years."
"Sounds delightful."
She shrugs. "Can't say I've lost any sleep over them. Apart from Tom, my first boyfriend. He used to bring me hot chocolate in a Styrofoam cup before school and I thought it was the most romantic thing in the world."
"How old were you?"
"Sixteen. I haven't seen him since he moved to Canada with his parents. That's why we broke up back then. He's married now with two kids and a normal life. Good for him." She takes a sip of her beer. "And you? Ever had one true crazy love?"
I turn the bottle slowly in my hands. "There was a woman in college, Reese. We were together for three years. She broke up with me at the end of senior year and it took me almost two years to get over her."
"Reese," Sloane says. "Where was college?"
"UC Davis. I did animal science, then finished a master's in animal welfare online after I'd already taken over here. I was always going to come back. Mom needed me, so I was studying to be useful when I got home." I pause. "What did you study?"
"Art history," she says. "Two years at NYU. I dropped out, told my parents I wanted to focus on charity work. What I really wanted to focus on was a man called Antonio with a vintage Vespa."
I chuckle. "How did Antonio work out?"
"He went back to Milan and I went back to LA. Dad's still disappointed I dropped out. I've been useless ever since, living off his money."
"I'm sure you haven't been all useless."
Sloane stares into the candle. "No. I really have been wasting my life away." She says it without drama, and that makes it land harder than if she'd dressed it up. "Do you ever still think of Reese?" she asks, steering the conversation back to me.
"Not really. She was right to end it, I can see that now. She would have ended up here with me, and Reese was never destined for Duster."
"You can't know that for sure."
I shake my head and lean my elbows on the table. "Come on, Sloane. Don't tell me you'd move to this farm even if it was run by a rich, handsome prince."
"That depends," she says with a mischievous grin.
"On what?"
"Can I build a pool? And a helipad?"
I throw my head back and laugh. "Where would you put a helipad?"
"On the south side, left of the oak. There's space."
"You've thought about this."
"I'm thinking about it now. Princess Pigpen's Country Estate. Open to the public on Sundays." She lifts her beer. "Seriously though. I'm not actually that miserable anymore."
