Page 30 of Left of Forever

It also calls hisnakedbody to mind. My cheeks are on fire.

His eyes soften. He swipes his thumb down my wrist. “Your son’s the one who keeps telling me to take you to a winery.”

“Sam’s talked to you about this?!” I ask too loud. “Ellis, I—I don’t want him to get any ideas. I—”

“I reminded him we were celebrating him and told him we were just getting used to being friends without him around. I think I was convincing,” he says, maddeningly calm. It’s disturbingly close to the fib I told Sage, an echo of the way we once knew each other’s minds.

After searching for any signs that he’s stretching the truth, and coming up empty—who knows if I’d recognize them anymore, anyway—I let out a sigh. “What’s with Sam and vineyards? He can’t even legally drink. How does he know he’ll evenlikewine enough to make a career out of it?”

“He’s a weird kid.” Ellis chuckles. “He’s like you.” I give him a droll look at this, and he presses on. “Think about it. He likes the science behind it. Using the same stuff with slightly varying methods to make a whole bunch of different things. A lot like baking, really… He likes how different environmental factorscan affect the taste, too.” He snorts. “He read me a whole article about how last summer’s California fires will affect grapes for years to come.”

I barely suppress rolling my eyes. “Please.He thinks it’ll get him girls.”

He barks out a laugh, his chest shaking under my hand. “You’re probably not wrong,” he says.

The song fades to an end, and I force myself to step out of his embrace.

“I’ll email you,” he says.

“What?”

“I’ll email you a loose outline of an itinerary and you can write back anything you want changed or if something doesn’t work. And as far as the rest of the trip details… I promise I’ll keep it… unconventional. We won’t go to any of the major, well-known places. No national parks.”

I give him a puzzled look. “Have youeveremailed me before?”

He frowns, hands bracketing his hips. “I’m sure I’ve had to before for something?”

“I literally cannot think of a single time you sent me an email. Maybe you forwarded things before when I needed to print them out and stuff, but…”

He drops his chin to his chest, then looks up his brow at me. “Guess we’ve got a few firsts left in us.”

I let Sam drive me home later, still too bubbly from the drinks to drive myself. My house is less than two miles away, anyway, so I’ll walk to grab my car in the morning if I have to. When I get undressed, I see the edge of something poking out of my jacket pocket. I groan, disastrously warm when I pull it out and see anorigami bird made from one of the wedding programs. He’s approaching full Ellis on me.

And after I’ve completed a too-long bedtime routine and spoken an incantation over the two ibuprofen I take to ward off tomorrow’s hangover (there is no predicting it after age thirty), I decide to give my phone one last look for the day. When I refresh my inbox, I’m fizzy all over again.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Subject: (Completely Unromantic)((and very generalized)) Itinerary for the Byrds

Day 1: 9-hour drive down to Davis. Unpacking Sam. (Trying not to think about this one too hard yet. Fuck, I’m already crying??) Drive over to Santa Cruz after (2.5 hours).

{2 Days, 3 nights at the Dream Inn (separate hotel rooms)}

-I have almost no plans for the first day that we’re here. I’m sure after being in the car so much the day before we’ll just want to relax. We could go to the theme park next door or hang out at the beach. Day 3 of the trip (Day 2 in Santa Cruz), I thought we could go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. You mentioned it once, like, a decade ago when we talked about doing a road trip down to Disneyland. (I’m sorry we never ended up doing that, by the way.)

*Will make sure any dinner reservations are unromantic options only (will search for liver and onions, specifically)*

Day 4: Drive up the coast to Montetesta Ranch & Vineyards in Gualala (3.5 hours).

1 night (separate cottages)

-Activities here: Sam’s choice. He made the plans here for your birthday, so you’ll have to take it up with him. Have a hunch it’ll involve grapes.

Day 5: Drive up to McArthur-Burney, CA (5.5 hours’ drive time).

2 nights