Page 56 of While You Were Trending

“How’d you get her to leave?” Dori asks Cricket from above.

“I listened, I affirmed, I got her coffee with Baileys in it, put a cat in her lap—did you know she’s allergic to chickensandcats?—and then I texted Ten and told him if he didn’t handle his mother, I’d tell everyone he ran that Cheeky Beaver channel on GrippaBeav.com.”

I open my mouth, then close it.

Don’t want to know all of what that means.

It’s enough that I saw the video that made Cricket go viral, and that I know that the internet nicknamed her theCheeky Beaver, and why, which I willnotbe mentioning toanyonehere.

Especially Heath.

You don’t tell a guy that you saw his girlfriend flash her muff to the world, even if you weren’t prepared for it either when you were scrolling your socials.

“You’re a gem, Cricket,” Dori says.

I squint at her. “You’re a gem? How old are you?”

She grins back at me. “Twenty-four, but my grandparents raised me, and their grandparents raised them. My soul is generations older than my body is.”

That explains the Bon Jovi T-shirt.

“Also, I’m never having kids, since apparently getting to raise your own kids skips a generation in my family,” she adds.

“Both sides?” I ask.

“Yep.”

“When Shade gets back and is set up, we’re having an emergency meeting about the winery being in the news several months earlier than we’re prepared for,” Mabel tells me. “You’ll be invited to stay on property so that there’s less reason to runinto any tourists who might recognize you and wonder what you’re doing here.”

“You and Shade can each have your own spaces,” Cricket adds. “Heath’s basement has a full apartment with its own private entrance, and the mother-in-law house across the garden from the main house is newly renovated.”

“In the interest of keeping you out of town as much as possible, we’ll be happy to provide meals in the event space for you,” Mabel continues.

“So we’ll be trapped here?” I ask while that damn mosquito in my head buzzes an excitedso we’ll be close to Ginny?

“No. Come and go as you want, but we’d appreciate it if the current attention could die down.”

“Plus, if you’re here, you’ll be ready at a moment’s notice whenever the grapes are ready for harvest and crush,” Cricket says. “Winona, our neighbor, says it could be any day now for the chardonnay and zinfandel. You missed the pinot noir—we got that last week.”

“Being here would be convenient,” I concede.

“We’ll also be discussing if we want to open the gift shop sooner to take advantage of the unexpected visibility the winery suddenly has,” Mabel says. “The answer is no, but feel free to offer ideas.”

“Scripted reality TV, hmm?” I say.

“We’ve agreed to let you participate in the ups and downs of our journey. But it’s more complicated since half of our residents don’t want to be on camera. Or acknowledged as living here.”

“Sure.”

“Don’t mention Ginny.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

All three of them stare at me.

Flow whines again.

Yay. The complicated, messy parts.