Page 73 of Prime Time Romance

We ride the rest of the way to Sloan’s beach house without saying much more.

When we reach the back deck, I dismount and offer to get some water for the horses. By the time I come back out with a water pitcher and glasses, the horses have already found a rain barrel and are drinking their fill.

I hold up the pitcher to Luce. “I’m sorry I don’t have much more to offer you than water. I’m unfortunately out of wine.”

Luce raises a brow. “You drink now?”

I nod. “I’d give up my firstborn for a Pinot Grigio.”

She smiles. “I can’t help you out there, but I may be able to do better.”

She reaches into one of her horse’s packs and pulls out a large wine bottle. “You know about the cheese, but I did not tell you about my other new hobby. I have a big wild strawberry patch at the back of my property. The berries are small, but they make a pretty potent wine.”

I hand her the glasses. She pours, and each of us take one of Sloan’s lawn chairs.

“Cheers.” We clink glasses, and as I bring the glass to my lips, my eyes drift to the blue cottage next door, its windows closed and dark.

“Still into him, huh?”

Luce’s question startles me.

“Is that surprising?”

She tilts her head to the side. “I guess not, but I kind of thought I saw something with Fletch the other night.”

Heat floods my cheeks. “No. We’re barely friends. And completely wrong for each other. Why would you even think that?”

She shrugs. “Just a vibe.”

“Are you?” I ask.

She scrunches her nose. “Into Fletch?”

“No. Spencer. Or Fletch too, I guess. Either?”

Luce laughs. A hard, single ha. “That’s a hard no on both.”

I’m still piecing together what I thought I knew in the context of our conversation a few moments ago.

“I just thought about the other night, in the islands, and how you and Spencer…in high school…”

She puts her hand on my arm. “Before we completely start over, I think I should confess something. I wasn’t really into him back then either. I think I just saw the opportunity to finally have something you wanted. I wanted to be the chosen one for once.

“Okay.” She holds out her glass. “Enough talking. Let’s have a drink. To new beginnings.”

I cheers it with mine. “To new beginnings.”

My wine goes down in a single gulp. I hold up my now empty glass, which Luce promptly refills.

“Wow!” I tell her. “You aren’t kidding around. This is delicious!”

She tips her glass and takes a sip. “Yeah, it’s good. But I was serious earlier. Go easy. This stuff is potent.”

20

Josh

I am starting to get the hang of this again. Running my own bar. The place is even busier than it was last night. I had to hire one of the regulars, Barry McFly, to bounce the door. Seth and the Hungry Dingos now have a bass, keyboard, and drum. They don’t sound half-bad. Or if they do, no one cares, because the dance floor in front of the stage is twice the size that it was last night.