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“You have a cat?” I ask, pulling back.
Penny laughs. “Yeah, I do. Why?”
“I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. “Never thought about it, I guess. But we can go back to your place if you want.” Pen looks up at me, a crease between her brows as though she’s totally weirded out by my suggestion. “What?” I ask, laughing.
“Well, first of all, my place smells like the inside of a pizza oven because it’s above an Italian restaurant. Second, it’s pretty much the size of a pizza oven too, so totally not cool. And third, why the hell would you want to come to my place when you have such an awesome house?”
A loud laugh falls from my mouth. “Pen, I don’t care where I am, as long as I’m with you.”
“Oh god,” she moans. “You are literally fucking perfect. It’s so unfair.”
“Unfair?”
“Yes,” she cries. “How do I compete with that?”
Chuckling, I kiss her again. “You don’t have to compete with anything, because I happen to think you’re pretty perfect too.”
“Ugh, see, this is what I mean,” she replies, feigning annoyance.
“I tell you what,” I suggest. “Let’s head into town. We can grab you some clothes and your cat. Then we’ll go back to my place and hang out there. Sound like a plan?”
“What?” she asks surprised. “And bring my cat to your place?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Um, I don’t know, because it’s a cat?” Pen suggests as though that answers everything.
I burst out laughing. “Yeah and I like cats, so it’s not a big deal.”
“Ugh,” she groans again, pressing up on her toes to kiss me. “Way too perfect.”
We head outside the shed to the parking area. It’s late in the afternoon, although the winery is still open, and people are milling about, clearly enjoying the tail end of summer. The whole place feels both relaxed and full of life and not for the first time do I think how grateful I am that I live and work here.
“What do you feel like for—”
The rest of my question is cut off by the sound of Lauren screaming as she runs toward us, arms outstretched.
“Oh shit,” Pen mumbles before we are both engulfed in a hug.
“Oh my god, I’m so happy for you. This is fantastic,” Lauren screams as she squeezes us.
Penny laughs, even as I gently ease Lauren back. “Jack and his big mouth,” I say, pretending to be annoyed.
Lauren laughs. “Actually, the big mouth belonged to Oscar, but yes, he gets a lot of encouragement from Jack.” She steps back, looking at both of us, a huge smile on her face as she claps her hands together. “So, this is happening huh?”
“It is,” Penny replies, smiling.
“And so you were on a date that night?” Lauren asks, a hopeful expression on her face.
I chuckle. “Sort of.”
“What does sort of mean?” she asks, as hopeful is replaced with confused.
Penny looks up at me. “We were both on a date with our app person, only we didn’t realize each other was our app person until that night.”
“Wait, seriously?” Lauren asks, eyes widening. “Holy shit!”
“What?” I now ask.
