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We all click our glasses together at the chic Italian wine bar. It is warm and cozy; candlelight and soft Classical music fill the space.
Rome has been an absolute dream. My friends and I have had two packed days of playing tourist, drinking wine, and staying in a lovely, ritzy hotel.
I worried that things would be weird since Tessa had a new boyfriend, and a long-distance one at that, but Luc was in Paris, and while Tessa did occasionally spend time on her phone with him, she was mostly present with us.
It’s been one month since that weekend in Paris, our first wine tour weekend. Emma and Jade have been living together in Madrid, but that’s coming to an end. Emma’s semester at business school starts next week, so we took the opportunity to visit what would become her new home.
Tomorrow, Jade would head back to Madrid, and she looked a bit melancholy at the prospect of losing her roommate.
“I’ll miss having you live with me,” she tells Emma.
“I know. I’ll miss it too. We had so much fun together.”
“I was wondering how you two would match up. I was sure that Jade was going to be a bad influence.” I wink at her to let her know I am teasing, but Jade preens, taking it as a compliment.
“Emma was undeterred in my attempts to get her to break the seal.” Jade ruefully shakes her head. “Actually, I think it worked the other way, Emma was more of an influence on me. I didn’t bang a single guy while Emma was visiting.”
We laugh and tease and drink our wine, ordering appetizers and enjoying a very slow Italian dinner. We picked this place because they have a few vegan selections, and I’m thankful that Tessa put the work in to find it.
Emma downs the last sip of her Prosecco and stands. “I’m going to get us another round.”
She wanders off to the bar, and I turn back to my conversation with Jade about Zoe’s classes. However, within a few minutes, I’ve definitely lost Jade’s attention to something behind me.
“What?” I ask, turning in my seat to look. Tessa’s typing on her phone, and Jade has a thoughtful look on her face, the end of her long, dark ponytail in her fingers.
“Watch the guy at the corner of the bar,” she says.
“The one in the polo?”
“No,” she says. “The one in the jacket and jeans. Older, salt and pepper hair.”
I spot him just as he looks at Emma. She’s oblivious, playing with a cardstock drink menu on the counter. His eyes warm looking at her, and when she glances up, he smiles at her. While I can’t see her face, I can imagine the look she has as she ducks her head; she has absolutely no idea what to do with an interested man.
Once the bartender pours our wine, Jade leaps up to help Emma carry them back to our table. On the way, Jade leans in and whispers to Emma conspiratorially.
They both glance back at the man at the corner of the bar; Em’s glance is quick while Jade smiles and waves. Tessa puts her phone away, and we glance at each other, amused.
“Stop encouraging him,” Em hisses, pushing Jade’s hand down.
“Why?”
“You’re giving him false hope,” Em says.
“Honey, men are going to always hope to sleep with you. You’re beautiful and charming. Hope isn’t something you give them; they already have it. And any guy worth going home with is going to know that having a conversation or flirtation with you is not a consolation prize. A man should be so honored.”
Emma blushes and glances at the man again. “It’s not that I don’t want to sleep with someone.” She leans in and drops her voice to a whisper. “It’s just that it’s been so long. It feels like . . . like being revirginized.”
“That’s definitely not a thing,” Jade interjects.
“I know, I know. You’ve made us all read the book, Jade.” Emma’s referring toCome As You Are, a self-help book written by a sex therapist, which is Jade’s favorite. She’d sell it door to door if she could, but instead, she’s just made the three of us read it. We all learned something about our own sexuality, stuff that, frankly, I should have learned a lot sooner.
It’s not that my sex life with Kit was bad. But it wasn’t inspired. Jade shares stories—enthusiastically—of toe-curling sex and swears that we’re entering the prime of our sex life. Turns out that is something theAmerican Piemovie franchise got right; sex is supposed to get better as we get older.
Tessa is in agreement, and Luc, her much younger boyfriend, stars in our gossip fests lately.
“I’m just saying,” Jade points out, “that you have us all here. If you want to go talk to that guy, we can have a signal. An eye roll if we need to rescue you from the conversation, or a wink if you’re going to go home with him.”
“And then we can make sure we have his information, just like y’all did with my roommate. And if anything goes wrong, we can help you,” I say.
