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Dominique appeared, setting down three bottled iced teas and a bit more food before taking a seat next to Lucas. “Few more local specialties. After this, we have a tour of the local Liqueur Distillery and workshop. You can learn to make your own cocktails.”
“Sounds good.” I had to admit I didn’t mind what she’d set up so far. Maybe, maybe I was overreacting.
She nodded, opening her iced tea, then took a fork from her tray.
“You must try this…” she said, moving the plate between all of us.
***
The distillery itself was great, a big yellow building with green trimmed shutters. We’d taken a lengthy tour, learning all about their process of distilling, then those in the workshop had broken away to learn about creating our own cocktails.
I’d happily add that ability to my skillset. I’d make sure to grab a cocktail kit down in the gift shop before we left. Dominique followed us throughout the tour, staying close to Lucas and asking a lot of questions both of the guide and him.
She’d ended up at the same table as him for the workshop, and I’d ended up with a sweet little older lady from Germany next to me. She’d kept me entertained while I tried to focus on the lesson and not the fact that Dominique seemed to get awfully cozy to my best friend a few feet away from me.
Gerda put the second ingredient in the shaker in front of her for our second recipe of the day and followed my gaze. “Friends of yours?”
“My best friend…” I pointed to Lucas. “And our tour guide…” I muttered, pointing to Dominique’s back. At that point, Dominque leaned over, helping Lucas with some sort of measurement. One of them must have cracked a joke because they both laughed.
Gerda pressed her lips together, looking at them for a moment then turned to me.
“Did she beat you to the spot?” Her eyes danced in amusement.
“Unfortunately.” I smiled at Gerda. “Sorry.”
“No worries.” She poured the next ingredient into the shot glass then motioned for me to put mine out. I did and she filled it, then I dumped it into my shaker. I was about to set it down when she shook her head and refilled it, then refilled hers, taking a quick drink.
I laughed softly and quickly did the same. It kinda soothed me. I might have to sneak one more shot before the class was over, I mused.
“So…best friends, huh?” Gerda asked quietly.
“Yeah.”
“That’s nice. Relationships and best friends…”
“Oh…we’re…” I trailed off.
“Just friends. I was just friends once too.” She grinned.
At that moment, Lucas turned to look at me and smiled, holding up the bottle of Curaçao. I smiled at him and nodded towards Gerda. He waved to her, and she grinned as he turned around.
I laughed softly.
“Did you have to deal with an overly enthusiastic tour guide?” I asked in a low voice.
“Not a tour guide.” She reached forward and added the last ingredient to hers, putting the lid on her shaker. “I think we shake soon.”
“Oh…” I glanced at my ingredient list. I was sure I’d missed one or two.
Gerda leaned over, pointing to the last two. I smiled. “Thanks.”
Forty minutes later, the workshop was over. I’d added a whole new talent to my skillset and taken a selfie with my new friend and exchanged numbers, with the idea to get together for a drink before we both left the island.
When everything was finally through, they led everyone out to the tasting area. I waved at my new friend Gerda as she went to join her tour group at a table a few spots away. We’d been the last tour of the day, so there were still quite a few people there.
Thankfully, Lucas spotted an empty white wooden patio table and grabbed it, waving at me from a dozen feet away. Somehow, we’d gotten separated with everyone leaving at the same time, some going outside, some headed to the gift shop. I was half hoping we’d maybe lose Dominique in all of this, but I could see her bright red shirt clearly in the crowd.
I hurried over, finding Lucas sitting down, an empty glass in front of him.
