by Jae
* * *
When Drew unlocked the door, the ringing of the phone greeted her. She kicked off her muddy shoes and ran to get to the phone. “Yes?”
“Got a pen and paper?” a male voice asked.
“Jake?”
“No, the Easter bunny.” Jake chuckled. “Now grab something to write with.”
Drew reached for the notepad and pen she kept next to the phone for wine orders and plopped down on the couch. She had been on her feet, supervising the pressing of her Syrah grapes, since five in the morning. “What am I writing down?”
“Francucci’s, this Saturday, eight o’clock.”
After scribbling it down, Drew stared at the page. What was this? A dinner invitation from Jake so soon after his party? “Sorry, pal, but I won’t be able to make it. I’ve got a group coming in for a wine tasting on Saturday.”
“Oh, come on. What’s a wine tasting compared to a date with your clumsy blonde?”
Drew jumped up, suddenly no longer tired. “You got me a date with her?”
“I couldn’t introduce you at the party, because she had to leave, but she was very interested in meeting you.”
“Really?” The blonde hadn’t seemed all that interested in Drew.
“Would I lie to you about something like that?” Jake asked.
“Yeah, you would.” When they had gone to college together, Jake had tricked her more than once. But on the other hand, he had also been a loyal friend. When her parents had died within a few months of each other and she had holed up at home for weeks on end, Jake and her other friends had forced her to go out and rejoin the living. “So, don’t I get a name?”
“Caroline.”
“No last name?”
“Not yet,” Jake said. “She’s shy and asked me not to tell you.”
Warning bells went off in Drew’s mind. The woman had seemed like the quiet, reserved type, but not giving her last name was weird. Something about this semi-blind-date was off, but Drew had nothing to lose. If things didn’t go well, she could make up some kind of emergency at the winery and leave.
“So you’ll meet her Saturday at eight?” Jake asked. “I made dinner reservations under your name.”
Drew’s thoughts raced as she tried to figure out which of her employees could take over the wine tasting. Somehow, she would find a way. She wouldn’t miss out on meeting her damsel. “I’ll be there.”
* * *
Her date hadn’t arrived yet when the hostess led Annie to the table. Of course not. Annie was always the first person to arrive for meetings or dates. Today, she had contemplated taking a page from Jake’s book and showing up late, but she couldn’t change her overly punctual nature any more than she could change her height.
Annie chose the chair with her back to the wall, enabling her to observe the men entering the restaurant.
The hostess handed her a menu and a wine list. “Your waiter will be with you in a minute.”
When the hostess walked away, Annie looked around. The room was filled with cozy tables draped in snow-white tablecloths. Soft Italian music played in the background, and candles flickered in the center of each table. The dim lighting added to the romantic atmosphere. Her gaze lingered on the tables with couples, who seemed engrossed in each other, hardly aware of their surroundings. Annie rubbed her temples. What am I doing here?
The waiter stepped up to her table and introduced himself. “May I start you off with something to drink?”
Annie considered it for a moment and then decided that a glass of wine might help to get her through the evening. “Can you recommend a Merlot from a local winery?”
“The Corbin Merlot is excellent,” the waiter said.
“Then could you bring me a glass of that, please?”
“Of course. I’ll get your wine and give you a minute to look at the menu. The special we have today is Pollo al Forno, chicken breast served on a bed of mushroom risotto.”
“Someone is joining me.” Annie glanced at her watch. Ten to eight. “He should be here any minute now. I’ll wait to order when he gets here.” If he even shows up. Jake’s friends weren’t known for their reliability.
The waiter nodded and leaned forward to light the candle in the middle of the table.
Don’t bother, Annie wanted to tell him. Romance wasn’t on her mind. She already knew the three different ways the evening might end.
Option one: her date would ask her what she did for a living and then yawn excessively or smirk when she told him she was an accountant.
Option two: if this Drew was a businessman, he might try to get free advice from her. Well, that wouldn’t be so bad. At least then Annie would be on familiar ground.
The worst was option three: Drew would be perfectly nice, trying to draw Annie out and engage her in conversation, but Annie would feel no connection at all. She would focus on her food, self-conscious about every word she said, already thinking about how to get out of a second date. At the end of the evening, she would return home frustrated, feeling as if something was wrong with her.
She glanced up as the waiter approached with her glass of wine and another guest in tow. But instead of Jake’s friend Drew, he ushered a woman to the table.
Annie opened her mouth, about to tell the waiter he had made a mistake, when she noticed something familiar about the woman. She had seen that tan face and the short, wind-blown brown curls before, hadn’t she?
When the woman smiled, revealing deep dimples, the realization hit Annie. Oh, God! The woman from the party.
Smiling broadly, the woman took a seat at Annie’s table.
What is she doing? That little incident at the party doesn’t give her the right to act like we’re old friends. But Annie was too polite to tell the woman to get up and leave.
“Hello,” the woman said. “Good to see you again—and under much nicer circumstances.” She tugged at her blouse, this one a pristine white, not stained with wine.
Great. Now I’m going to be forced to make small talk with her. Annie threw a glance toward the entrance.
No sign of her date.
Annie sighed. Let her stay until Drew arrives. At least then she wouldn’t be the only person sitting alone in a restaurant full of couples.
The woman stood, reached across the table, and offered her hand. “I’m Drew Corbin, but I guess Jake already told you that.”
“What?” Annie’s mouth fell open. “You? You’re Drew?” She jerked back the hand she had already extended, nearly toppling over the burning candle. What the heck is going on?
The woman withdrew her hand and sat. “Yes.” She tilted her head. “Something wrong with my name?”
“No. It’s just ...” Annie squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, Drew was still staring at her. Annie scrambled for something to say. “It’s just a rather androgynous name.”
“Yeah.” Drew combed her fingers through her hair, which barely brushed her collar. Her dimples made another appearance as she grinned at Annie. “You’d think my parents already knew their little girl would grow up to be a lesbian, huh?”
Lesbian? Oh my God, Jake set me up on a date with a lesbian! Annie slumped against the back of her chair. How humiliating. Once again, she had fallen for one of Jake’s tricks. She had dressed up, put on her only pair of semi-high heels, and sat in this restaurant full of couples in love, feeling out of place and worrying about what kind of impression she would make on her date—only to find out that it was all a prank. She clenched her teeth. “Just wait until I get my hands on you, you little rat.”
“What’s going on here?” Drew’s bright smile dimmed. “Jake tricked us somehow, didn’t he?”
Annie nodded emphatically. “He told me I couldn’t say no, because his friend Drew bent over backwards to get out of some work obligations to go out on a date with me.”
“I hate to admit it,” Drew rubbed her neck, “but that might not be all that far from the truth. I was really looking forward to meeting you tonig
ht.”
Heat rose up Annie’s neck. “Yes, but Jake let me assume his friend Drew was a man.”
“Oh.” Drew’s shoulders slumped.
The waiter chose that moment to approach the table and address Drew. “Can I get you—?”
“Would you give us a minute, please?” Drew said. As soon as he disappeared, she leaned forward and regarded Annie. “So you’re straight?”
Annie nodded.
“Great. I should have known he would set me up with one of his straight friends,” Drew grumbled.
“Straight sister, actually,” Annie said.
“What?” Drew’s eyes widened. She shook her head as if to clear it. “You’re Annie, Jake’s sister? Jake told me your name is Caroline.”
“It is,” Annie said. “My middle name.” After a moment, she added with a small smile, “Annie Caroline Prideaux. Hello.”
Squeezing her eyes shut, Drew slapped her own forehead. “Oh, man. I should have known Jake was up to no good.” She sighed but then straightened, returned Annie’s smile, and reached out her hand. “Pleased to meet you anyway.”
Annie slid her hand into Drew’s and shook it. Drew’s grip was steady and warm. “What now?” Annie asked with a glance at the waiter who lingered nearby. “Do we stay or go?”
“Why don’t we stay? We’re both here, dressed to the nines,” Drew’s appreciative glance slid over Annie’s elegant silk top, but there was nothing leering about her gaze, “and I don’t know about you, but I haven’t eaten all day and I would appreciate the company. Would you mind?”
For a moment, Annie was tempted to just go home, but she felt bad about someone else being the victim of Jake’s practical joke. The least she could do was stay and have dinner with Drew. In a way, it was a relief to have dinner with a woman instead of a date with Jake’s male friend. At least Drew has already seen me at my worst, so I can relax. “No,” Annie said, “I don’t mind.”
Smiling, Drew opened her menu.
The waiter approached again. “Have you decided on something to drink?”
“Just a glass of water for now,” Drew said.
After the waiter walked away, they went back to studying the menus. Silence settled between them.
Annie searched for something to say, but now that she couldn’t rely on her first-date script, she struggled to find a safe topic of conversation. “I think I’ll get the vegetarian lasagna.”
Drew glanced up from her menu. “You’re a vegetarian?”
“Yes,” Annie said but didn’t explain. She had gotten into enough heated debates with her meat-loving family, and she didn’t want to justify herself to a total stranger.
“Can I ask why you made that choice? Is it for ethical reasons, or do you just not like the taste of meat?”
Annie hesitated, not eager to talk about herself, but Drew looked at her with a friendly expression, just curious, not judging. And they had to talk about something after all to make it through this dinner. “When I was fourteen, I saw a documentary about how chickens are raised. I won’t go into detail, or I’ll spoil your dinner. Needless to say it’s beyond cruel.” The memory of those scenes made Annie shudder. “I don’t want to contribute to that.”
Drew nodded. “It couldn’t have been easy to stand by that decision at fourteen.”
The respect in Drew’s voice made Annie relax a little. She shrugged. Drew was right. Her parents had tried several times to smuggle meat onto her plate—putting ground meat on her veggie burger, for example—because they thought she needed meat for a healthy diet. She bit her lip at her family’s continued disrespect of her choices.
“I don’t eat much meat either,” Drew said, “but tonight I have a craving for seafood. Do you mind if I get the shrimp pasta?”
The question surprised Annie. None of her dates had ever been this considerate. “Go ahead. I don’t mind.”
The waiter returned with Drew’s glass of water, and they placed their orders. “Do you want garlic bread with the house salad?” the waiter asked.
Annie and Drew exchanged a quick glance; then Drew grinned. “Sure, why not. I guess there won’t be any good-night kisses on this date.”
The casual comment made Annie frown. She peeked at the waiter to see how he reacted to Drew’s words, but his face was a polite mask. On the one hand, Drew’s joke in front of the waiter embarrassed Annie, but on the other hand, she marveled at how at ease with herself Drew seemed to be. Seems she’s really out and proud. Not afraid of what people might think. I wish I could be more like that.
“Would you care for a glass of wine to go with that, ma’am?” the waiter asked.
Drew pointed at Annie’s glass and then looked into her eyes. “What are you drinking?”
“A Merlot from a local winery. It’s pretty good.”
“Do you want us to get a bottle of it?” Drew asked.
Normally, Annie never drank more than one glass of wine when she was on a date. But this wasn’t a date, and after what Jake had put her through tonight, she deserved a second glass, so she nodded.
The waiter brought the bottle of wine and presented it to Drew, who gave a pleased smile. After he opened the bottle and poured a small taste, she swirled it around in her glass, then sniffed and took a sip. Finally, she looked up and nodded.
The waiter filled her glass and walked away.
Drew clinked her glass to Annie’s. “To your brother.” After a pause, she added, “A first-rate jack-ass.”
Annie had just taken a sip and now nearly spewed wine all over the table. She coughed until she suspected her face was redder than the Merlot.
“I’m sorry,” Drew said. She looked as if she wanted to get up and pat Annie’s back.
“No, you’re right.” Annie took a more cautious sip of wine, soothing her burning throat. “Jake can be a real jerk.” Sometimes, she wondered how she had survived her childhood—or how he had. After all the silly little pranks he pulled on her, she had wanted to kill him more than once.
“Oh, yeah. I nearly throttled him during freshman year.”
“You went to college together?” Annie asked. Drew didn’t seem like Jake’s usual kind of friend.
Drew nodded.
“What did he do?” Annie asked.
“He sent me little love notes,” Drew said.
“But he wasn’t ...?”
“In love with me?” Drew laughed and held her open palms out to her sides, indicating her sturdy frame. “No. I’m not his type. He’s not exactly mine either.” She winked. “I had a major crush on Ruth Calverson, not knowing that she in turn had a crush on Jake and was sending him love letters. So when he pinned those notes to the door of my dorm room, I thought Ruth was smitten with me too, and I finally found the courage to show up at her dormitory with a bunch of roses and ask her out.”
Annie winced.
“Yeah.” Drew nodded. “Needless to say that didn’t turn out so well. Who knew a bunch of roses could hurt so much when someone hits you in the face with them?” She made a pathetically sad face.
The sound of her own laughter surprised Annie. She took a sip of wine. “After a prank like that, you’d think you would stay far away from Jake. Why are you still friends with him and even stayed in touch after college?”
Drew swished the wine in her glass around. “Despite all his faults and his weird sense of humor, Jake isn’t a bad guy. When I told him I’m gay, he was cool with it. Up until then, my lesbianism has been a disappointment to everyone I came out to—my parents, boys who wanted to date me ...”
“And Ruth Calverson,” Annie said with a smile.
Drew returned the grin and nodded. “And Ruth Calverson. But to Jake, it was never a big deal. Once, a homophobic asshole made a derogatory comment about me in a business lecture. The day after that, the guy found his beloved convertible filled with gravel.”
“Jake did that?”
Drew nodded. “No one ever made stupid comments about me again.”
Wow. For the
first time in her life, Annie was proud of her brother.
“So,” Drew said after a while, “what pranks did he play on you? He told me some stories, but I admit that after a while, I stopped listening.”
Annie pressed her napkin to her lips. She wasn’t eager to recount the embarrassing stories, but Drew had shared the Ruth Calverson story, so Annie felt obliged to answer. Over the years, Jake had played so many pranks on her that she hardly knew which story to tell Drew. Annie adjusted her cutlery while incidences flashed through her mind like photos in a slideshow. Finally, she settled on one of the less humiliating pranks. “Once, he made me believe that the cat had eaten my bunny.”
“And you believed that?” Drew asked. “Cats don’t eat bunnies.”
“How was I supposed to know? I was five years old.” Warmth penetrated the sleeve of Annie’s silk shirt. When she looked down, she discovered Drew’s hand on her arm, giving her a comforting squeeze. Annie froze. In her everyday life, few people came close enough to touch her, and knowing Drew was a lesbian made Annie even more aware of her touch.
Drew followed her gaze and pulled away her hand. “Sorry. I’m a touchy-feely person.” She cleared her throat. “What else did he do?”
Annie rubbed her fingers over her forearm, where Drew’s hand had rested. She hesitated again.
“Come on,” Drew said. “Don’t be embarrassed. It’s not like I haven’t been duped by Jake a few dozen times too.”
Annie sighed. Her mind leafed through the impressive collection of Jake’s pranks and chose one at random. “On my first day at my job, he switched the contents of my shampoo for hair dye.” Annie scrunched up her nose. “I ended up going to work with pink hair.”
Drew nearly spewed wine across the table. She laughed and dabbed her mouth with the napkin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh at you. That must have been embarrassing, but the mental image of you showing up at work with pink hair ...”
“Pretty funny, yeah.” Annie didn’t smile. “But not if you had to endure Jake’s pranks for thirty years.”
