Something in the Wine

by Jae

  Drew leaned forward. “Didn’t your parents ever interfere when Jake pulled a prank on you?”

  “Sometimes,” Annie said. She pressed the tip of her index finger against her fork until the metal dug into her skin. “But usually, they were too busy with their art.”

  “Oh, that’s right. I have one of your mother’s paintings in my living room. Her use of colors is amazing. What does your father do?”

  The questions about her and her family kept throwing Annie off stride, but she couldn’t find a good reason for not answering without coming across as impolite. “He’s a conductor.”

  “Not a train conductor, I take it?”

  Annie laughed as she imagined her father’s reaction to being mistaken for a train conductor. “No. He’s with the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra.”

  “And you?” Drew asked. “What do you do for a living?”

  There it was: the question that always came up sooner or later. People often seemed disappointed by her answer, maybe because they expected the daughter of a musician and an artist to have a creative job too or at least to do something fun and unusual for a living, as Jake did.

  The waiter brought their food, allowing Annie to stall for a moment.

  When Drew looked at her expectantly instead of focusing on her pasta, Annie said, “I’m a CPA.”

  Drew didn’t smirk or yawn. A shrimp still hovered on her fork, forgotten for the moment. “Which firm?”

  Annie dug a mushroom out of her lasagna. “It’s a small firm, so you probably haven’t heard of it.”

  “Try me.” Drew continued to look at her.

  “I’m a senior associate at Cargill & Jones.” Annie chewed the mushroom, expecting Drew to redirect the conversation to a topic she found more interesting.

  “Actually, I have heard of them. One of your colleagues manages my business accounts. Your firm does good work. So do you like your job?”

  None of her dates had ever asked her that question. If they had, Annie wasn’t sure she would have answered honestly. While being an accountant was her passion, it just wasn’t interesting to other people. But she didn’t feel the need to impress Drew, so she nodded.

  “Even during tax season?” Drew asked with a teasing smile.

  “Yeah, the hours can get crazy in the spring, but I still like it.”

  “I know what you mean. My work hours are crazy in the fall, but I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

  Amazing. She really seems to understand. Annie’s tense muscles relaxed. “What do you do for a living?” she asked, glad to talk about something other than herself. “You have your own company?”

  “I own a winery.” Drew stroked her thumb over the label on their bottle of Merlot. “Actually, this is one of mine.”

  “Really?” Annie took another sip, enjoying the fruity taste. “It’s very good.”

  Drew reached across the table and nudged Annie’s shoulder. “Don’t sound so surprised.”

  When Annie blushed, Drew chuckled. She seemed to delight in making Annie blush, but unlike Jake’s boisterous ribbing, Drew’s teasing was gentle.

  “I’m not surprised,” Annie said. “I’ve just never met anyone who owns a winery and makes such excellent wine.”

  “And I’ve never had dinner with an excellent accountant.”

  Annie pierced her with a skeptical glance. “You can’t know whether I’m any good.”

  Slowly, Drew laid down her fork, dabbed her mouth with her napkin, and regarded Annie with her deep brown eyes. “You don’t seem like a woman who would do anything halfway.” When Annie stared at her, not knowing what to do with the compliment, Drew added, “Besides, you said you’re a senior associate. If you weren’t good at your job, I don’t think you would have that position.”

  Annie shrugged.

  Drew laughed. “I can see that you’re the modest one in the family.” She shook her head. “I still can’t believe you’re related to Jake. You couldn’t be more different if you tried. Has it always been that way?”

  “Yes.” Annie busied herself cutting the rest of her lasagna into little squares while she thought about how much to tell Drew. Normally, she didn’t tell strangers that much about her life, but she realized that she had already told Drew more than usual. Maybe it was just this strange situation that had caught her off guard. Or maybe it was that after tonight, she would probably never see Drew again, so whatever Drew knew or didn’t know about her didn’t matter. “Jake ... Well, you know how he is. He’s not a bad person, but he thinks having fun and playing pranks on people is all there is to life.”

  “Yeah,” Drew said. “I bet he’s having a drink right now, celebrating that he set up his straight sister on a blind date with a lesbian.”

  I bet that’s exactly what he’s doing. Annie didn’t look forward to having him call her as soon as she got home. He would gloat about another successful prank until she hung up on him. She clenched her hand around her napkin until her fingers started to hurt. “Just once, I’d really like to get back at him.”

  Drew swallowed the last of her pasta.

  Blinking, Annie glanced at her own half-full plate. Usually, she was the first to finish her meal because her dinner companions prattled on and on while she contributed just enough to keep the conversation going.

  A slow smile spread over Drew’s tan face. “We could, you know?”

  “Could what?”

  “Get back at Jake.”

  Annie leaned forward. God, if we could really do that ... Normally, Annie considered herself above petty things like revenge, but Jake had tormented her with his pranks for too long. “How?”

  “Jake is expecting you to be angry at him for setting you up with a woman, right?”

  “Yeah.” He thinks his uptight sister will react like Ruth Calverson and hit Drew with the nearest object. Annie took another sip of wine to get rid of the bitter taste Jake’s judgment left behind in her mouth.

  “But what if we both enjoyed having dinner with each other?” Drew asked.

  I am enjoying it, Annie found to her surprise. But how is that getting back at Jake? “I don’t understand.”

  Drew leaned forward. “What if the blind date were such a success that we started dating?”

  Annie nearly choked on a bite of lasagna. “But ... but I’m straight!” She ducked her head when she realized how loudly she had spoken.

  A grin dimpled Drew’s cheeks. “Well, nobody’s perfect.” She patted Annie’s forearm. “Relax. I’m just kidding. But just think about it. Jake would have a heart attack if he thought he was to blame for his little sister turning gay.”

  Annie couldn’t help grinning as she imagined Jake with his mouth gaping open. “Definitely.” After a moment, her smile dimmed. “So we would just pretend, right?”

  “Right. I already have a toaster oven.”

  “Toaster oven?” What does tricking Jake have to do with kitchen appliances?

  Drew chuckled. “It’s a lesbian recruitment joke. If you convert a certain quota of straight women, lesbian headquarters awards you a toaster oven.”

  “Oh. And you already earned one?”

  “No.” Drew lifted her hand to her mouth and, behind the cover of her palm, whispered, “I bought it. Don’t tell anyone, please. I have a reputation to uphold.”

  Annie laughed and relaxed. After finishing the last of her lasagna, she leaned back and regarded Drew across the table. It’s crazy. But if it works ... Just the thought of Jake being on the receiving end of a prank made her grin. It was time that someone gave him a taste of his own medicine. “And you really think it could work? That we can make Jake believe that I ... that we ...?”

  “Why wouldn’t it work?”

  “I can’t even make a relationship with a man work, so I’m not sure I can pull off convincing Jake that I’m in love with you.” Annie crossed her arms over her chest, feeling as if she had said too much.

  Drew shrugged. “That could actually work in our favor. You could tell
Jake that your relationships with men failed because of your latent lesbian tendencies.” She waggled her eyebrows.

  Someone cleared his throat next to them. “Did you ladies enjoy your dinner?”

  When Annie turned her head, she found the waiter looking at her. Oh my God. Her cheeks burned. Did he hear what Drew said about my “latent lesbian tendencies”?

  “It was wonderful, thank you,” Drew said without missing a beat.

  Again Annie couldn’t help giving Drew an admiring glance. Drew didn’t seem to care what people thought about her. She vowed to follow her example.

  “Would you care for dessert?” the waiter asked.

  With her stomach still in knots, Annie didn’t think she could eat another bite. “No, thank you.”

  “Their cheesecake is to die for. Want to share a piece with me?” Drew asked.

  The idea of eating from the same plate seemed strangely intimate. If you really want to make Jake think you’re a couple, you need to get used to such harmless intimacies. Annie straightened her shoulders. “All right. Let’s share a piece of cheesecake and talk about teaching Jake a lesson he’ll never forget.”

  * * *

  “So,” Drew said, leaning against Annie’s electric car that was just as cute as its owner. “Can I have your number?” She gave Annie a teasing wink, aware that it sounded like some kind of pickup line.

  Annie gave her a skeptical look. “Are you flirting with me?”

  “Me? Flirting? No, that’s my normal style of communication.” Hand on her heart, Drew added, “I’ll save the flirting for when Jake is watching.” In a more serious tone, she said, “I’ll need your number to talk about our plan.”

  After unlocking her car, Annie reached into the glove compartment for a pen, wrote something on a business card, and handed it to Drew.

  Annie Prideaux, CPA. Senior Associate. Cargill & Jones. Annie was exactly what she had said she was. Drew could already tell that, unlike her brother, Annie wasn’t one to exaggerate to get attention. She looked at the cell phone and private number Annie had written on the back of the card. Her handwriting was clear and strong. “I assume you want me to call you at home, not at work?”

  Nodding, Annie clicked off her pen. “That would be better. Speaking of calling me ... what do I tell Jake when he calls me to enjoy his little joke?”

  “What do you tell him when you had a date with a man that went really well?”

  “Nothing.”

  Drew looked up from the business card. “Nothing?”

  Annie stared at her car keys, avoiding eye contact. “Not much to tell anyway.”

  “Why not?” Getting personal information out of Annie was like cutting old vines—hard work. “You don’t date?”

  “I do. Sometimes. But ...”

  “But?” Drew stepped closer. “Annie, I don’t want to be nosy and intrude on your privacy, but if we want to pull off making Jake think we’re a couple, I need to know a bit about your relationships.”

  “Not sure you can call them that,” Annie mumbled. “I usually have one date, and that’s it.” Her cheeks reddened at the admission.

  “That’s it? Why?”

  Annie shrugged. “Usually, either my date is completely bored by the end of the evening, or I am, and neither of us wants a repeat.”

  Drew could imagine why. If Annie was as reserved and as hesitant to share information about herself as she had been tonight, her dates would be full of awkward pauses in conversation. But of course if she told Annie that, she would retreat even further. “I know what you mean,” she said instead. “I had a few dates that were more boring than watching grass grow.”

  “So what do I tell Jake?” Annie asked again.

  “Let’s try to stay as close to the truth as possible. Otherwise, it won’t be long until we get caught.”

  Annie’s eyebrows rose. “Sounds as if you’re speaking from experience.”

  Drew sighed. “Years of trying to hide my sexual orientation from my very conservative father. When I finally told him, it turned out he suspected all along. I’m not a good liar.”

  The skin above Annie’s nose crinkled. “But you still think you can pull off this,” she pointed back and forth between them, “in front of Jake?”

  Pretending to be smitten with you? Sure, no problem. Despite Annie’s cautious reserve, Drew still found her cute and interesting. She tapped her own leg to admonish herself. Careful. She’s straight, and you’re doing this to have some fun at Jake’s expense. “Shouldn’t be a problem. We’re not going to do this for years, just until we get some revenge.”

  “Any other advice for the phone call with Jake?”

  “Don’t try to convince him you have fallen in love with me tonight,” Drew said.

  Annie frowned. “I thought that was the plan. To make him believe I fell in love with you?”

  “Yeah, but not so fast,” Drew said. “I have a feeling you’re not someone who falls in love at the drop of a hat.”

  Annie’s lips compressed into a tight line. “No, I’m not.”

  “Hey, nothing wrong with that.” When Annie looked down, Drew realized she was touching Annie’s forearm. She pulled her hand back. “We just need to wait a few weeks until we tell Jake we’re ready to rent a U-Haul and adopt a Golden Retriever together.”

  “Cat,” Annie said, a tiny grin lurking at the corner of her mouth. “Jake knows I’m a cat person.”

  “Let’s get both. Then when we experience lesbian bed death and split up, you can keep the cat and I’ll keep the dog.”

  Annie lifted a brow but didn’t comment on the “lesbian bed death.” After a moment, she reached out to shake Drew’s hand and said, “Deal.”

  * * *

  Annie stared at her reflection in the mirror above the bathroom sink.

  Something soft brushed against her ankles and made her look down.

  Amadeus’s green eyes looked back at her.

  “I’m da’ing a w’man now,” she told the cat, toothbrush in mouth.

  When Amadeus walked away, not interested in her confession, Annie shook her head at herself. She then paused and squeezed her cheeks between her thumb and her other fingers. A strange tension resided in her cheeks, and it took her a moment to figure out that her muscles ached from laughing about the stories Drew had told her during dinner.

  Drew had a great sense of humor. She seemed to delight in making Annie laugh or blush. While her teasing and her constant questions caught Annie off guard and sometimes pushed her out of her comfort zone, Annie realized that she had still enjoyed herself tonight. Who would have thought?

  The ringing of the phone startled her. She spat a mouthful of toothpaste all over the sink. I bet that’s Jake, calling to gloat about duping us. Jerk. After wiping her mouth, she rushed to the phone and nearly stumbled over Amadeus, who was crouched into a sphinxlike position in the middle of the living room. “Yes?”

  “I was starting to think you’d gone home with your date,” Jake’s smug voice greeted her.

  Annie gritted her teeth. Stay calm. Remember the plan. “I’ve never gone home with anyone after just one date. You know that.”

  When she answered with the calm rebuke instead of angry shouting, Jake was silent for a few seconds. “Let me guess. You didn’t go on your date?”

  “Of course I did. I always keep my promises.”

  Another pause. “Then Drew didn’t show up?”

  “Why would you think that? Of course she showed up,” Annie said, emphasizing the “she.”

  “And?”

  Annie bit her cheek to keep from laughing. “We had a wonderful evening. I wish all of your friends were like her.”

  A rasping noise at the other end of the line sounded as if Jake had trouble breathing. “What?”

  “I wish all—”

  “I heard what you said. You’re not angry?”

  “Angry?” Annie imitated the innocent tone Jake had used whenever he had been caught doing something wrong as a boy. �
��Why would I be angry?”

  Jake hesitated. Her answers clearly threw him. “Um. You did notice that Drew is a woman, right?”

  “I’m not blind, Jake.” Despite her short hair, Drew couldn’t be mistaken for a man.

  “And I’m sure Drew told you she’s a lesbian, didn’t she?”

  “Yes, she did, but if she hadn’t, you would have outed her just now. That’s for her to do, not you.” Sometimes her brother just didn’t think before he opened his big mouth.

  “Jesus, sis, one date and you’re already getting protective!” Jake laughed at his own joke. “Drew is out to everyone and their dog, so don’t worry about it.”

  Giving away personal information about someone else still wasn’t okay in Annie’s book.

  When Annie didn’t answer, Jake asked, “So you really stayed and had dinner with her?”

  “Why wouldn’t I? Drew is very nice. She even invited me to a private wine tasting at her winery.” Drew hadn’t, but mentioning plans for further contact would make it more believable when she finally told Jake she was in a relationship with Drew.

  “A private wine tasting?” Jake repeated. “Didn’t you tell her you’re straight?”

  “Of course I did. She didn’t seem to mind and said something about earning a toaster oven.”

  “What?” A banging noise resounded through the line, as if Jake had just dropped the phone.

  Annie bit back a laugh. She waited until she heard Jake’s breathing through the phone again. “Maybe it’s some kind of prize winemakers get if they have a certain number of wine tastings per month or something like that,” she said. Jake had always thought she was hopelessly naïve, and now she was taking advantage of that.

  “No,” Jake grumbled, “trust me, sis, it has nothing to do with wine tastings. I don’t think you should go.”

  “Why? You were the one who set me up on a blind date with Drew, and now you don’t want me to go to a harmless wine tasting? Jake, you’re being ridiculous.”

  After a second of silence, Jake said, “It was meant to be a prank, but I’m not sure Drew is getting the joke. Toaster oven, my ass! You’d better be careful.”

  Annie laughed. “You’re telling me to be more careful?” Normally, he told her to take a few risks, have fun, and not be so damn reasonable all the time.