Page 36 of Wren's Winter

Throughout dinner, Adrian kept touching me. A hand on my knee, a bumping on his shoulder. I told an embarrassing story of when I was trespassing at my old elementary school, fell off a fence as I was climbing, and sliced myself behind my ear, needing seven stitches. When I mentioned that the scar tissue made the area numb, Adrian leaned over and pressed a small kiss to the scar.

“Can you feel that?” he whispered in my ear. Heat flooded through me, and I had to cross my legs. Across the table, Tam and Penny smirked at each other.

When I tried to pay for my portion, I was the one who fixed the broken pipe after all. Tam and Penny waved my card away, insisting I could get the next one.

Not likely.

After dinner, they insisted we needed to go to the local bar for a nightcap. Once there, I bought the first round, something they begrudgingly accepted. Snug beside me at a table in the back, Adrian’s arm was wrapped around my shoulder. I fit perfectly tucked beside him.

One drink turned to two and then Adrian and Tam left us at the table to get the next round. The moment the guys were out of earshot, Penny scooted from her spot and plopped down beside me.

“Okay, I want to hear all about you and Adrian. Tam had no information, and I was so pissed at him for not getting the details.”

“The details?” My voice wavered.

“Yeah, he comes into the kitchen and tells me to add another person to the reservation, so I’m asking him, ‘Who is it,’ ‘Do we know you,’ ‘Where are you from,’ ‘Where did he meet you, ‘Are you dating,’ and he had no answers! He didn’t ask any of those questions. I love my husband, but he is the worst at information. As though he doesn’t even care about his friend’s wellbeing. If I had known that you were who he was with last night, I never would have called him about the pipe, but it ended up good for all of us, don’t you think?”

I wasn’t sure if Penny took a breath during the entire line of questioning.

“Where do you want me to start?” I asked, laughing.

“What white witch magic did you inflict on my friend?” Her smile was warm as she leaned closer.

I laughed at the question. She was still leaning close, waiting for an answer. “Oh. None.”

“No affirmations or crystals. Singing Stevie Nicks or Florence Welch while you were driving up here?”

“‘Shake It Out’ is my favorite song, but that’s immaterial. As much as my friend Autumn would love for me to do affirmations, I can’t take them seriously. The last thing I expected on this trip was to meet some like…well, Adrian.”

Penny narrowed her eyes at me. “Hmm. I’m not so sure you didn’t do a little naked dancing in the moonlight. Because that man”—she pointed at Adrian’s back as he was talking to a few people at the bar—“has never brought a woman around for a double date.”

I fought back the promise of more the statement gave me. “I’m sure you’ve met other women he’s been with before.”

“Not a one.” She put her finger up in a pause gesture. “Nope, I take that back. I bumped into some snow bunny a few years ago sneaking out of his apartment when he lived downtown. But that doesn’t count, as I’m pretty sure neither Adrian nor I caught her name.”

A low rolling tension formed in my stomach. I took a small sip of the dregs of my beer. I couldn’t put any more hope in what Adrian and I had. This wasn’t forever. It was for a week.

“So, tell me, Wren Alexander of Ridgewood, what are your intentions with him?” Penny set her wineglass down, her eyes on Adrian and Tam at the bar.

Busying myself with finishing my drink, I tried to come up with words. I wasn’t going to spill my desires with his friends. Penny was nice enough, but if I told her the burgeoning affection I had for Adrian, I would end up being a cocktail party story of that woman who got too attached. I’d be on the same level as the woman who left the dog but took the silverware. I couldn’t control exactly how I appeared in someone else’s story, but I could try to leave with some dignity intact. “He’s a nice guy. We’re having fun.”

“Fun?” she echoed.

“Yeah, fun. I got out of a super-long relationship a few months ago. I’m not trying to get him to be serious about me or anything.”

Penny narrowed her eyes at me. “Anyone between Adrian and this long-term loser? A date or two? Bass player, line cook, podcast host?”

Grimacing, I set my drink down. “There was this one guy I went on a few dates with back home. He actually asked me out in the parking lot of the grocery store. He had great hair, but aside from that, he wasn’t anything to include in a dating synopsis.”

Penny slapped her leg triumphantly. “Ha! The dusty ex-boyfriend effect.”

My confusion must have been all over my face because she kept talking. “You know! You have the long-term boyfriend you think you’ll marry, and that doesn’t work out, so you go out with some sleazeball a few times and then BAM! You meet your husband.”

“Husband?” I choked on my drink, coughing. “I barely know Adrian. We’ve only spent forty-eight together, max.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s irrefutable, a canon event. Can I be a bridesmaid?”

Glaring at her, I considered how well she and Summer would get along. They both loved giving me a hard time. Tam returned, holding three drinks in his hands, setting them on the table between us. “Who’s a bridesmaid.”

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