Page 17 of Love Among Vines

The air between them vibrated with possibility. She tipped toward him, no more than a centimeter.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and his expression changed. He drew his hand back, her heart falling with the movement.Obviously he wasn’t going in for a kiss, idiot.She needed to stop thinking with her vagina.

“Don’t forget to refrigerate your cheese,” he finally said.

Was that really what he had meant to say? It didn’t matter. At least she hadn’t made a fool of herself. Again. Time to focus and give him a reason to return later on.

“I just remembered something.” She unzipped her backpack and dug through it, pushing aside art supplies and a bag of dog treats. Finally, all the way at the bottom, a small Tiffany-blue box appeared.

She pressed it into his hand. “Here. I put them in here for safe keeping. I’m supposed to wear them tomorrow.”

He cracked the lid of the box open, then glanced at the house. “Looks like it’s going to be a hell of a wedding.”

“You have no idea. Don’t lose those, okay? Or Ashley might actually murder you.”

He shrugged. “She can’t marry your ex if she’s in prison for manslaughter.”

She smiled in spite of herself. “I’ll see you later?”

There was a seriousness in his eyes. “I’ll be there.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

JADE

The secondshe entered the private dining room at Alder and Oak, all her hopes for a drama-free dinner evaporated. She had barely managed to avoid Nate during the rehearsal at Barrington Terrace. He had caught her eye more than once, but she would rather log-roll into the lake than spend a single moment talking to tweedle dick.

And now she was seated directly next to Nate’s dad, Reginald. Great.

Her shoulders hunched up as she sat. She should have asked Kenya for a sip from her flask before dinner. But then everyone would have gossiped about how she smelled like the alley behind a bar on Cinco de Mayo.

Dinner began with toasts, each more uncomfortable than the last.

“From the first moment Ashley brought Nathan home, I knew that you two would be together forever.” Tracey, a neurosurgeon and dedicated collector of ceramic cats, held her champagne glass aloft, tears in her eyes.

Jade slumped in her seat. When would this night of torture end?

“This union of families is certainly cause for celebration,” Reginald said minutes later. “I believe in my bones that the two of you were meant to be.”

Jade bit the inside of her cheek. Nate’s parents had always been pleasant to her. But they had never once described them asmeant to be. There had always been a feeling, from their very first meeting, that they were disappointed in Nate’s choice. Jade didn’t wear the right clothes or have the right career path. Even when she was successful in the art world, her middle-class upbringing was apparently insurmountable for Reginald and Patricia.

“Some of my partners’ wives have asked about your latest collection, Jade,” Reginald told her through a mouthful of steak.

She picked at the tortellini on her plate. It was delicious, but not enough to keep her from wanting to sprint out of the room.

“Things have been quiet on your website for a while,” he added. “You must be working on something big.”

“Yes, I’m in the middle of a really unique collection,” she said with the best smile she could muster. Unique in that it was completely occupied by blank canvases, but he didn’t need to know that.

She pulled her phone out of her purse and fired off a quick SOS to Rett. Would he really follow through on his promise to interrupt the rehearsal dinner to bring her earrings back? He hadn’t texted her all day. But he was at work.

“Fabulous. Well, when it’s finished, I’m sure they’d love to be the first to know. I’ll email you their contact information.”

“That’s…great.”

“Jade, are you seeing anyone?” Tracey suddenly piped up and leaned across the table, broccoli speared on her fork.

What was this, twenty questions day?

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