Page 26 of You're So Vine
Off she runs upstairs.
I notice Nate’s half-smile.
“Did Ava tell you to avoid the Durant household?” he asks.
“Pretty much.”
“Good advice.”
Nate drinks his coffee and makes no further comment.
Shelby races back in. Don’t know where she gets her energy from. No wonder Nate’s mainlining caffeine.
“Jeans, shirt, sweater, socks.” She hands them to me. “No undergarments. Figured that would be weird.”
Commando under jeans is a recipe for chafing. I’d better pick her up some briefs in Martinburg. Prophylactics and women’s underwear. Could be a more embarrassing shopping list but I’m not sure how.
“Thanks.”
Shelby beams at me.
“It’s so great that you and Ava are a thing,” she says.
Can’t even look at Nate. I remember how I used to feel about my sister’s boyfriends. And I’m not sure if Ava and I are a thing yet. It’s not like we’ve really, you know, talked.
“Early days,” I say, hoping that will put an end to it.
No such luck.
“Of course, Chiara thinks it’s totally all her doing,” Shelby says. “I reminded her that it was me who was there when you two first met. Not that I did anything about it, but I still call dibs.”
So everyone in the county thinks we’re a thing now. Great.
“Mom said it’s about time,” Shelby adds. “You’re lucky she had to head back up the coast early, or she would have come around to celebrate with some kind of organic wine that smells like feet.”
The mention of Lee gives me a jolt of guilt. Would have liked to be the one to tell her myself. She was always honest with me. Even when I hated her for it.
Not that there’d be much to tell yet. It is early days. Not even one day, and that’s ticking by faster than I’d like. Everything’s moving faster than I’d like.
“Gotta go,” I say. “Thanks again.”
“You two have dinner plans for tonight?”
“Shel, please,” says Nate. “Have mercy.”
I suspect he’s speaking as much for himself as for me and Ava.
Shelby’s uncrushable. “Okay. But come around soon.”
Another quick hug and I’m free. Martinburg and the world’s most embarrassing purchases, here I come.
On the road, I start wondering about Lee. Why did she have to head back to the coast so early? She’s a self-employed artist, so her time’s her own. It’s not like she feels out of place here: Flora Valley Wines was her and her late husband’s business; the house I just came from was their family home, and the whole town knows and loves her. I also know she’d been getting on well with Nate’s mom, Ginny, so she’d have been welcome at the Durants. Seems odd that she didn’t hang around to spend even a little time with her newly married daughter.
Maybe I should call her? Lee looked out for me. More than she should have, considering how ungrateful I was. She insisted on giving me what I needed, not what I wanted. Or what, on one occasion, I demanded. But I’ll put that uncomfortable thought aside for now.
The Dodge barely has brakes let alone a hands-free phone system. I pull over and dial Lee’s number. Straight to voicemail.
“Hi, it’s me,” I say, like an idiot. She knows who it is. “Just checking in. Seeing if you’re okay.”
