Something in the Wine (6 page)

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.

Now Jake laughed too, but it sounded halfhearted. “Yeah, hell must be freezing over. Just remember that Drew is a lesbian. Her expectations for this wine tasting might be different than yours. If a lesbian is wining and dining another woman, it’s usually to get her into bed.”

“Nonsense,” Annie said. “Lesbians are still women, and for us, not everything is about sex.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Jake said in a sing-song tone.

Their sudden role reversal felt strange. How often had she warned him about something or someone, just to have him ignore her advice and do the opposite? Now she took a certain satisfaction from ignoring him. “Don’t worry. We talked about it. We both know what we can expect from this acquaintance.”
Revenge,
Annie silently added.

“Okay, listen, I have to go.”

When Jake ended the call, Annie scratched a speck of half-dried toothpaste from her sleep shirt and headed to the bedroom, Amadeus in tow. “So far, so good,” she told the cat. “Your uncle Jake bought it hook, line, and sinker.”

* * *

“What the hell are you doing with my sister?”

Drew leaned back against the headboard and dangled one hand out of bed to pet Cab, who let out a contented doggie sigh. When Jake stopped shouting, she repeated, “Doing?”

“Don’t play innocent with me. Annie said something about you trying to earn a toaster oven!”

Wow, she said that?
Drew’s eyebrows shot up.
Seems she has a hidden devious streak.

“Jesus, Drew, Annie doesn’t even know what that means!”

Oh, yes, she does.
Drew grinned.
Let’s see if I can rile him up even more.
“Don’t worry. I have a feeling she’s a quick learner.”

A deep growl echoed through the phone. “If you put your hands anywhere near my—”

“Jake, calm down. I haven’t touched your sister. I just had a good time with her tonight. She’s really nice.”

“Nice?” Jake spat out the word as if it were a curse. “Since when do you want a woman who’s nice?”

“Since I grew up,” Drew said. “Maybe you should try it too.”

Jake snorted. “Oh, yeah, playing around with an unsuspecting straight woman ... very grown up! I’m telling you, if you hurt—”

“Now you’re playing the protective big brother? You should have thought of that before you set your sister up on a fake date with a woman.” Drew clutched the phone more tightly. “If you knew anything about Annie, you’d know that dating isn’t easy for her. What you did was really cruel.”

She hung up on Jake before he could reply, then reached for the card on the bedside table and dialed Annie’s number. “Hi,” she said when Annie answered. “It’s Drew Corbin. I’m just calling to warn you. You better turn off your phone if you want to avoid more calls from Jake. He’s on the warpath, trying to save his innocent little sister from the big bad lesbian.”