Page 126 of While You Were Trending

And I pretend my heart isn’t beating far too fast for a leisurely stroll through the grapevines, that I don’t feel a spark when I accidentally brush hands with Declan as I reach into the crab rangoon bag the same time he does, that I’m not looking forward to watching him with my friends tonight, and that I don’t want to find out what would happen if I kissed him again.

24

P.S. I WOULD LOVE TO PROTECT YOU

Declan

Fuck,Ginny’s pretty.

Her brown hair’s curly and wild, her blue eyes dance as she whispers with Mabel and Olivia, and her sundress today hugs her hourglass figure closer in a swirly blue-and-green pattern that reminds me of a Van Gogh painting.

They’re just inside the barn, near where Freida and Pip were strung out and trying to set the place on fire the day of the wedding, but if Ginny’s thinking about that, she doesn’t show it.

My dog is sticking by her side the way I still want to be.

I’m giving her space though and chatting with Heath at the smoker outside the barn while the cat splays at my feet, making myself pay attention despite wanting to listen to Ginny’s voice, her laugh, her whispers, and soak up every minute of being this near to her that I can get while I still have the chance.

Cricket and Pip are helping Lavender fight imaginary dragons on the large concrete pad between the barn to the fermentation building. Lav’s using a pool noodle. Pip has something else that might be a dildo, but also enough not a dildothat Heath isn’t making her put it away. Cricket doesn’t have a weapon, just her arms and legs.

“You getting a wine named after you or Lavender?” I ask Heath.

“Absolutely not.”

“No? No Dragon Slayer Syrah?”

He slides a bland look at me. “I use all my patience with my daughter. Don’t test me by making me think about her going viral too.”

I grin. “Got it.”

He watches me while he takes a swig of beer. “Angling to have one named after you?”

“Zinfanfailure?” I say dryly.

“Zinfandildo!” Samantha exclaims from the table just inside the barn, where she’s arranging plates and silverware beside bowls of potato salad and coleslaw. “Olivia and I call Zinfandildo!”

I almost choke on my beer.

Samantha and Olivia’s viral moment had to do with an axe, a ceramic dildo, and a head wound, so I get where she’s coming from, but I wasn’t ready forZinfandildo.

Lav pauses in slaying imaginary dragons, her nose wrinkling. “What’s a zifareldo?”

“It’s a thing that lays out fresh ice on skating rinks,” Ginny says instantly.

“No, that’s a Zamboni,” Lavender replies.

“I still likeSyrah Syrah, The…Dog Bone…is Dead,” Olivia says to Samantha with a glance at Lavender, who’s still squinting at Samantha.

“Oh my god, did you see that?” Cricket says. “Lav, that dragon waspurpleand it hadtwo heads.”

“So does my—” Pip starts.

Mabel clears her throat before the older woman can finish. “If dragons destroy this cookout, I’ll be very sad,” she says loudly.

Lav looks between Mabel and Pip, and then at Cricket, who fakes cowering in fear. “It’s so big, Lav! I’m scared!”

Lav instantly brandishes her pool noodle again. “Take that, bad dragon!”

“Yeah, bad dragon!” Cricket says, still shrinking like she’s terrified of an imaginary two-headed purple dragon.