Page 15 of While You Were Trending

Hall of Famers.

Legends.

The only legend Declan Fox will ever be to me is thelegendary asskind.

Even if he was right to dislike me.

Look what I did to Alex’s wedding.

“Excuse us,” Mabel says to Declan again, with a clearget outgesture. “I need to get my friend some coffee.”

As if coffee can actually cure my problems.

Declan holds eye contact with her for a long minute before he saunters to the sink, sets his—my—mug inside of it, and then traces Eddie’s steps to leave through our mudroom.

“I’m tearing up the contract,” Mabel murmurs to me as soon as we’re alone.

“No. No. I can—I just need to sleep this off some more, and then I’ll be fine.”

“They’re asking too many questions.”

“We need the money, and we couldn’t have asked for a better documentarian for the publicity either.”

Foxy Goes There, Declan’s web series—it’s unbelievably popular.

This documentary offer is a gold-plated gift on a silver platter.

We need our winery to succeed.

We’ve bought ourselves time with what Caro and Mike insisted on paying us for hosting their wedding, along with a few donations from some previous residents who didn’t stay permanently after their five minutes of fame, but we need the winery to succeed as a functioning business so that we can continue supporting ourselves for years to come.

So we can continue to invite women who go the bad kind of viral here to recover too.

It’s not about the wine to me.

It’s about giving back to the world what Mabel and Pip and Makepeace Cellars gave to me.

If we fail—if we fail, the bank will own this vineyard, and not only will we lose our home, but I’ll lose my mission.

My purpose.

The good that I do in the world to make up for all of the bad that I’ve caused.

“We’ll find another way,” Mabel says softly.

“But this way isright here, and it’ll pay dividends when it airs.”

She’s eyeing me as she pours me a cup of coffee into a generic Makepeace Cellars mug.

“If you change your mind…”

“I won’t.”

I know we need this.

No matter how much I hate having Declan Fox in my home.

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