Page 4

Whatever, it was fine, Taylor would know she was just being polite and wouldn’t take it.

“Thanks, you’re a treasure.” Taylor picked up the taco with her fingers.

Oh. Okay. But, well, if Taylor was going to call her a treasure like that, it was worth her last taco.

She downed it in two bites, and then let out a deep sigh.

“Wow,” she said. “That was really good.” She licked her fingers slowly, and Avery couldn’t stop staring. Until Taylor looked up at her and slowly licked her lips.

At least, that’s what she did in Avery’s imagination.

Did she have heatstroke? She needed to get hold of herself. She took a gulp of her wine.

“I, um…Do you need some help?”

Taylor raised an eyebrow at her abrupt question. Oh, she could do that eyebrow move, too. Of course.

“Help pouring wine? I know you’re an event planner, but today you’re the guest! This party is for you to have fun and drink wine and relax.”

“Yeah, I know.” Avery sighed. “The thing is…I’m not great at relaxing. I was trying, just now, and instead I counted the number of people here and looked at the food lines to see if there was something I could do to make them more efficient, and if that sounds insulting, I’m sorry. I thought I could turn off the event planner in me, but apparently, I can’t. So, if I can pour wine or unpack wineglasses or direct people to the bathrooms or something, it might make me feel better.” Oh God, why was she still talking? The wine had obviously already gone to her head.

Taylor laughed at her.

“Not great at relaxing? I wish I had that problem. You should work on that, you know.”

Avery took another sip of wine.

“Yes, so I’ve been told. Repeatedly. Especially by my mother.”

Taylor flinched dramatically.

“I am so sorry to echo a criticism of your mother’s,” Taylor said.“But yeah, sure, come over here. But you have to promise that if my boss gets mad at me for this, you’ll tell her that you begged to help me and gave me no choice.”

Avery stepped around to the other side of the table to stand next to Taylor.

“Will do.”

“Here, let me at least fill up that glass of yours again.”

While Taylor greeted the next group of guests, Avery straightened the glasses on the table into neat rows and turned them all so that the Noble Family Vineyards logo was facing out.

“Wow.” Taylor looked down at the glasses after the guests had all walked into the party. “I don’t understand at all why your mom said you needed to work on relaxing.”

Avery looked into Taylor’s amused eyes and couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay fine, my mom may have had atinypoint.” She looked back down at the wineglasses. “But doesn’t that look nice?”

Taylor poured more rosé into Avery’s glass.

“It looks very nice,” she said, in the same tone of voice you’d use to compliment a toddler on their Lego creation. From most people, Avery would have bristled at that tone, but when Taylor grinned at her, Avery had to laugh.

“If it helps, I hate that I’m like this, too,” Avery said.

Taylor tapped her gently on the hand.

“Hey, no negative self-talk. I don’t hate that you’re like this, and you shouldn’t, either. It’s always good to have orderly people in a world full of chaotic people like me. Plus, I’ve worked events that you’ve planned. They go off without a hitch, every time.”

Avery smiled back at her. It was kind of amazing that Taylor had noticed that.