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Cat laughed.

“I bet you do. Anyway, I saw something about this on Instagram, and thought maybe painting pottery would be as soothing as watching people do it? At least, it seemed like a lower stress way to meet people. What about you, have you done this before?”

Avery shook her head.

“Nope, this was my friend Taylor’s idea. I’m excited to see what her mug ends up looking like. So far, it doesn’t seem like she’s making much progress.”

“I heard that,” Taylor said. “And I am, too, making progress. I’m coming up with a plan. My new friend Blake over here is assisting me.”

Avery leaned around Taylor to wave at Blake.

“Hi, Blake, I’m Avery, Taylor’s friend. And this is my new friend Cat.”

“Hi, Avery and Cat, nice to meet you,” Blake said. “And yes, Taylor was about to do something very boring to her mug until I intervened.”

“I’m trusting you, Blake,” Taylor said. “Don’t make me regret that.”

Blake just laughed and gave Taylor a look that Avery one hundred percent recognized. It was a “damn, I’d love to see you naked” face. Avery mostly recognized it because she was sure she’d felt it on her own face many times while talking to Taylor, especially last Friday night.

“She’s a ringer over here!” Taylor said, pointing at Blake. “An artist in our midst. Artists aren’t allowed to come to things like this! It’s like if Adele dropped in to a karaoke bar.”

Blake dipped her paintbrush in the white paint, still laughing.

“As much as I enjoy being compared to Adele, Taylor is exaggerating. I’m not a potter, or even a painter—I’m a photographer. It’s an art form, yes, but it’s a lot different than this.”

Taylor brushed that away.

“It’s a type of art form, you just said it. You have an eye for these things, I very much do not. I’m grateful you’re here; thanks for your help, I needed it.”

Avery talked herself down from the flash of jealousy that she felt as Taylor flirted with Blake and Blake flirted back.Averywas the one who had wanted to keep the flirting lessons going after they’d slept together, remember? She knew what Taylor was like, and she’d told her—and Beth—that it would be fine. And it was, mostly. This was just weird for her.

On the bright side, this was the ideal flirting lesson, to be able to watch Taylor work her magic at close range. Maybe Taylor was doing this for her benefit!

Avery laughed at that patently ridiculous idea and joined the conversation again.

The four of them talked for the next hour as they painted. Avery’s vase ended up being blue and white stripes with a blue interior. The stripes were slightly crooked, but Avery remindedherself that she was the only person who would notice. Taylor’s mug was a sort of ombré reddish brown, which Blake assured them would be beautiful after it was fired.

When they finished placing their pieces on the shelf to be fired, Cat stopped her on the way back to the table.

“Do you want to get a drink sometime? Or coffee, or something?”

Avery wanted to turn to grin at Taylor in triumph. People asked Taylor out almost every time they went out; this time someone askedherout.

“Yeah, that would be great,” she said instead. She tried to strike a balance in the tone of her voice between totally chill and incredibly enthusiastic but sounded robotic as a result. She smiled at Cat, hoping they hadn’t noticed that. “Why don’t I give you my number and we can figure out when and where?”

Cat pulled out their phone and typed in Avery’s number, and then Avery felt a buzz in her pocket.

“There, I texted you, now you have mine, too,” Cat said. “Um, well, see you soon, then.”

“Looking forward to it.”

She and Taylor fell into step on the way back to the car. Taylor turned to grin at her once they were a few doors away from Let’s Paint!

“And you were skeptical of the pottery painting mixer.”

“I was not!” Avery said. “I trusted you. I thought it wasn’t very you, that’s all.”

Taylor’s eyes were full of amusement.