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I stare at her for a while, then burst into laughter. “You dirty-minded beast.” I laugh so hard tears spring to my eyes. “For your information, they’re not entirely identical in that department, either. They have some… decidedly individual features.”

“Decidedly individual.”

“Stop laughing.”

“You’re making it very hard for me to sit here and not laugh, Mac.” Janet shakes her head slowly. “Did you have a good time?”

“The best time of my life,” I breathe. “Though I swear I had no idea I’d be doing any of it when I hopped on that plane. It just… happened.”

“One thing led to another,” Janet reminds me with a playful wink.

I nod again. “Precisely.”

“So why aren’t you still there? Why on earth did you come back here if you have three gorgeous and not-that-identical hunks waiting for you in Sweden?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I mutter. “Things didn’t go well at the end, and I had to leave before my heart was completely broken.”

“I’ll kill them,” Janet swears. “Just buy me a plane ticket and a revolver and I’ll finish them off one by one.”

“That’s sweet,” I reply. “But totally unnecessary. I’m over them. It was fun while it lasted, but I have a lot of work to do, and I don’t have time to dwell on what could have been.”

“Was it another woman? Or another set of triplets?”

“No, it was just one other woman, and she was horrible,” I admit, lowering my gaze. “I mean, I could see why they’d be drawn to the likes of her.”

“The obvious?”

“Tits and ass,” I mutter unceremoniously. “They said it was in the past, that it didn’t matter anymore, but it’s not what she said, and the way they kept things from me… I don’t know. I really don’t want to dig any deeper into any of it, right now.”

Janet gives me a soft, sympathetic smile. “The wound is still open, huh?”

“And still bleeding,” I press my eyes shut for a moment, waiting for the tears to subside.

The last thing I need is crying over the Anderson triplets when I’ve got other, more important things to distract me.

“I don’t regret any of it, I just… I just wish they’d been more honest with me, that’s all.

We were friends before everything else, Janet. ”

“I get it. Some men think that if they hide the crap under the rug, you’re not going to notice. But then you trip over the lumpy carpet and… guess what, you’re hurting, and the stuff still comes out in the end.”

I smile, draw a steadying breath, then take a generous gulp of margarita to jump-start my engines. There’s a reason why I asked her to meet me, and it wasn’t just to vent about the Sweden debacle.

“I actually asked you here to run a proposition by you,” I begin, hoping she won’t refuse.

“I know you hate your job, and I’m grateful every day that at least two managers buffer you from the creep who used to be my boss.

I just hope you’re not dealing with the same level of crap I did, though I know the environment there is still toxic. ”

“You’ve got that right,” Janet agrees.

“So, what do you think about switching to remote work and coming to Napa Valley with me?” I ask, holding my breath just in case she says no.

“Napa Valley?” Janet repeats. “Like… to your family farm?”

“It’s a piece of land,” I correct her, “and I’m going to turn it into a vineyard.

It’s actually perfect for growing grapes.

It sits right on the eastern lip of Wine Country.

The soil is good, the weather is gentle.

And we haven’t had a wildfire out there in years.

I’ve got a business plan already put together, some idea about the starting costs…

I’m still brushing up on the bottling and distribution side of things, but I know I can handle it. ”

“You want to open a winery, huh?” A broad smile dances across my friend’s glossy lips as her eyes search my face.

“I truly believe it could work, and if it does, we could make a lot of money. You could work from the farmhouse and still bring in your regular income. You’d only need to pop into the office for the occasional in-person meeting, and the rest of the time you’d have total freedom.

Plus, the views out there are worth making the leap, I promise. ”

She thinks about it for a moment. “It’s a big deal, Mac—moving out of the city, leaving everything behind. I don’t know anything about farming or growing grapes.”

“But you know graphic design and product development,” I say. “That’s your jam. I’ll need help designing the labels and marketing the product.”

“But not for a while,” she cautions.

“True. But I don’t want to do this alone…

Janet, you could switch to working with me when I’m ready to roll the product out.

It’s why I suggested you go remote. I admit, I would need your help there, but I wouldn’t keep you from your own work.

I just…” I lower my head for a second. “I can’t do it alone.

But I believe in that place, I believe in what we could do with it.

And you know what? If you agree, if you decide to invest any time in developing my winery…

I’ll make you a partner. You’ll have a stake in the company, you’ll get a cut from the sales. ”

“You really believe in this dream, huh?”

“With all my heart.”

Janet glances around, taking in the raucous atmosphere—colorful lights, questionable fashion choices—and giggles.

“We won’t have bars like this once we’re out in the country,” I add.

“But we’ll have each other, and we’ll be surrounded by nature.

Clean air, less stress, just enough hard labor to help us sleep like babies at night.

Plus, we’ll be working on building a future for ourselves and our future families. I see it as a win-win.”

“Okay,” she finally says. “I’ll think about it.”

“Think quickly,” I warn. “I’m moving out of my apartment at the end of the month and need to arrange a U-Haul for my stuff.”

“Wow. I do appreciate the enthusiasm, I really do. But while I ponder this, let me just ask you one thing.”

I give her a curious look. “Shoot.”

“Why are you doing this, Mac? It’s a risky leap right after quitting your job—and I’m pretty sure you just got your heart broken, too.”

“I wouldn’t go that far as to say I got my heart?—”

“Save it. Can it. Sell it to someone who believes it,” she cuts me off with a raised eyebrow, giving me no choice but to shyly concede. “So, is this whole winery thing a knee-jerk reaction to keep your mind off the things that hurt you, or is this a true passion project?”

Taking another long sip of my drink, I gather my thoughts and emotions into a single, well-crafted and genuine argument.

“I’m doing this because I’ve wanted to do it for a long time.

When our parents died, and I learned that they left me the land in Napa, I knew I was going to do something special with it.

Granted, I was a little too young to figure out the details, but now…

it’s different. And the dream has only grown bigger. ”

“Are you sure it’s not just a way to fill a gap in your soul?”

I shake my head. “No, it’s what I want. And honestly, quitting my job…

getting involved with the Anderson triplets…

regardless of how it ended between us… It gave me the courage I’d been missing to take this leap of faith, in the first place.

This is real, Janet. I’m doing it because I believe in it. I believe in myself.”

Truth be told, I have the triplets to thank. They inspired me. They supported me. They believed in me. It made walking away so much harder than it needed to be. So maybe my success with this winery will be the best thing to come out of that entire affair.

It’ll make the suffering that came afterward worth it.

“Good answer,” Janet decrees. “Now, I need another round. Maybe something stiffer.”

I laugh. “Preaching to the choir.”

“Then we ditch the sweet and sour and head straight for the tequila shots.”

The rest of the evening blurs into an alcohol-soaked haze that drops me into bed early. When I finally surface, drool crusted on my pillow, a text from Janet waits for my sober attention.

I’m in, she says.

I thank my lucky stars for such an amazing friend and dive into the logistics of the move with fresh passion. It takes me only three days to clean and sort my possessions.

To my surprise, I don’t have that much to take with me.

I guess few things matter when you’re about to start a new life, so I head out to Napa Valley with three hard-shelled suitcases and two duffel bags of clothes, a box full of kitchen stuff, a box of books and heirlooms from my parents, one small couch, a television and an exercise bike.

Janet’s things slide in beside mine in a single large U-Haul.

“This is incredible,” Janet says as we pull out onto the highway. “I’ve never done something so impulsive in my life.”

“Technically, it’s not that impulsive. Quitting your job and jumping in headfirst like I did—that would’ve been impulsive,” I say with a laugh.

“You’re brave, I’ll give you that.”

“I have faith in what’s next. It’s all going to work out,” I promise her.

“I don’t even care,” she sings, “this is going to be an amazing adventure, and you’re absolutely right, I hated being in that office.

Luckily, my manager approved my remote work request. We’re doing a six-month trial run, and he said he’ll extend if it works out on my end.

Besides, if the winery doesn’t pan out, we can always move back to the city. ”

“Or start a petting zoo. We’ve got plenty of land.”

“Oh, yeah. The fluffiest alpacas. Bunnies. Cows we could rescue from slaughterhouses. Goats. Horses. So many horses.”

“And all the cats, Janet. Let’s not forget about the cats,” I chuckle softly.

She gives me a wry smile. “We’ll be okay, Mac.”

Balancing the wheel with my knee, I lean over to tug her into a quick side-hug.

“Watch the road!” she shrieks, putting her hands up in a brief panic.

I laugh and return to my driving, feeling like I’ve just won the lottery.