Julia should be embarrassed by the amount of daydreaming she did over the next several days at work. Fortunately, no one but her knew the extent of it. The weight of Taylor’s arm wrapped around her, the solid warmth of her body pressed against Julia’s back. The taste of Taylor’s mouth and the confident sparkle in her eyes when they agreed to go on a real date. A date that still felt ages away.
Two days. Exactly two whole days away. She was a grown woman. Two days should not feel like an eternity. Only it did.
She slipped into yet another daydream, this one about Taylor naked and pressing into her in a way she hadn’t yet. Taylor’s body, hard and soft in all the right places, moving against hers, also in all the right places. Taylor’s fingers, grazing her thigh, before slipping into her.
The door to the tasting room swung open and a dozen people streamed in. They wore matching polo shirts with a logo Julia didn’t recognize stitched onto the left breast. Perhaps they were on some type of corporate retreat. She plastered on her most welcoming smile. “Good afternoon. Welcome to Fairmount Ridge.”
They sidled up to the bar in small groups. Most looked happy to be there; a few did not. Julia sympathized with the miserable ones. Sure, there were worse ways to spend a Tuesday than on a wine tour, but group activities with colleagues could be insufferable. Especially if some of those colleagues were over-eager, enthusiastic types.
A woman, the only one not in a matching teal shirt, caught her eye. Her navy polo had the University of Rochester embroidered on it. “Hi. Tasting for ten, please.”
Her smile seemed almost too familiar, like they were in on a secret together. Odd. Julia hadn’t decided whether or not to reciprocate when realization hit. “Bianca.”
“I thought for a second you didn’t recognize me.” She winked, indicating no hard feelings. At least that’s what Julia hoped.
“Unexpected is all. Are you guiding a tour?” Only a partial lie, really. She thought Bianca did something fancy in the business school. This didn’t go with any of the contexts she had.
“Sort of. We’re doing a summer fintech institute. Today is a team building outing.”
Should she admit to having no idea what fintech was? Probably not. “Ah.”
“I wasn’t sure if you’d be working today. I almost texted you.”
Julia experienced a pang of guilt for essentially dropping off the face of the planet after their night together. Not ghosting, exactly, but offering thin excuses about needing to refocus her energies. “Let me get everyone situated and then maybe we could chat for a minute?”
Again with the warm smile Julia probably didn’t deserve. “Sure.”
She set ten menus and ten wine glasses on the bar and walked everyone through a Fairmount Ridge tasting. She gave an overview of the options, including the flagship chardonnay and the ice wine, and concluded with, “And if you have any questions about specific varietals or anything else, my name is Julia and I’d be more than happy to assist you.”
Based on her experience, she had about three minutes before the quick deciders were ready to sample. She moved to the end of the bar and returned her attention to Bianca. “How are you?”
“Good. Work, play, the usual. A lot of kayaking to be had this summer.” She genuinely seemed to have no hard feelings. “You?”
“More work than play, but I’m making time to enjoy the summer.”
Bianca looked away for a second, then back at Julia. “I started seeing someone. Right after you, ironically.”
“Oh, that’s great.” She didn’t have to fake her enthusiasm. Bianca was a fantastic person, and it made her feel better to know there’d been no pining.
“Thanks. You never know, right?”
Julia’s thoughts went immediately to Taylor. Wasn’t that the truth? With the initial awkwardness dispelled, she wished they had time to talk for real, but a few of Bianca’s group started looking up from their menus. She angled her head in their direction. “I think that’s my cue.”
She signaled to Dwayne, who’d been arranging glassware, and they got to work. She poured and chatted, learned about what the hell fintech was, and settled the tab with Bianca. When the group left, she cleaned up and prepared for whoever came in next. All in all, it was shaping up to be a good afternoon.
When she took her break, she discovered a voice mail from Amanda, a woman she knew casually through her sister, but who was a good ten years older than her. No specifics, just a request to call her back. Strange.
She left her usual spot at the picnic table near the loading dock and wandered into the vineyard. Ten minutes later and she was still on the phone. She and Amanda had caught up, but the conversation had only gotten weirder from there.
“You want me to take Cal’s senior pictures?” Julia was glad to be having this conversation over the phone instead of in person. The look on her face would have likely killed any confidence Amanda had in her abilities.
“I saw the ones you did at Jessica’s wedding. They were so artistic. I’m already pulling teeth to get Cal to take them. If I go with some stuffy, traditional photographer, he’ll mutiny.”
Julia swallowed a laugh. She’d babysat for Cal and his sister, Daniella, before moving to the city. He was equal parts awkward and opinionated as a child. It seemed like the trait had proved permanent. “I mean, I’d be totally honored. But you know I don’t have any formal training, right?”
“If you can get me one decent shot to hang on my wall before he goes off to college, I’ll consider it a win.”
If Cal was hesitant about having his picture taken, it would probably help that they had some history. Whether the rapport would be there after so many years she couldn’t say, but it couldn’t hurt to try. And it wasn’t like a wedding. If the whole thing turned out to be a disaster, they could start over with a professional. “Okay.”
“Oh, I’m so excited. Cal will be, too. You let me know some dates you’re free and your rates and we’ll get it on the calendar.”
Rates. Again, she had to suppress a laugh. “Sounds good.”
“I can’t wait to see you, either. It’s been too long. Text me.”
“Will do.”
Amanda ended the call and Julia stared at her phone. Did that really just happen? It did, of course it did. She’d not gone so far over the edge as to start hallucinating. Still. The whole conversation had been surreal. It also left her with a host of questions and a daunting to-do list, including begging a camera off Taylor again. She sighed. And figuring out if Taylor had been the one to orchestrate the whole thing as part of her mission to convince Julia she had talent.
Julia glanced at her watch. It would have to wait, though. Her break was exactly two minutes from over.
* * *
“Dude, are you sure this is a good idea?” Chris leaned against her workbench and sipped his coffee.
Taylor continued applying stain to the bookcase she’d finished that morning. “No, I’m not.”
He folded his arms. “Tell me how this all happened again? I’m not sure I’m clear.”
He wasn’t clear because she hadn’t told him. She couldn’t decide if he’d tease her mercilessly or give her some sort of brotherly lecture about getting her heart broken. Either way, she wasn’t interested. “We’ve been hanging out. There’s a mutual attraction.”
“But you’ve been like her dating coach, or wingman, or whatever. You can’t switch teams in the middle of the game.”
“It’s not a game.” Even if she appreciated the analogy, she didn’t have to concede the point.
“You know what I mean.”
“She put me on the spot about why we hadn’t gone out.” Not that she hadn’t given plenty of thought to what she’d like to do with Julia on a date. After a date.
“And why hadn’t you gone out?”
He sort of knew the answer, which made the question all the more annoying. “Because she’s looking for casual.”
“And you don’t do casual.”
She sighed. “Right.”
“She’s changed her mind?” Chris gave her the same exasperated face he made when she regularly nixed his idea of opening her own shop.
“Not exactly.”
“So, if you have the hots for someone and that’s what’s on the table, maybe you reconsider.” The second the words were out of his mouth, his eyes got big. “You don’t have the hots for her. You’re in love with her.”
She cringed. “Maybe you could stop saying ‘having the hots.’ It’s so juvenile.”
“Only if you stop changing the subject. Are you in love with her?”
“No.” Maybe she answered a little too quickly, but it wasn’t a lie. “I haven’t spent that much time with her. There’s no way I’m in love.”
“But you’re in the vicinity, I can tell.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
He set down his coffee and crossed the room. He pointed a finger at her. “You might not say it, but you have it bad for her. Relationship territory, not banging.”
She rolled her eyes before closing them and shook her head. “I’m never in banging territory.”
When she opened her eyes, he had his worried brother look on. “True, true. You’re about as old-fashioned as they come.”
“I’m sorry, did you only come here to harass me? Because I have work to do.”
“Hey, now. I’m not harassing. I’m looking out for you. If you’re all in and she’s not, it could end badly.”
“I’m not all in.” She wasn’t that stupid.
“But you have this way of being whatever everyone else needs, which is great for everyone else, but not always for you.”
She maybe had that exact fear simmering. “Eh. It’ll be fine.”
“Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”
She’d spent the better part of her adult life waiting and hoping the woman she was meant to love would appear on her doorstep. It hadn’t gotten her very far. “You know what? It might be a terrible idea, but I’ve decided to go for it.”
He nodded slowly, as though trying to digest her words or, perhaps more accurately, figure out if there was some hidden meaning.
“I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”
He laughed then, a real laugh, long and hard. “Famous last words, T. Famous last words.”
“Don’t you have somewhere to be or something? Cleaning the house or making dinner for Jack?” Jack, Chris’s husband, was a mortgage broker who did not get summers off.
“No.” Chris shrugged. “My house is clean and I’m meeting Jack in Ithaca for dinner.”
Taylor sighed. She didn’t begrudge teachers their summers off and, normally, she enjoyed the extra time they got to spend together. But at this rate, it was going to be a long couple of months. “Then how about we stop discussing my love life and get to work?”
Taylor had cut pieces the day before, so ten Adirondack chairs came together in no time flat. When her phone rang with a call from Julia, she ducked outside, saying to Chris, “Be right back.” Once out of earshot, she swiped her finger across the screen. “Hey, you.”
“Did you set me up?”
Other than her efforts to set herself up with Julia, she had no idea what Julia might be getting at. “What are you talking about?”
“Amanda. Did you tell her she should hire me to take Cal’s senior pictures?”
It took her a second to place even knowing an Amanda. Then it hit her. Friend of her sister, a bit older. She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d seen her. “No?”
“Why did you say it like a question?”
“Um, because I have no idea what you’re talking about?” That came out like a question, too, but she was legit confused.
“You didn’t suggest it? Even mildly?”
“I only know one Amanda, and barely. I certainly wouldn’t be giving her advice.”
“Huh.”
When she didn’t elaborate, Taylor ventured a, “Julia?”
“What?” There was genuine confusion in her voice.
“What’s going on?”
“Oh. Yeah. So, I got this phone call out of the blue from Amanda Russo. You know her, right?”
At least it was the Amanda she remembered. Perk of a small town. “Only a little. She’s in the married with kids set.”
“Her youngest, Cal, is going to be a senior.”
Christ, that made her feel old. “Okay.”
“Anyway, she calls me and says she saw the pictures from Jessica’s wedding and asked if I do senior pictures. Like, professionally.”
She might not have orchestrated it, but it didn’t surprise her. “I swear I had nothing to do with it.”
“I believe you. I wasn’t mad either way. It was just so weird. So out of the blue.”
Of course she would think that. “You take really amazing pictures. I don’t think it’s out of the blue at all.”
Julia sighed audibly on the other end of the line. “But I don’t know how to take senior pictures.”
“I think it’s just taking pictures. With a high school senior in them.”
Julia coughed, but it didn’t quite cover up the snort that preceded it, which made Taylor smile. “Don’t be a smart-ass.”
“What did you tell her?”
“That I didn’t have any formal training.”
“And what did she say in return?”
“That Cal hated the idea of senior pictures and she figured someone less traditional would probably do better anyway.”
She could empathize. “Sounds perfect, then.”
“You really think I can do this?”
No matter what developed between them romantically, she hoped, if nothing else, the time they spent together might help Julia feel more confident in herself, her talents. “I think you’re going to do amazing.”
“You would say that.”
“I would. I’ve seen what you can do with a camera.”
“Speaking of cameras…” Julia trailed off.
“What about them?”
“Do you think I could borrow yours? I should probably buy my own at this point, but I’m going to need a few paychecks before I can save up for one worth bothering with.”
“Absolutely. I’ll bring them both tomorrow night. We can play around with the manual focus so you feel comfortable with it.”
“You’re the best.”
Taylor ended the call and returned to her workshop. She found Chris lounging against her worktable, making a show of twiddling his thumbs. “All right, all right. Back to work.”
“Are you going to tell me who that was? Or do I even need to ask?”
“It could have been a customer for all you know.” It didn’t bother her he knew it was Julia, just that he assumed it was.
“Was it?”
“No. Julia got asked to do somebody’s senior portraits and needs to borrow my camera.”
“That’s awesome. And awesome that you helped her get into it.”
For all his poking at her, Chris had a good heart. “She really is talented. I don’t have anything against the winery, but I’m pretty sure working in the tasting room is not how she wants to spend her life. Maybe this could turn into something.”
“Wait, are we still talking about photography?” Chris offered her a suggestive look.
Okay, maybe looking out for her laced with teasing. “No reason it can’t be both, right?”