Theo’s eyes opened wide.

“Last night? Did you go out with Anna Fucking Gardiner last night?”

Ben picked up his drink.

“I love that you actually think that, but no. I mean, yes, but not just me—everybody on set yesterday went out last night for a whole first-day-of-shooting happy-hour thing. I just happened to be sitting next to Anna. And”—he took another sip of bourbon—“yes, there was some mild flirting going on, on both sides, okay? But don’t worry, I’m not such a fool as to think it’s going to come to anything.”

He let himself grin at his brother.

“But it’s going to be damn fun while it lasts.”

Theo clinked Ben’s glass with his.

“I’ll toast to that.”

It was only after Ben was on his way home that he realized he hadn’t told Theo about Dawn’s email. Eh, it would have ruined the night. Next time.

* * *

—

Anna curled up at the edge of the couch in her hotel suite and poured herself a glass of sparkling water before she picked up the phone.

“Anna! Where have you been?”

Anna smiled and leaned back against the couch when she heard her best friend’s voice. Penny had been her rock the year before; their phone calls and video chats and text messages had kept her going when she’d wondered if she would ever feel okay again, if her career was over, if she should just give up.

“Penny, I’m in San Francisco, you know that.”

She could see the eye roll on her friend’s face like they were in the same room.

“I know you’re in San Francisco, I mean, like, metaphorically where have you been. I texted and called last night, and nothing.”

Anna laughed at the outrage in Penny’s voice.

“I was doing that terrible thing—I was working.” She stopped and smiled to herself. “Well, fine, last night I wasn’t working, I was drinking beer with a very attractive man, but mostly I’ve just been working.”

“Oooooooooh,” Penny said, and the excited tone in her voice made Anna grin. “You were ‘drinking beer,’ hmm? Is that what we’re calling it now? Tell me everything.”

If only. She’d made a pledge to herself early in her career to never sleep with anyone she was working with. She’d seen how so many women got screwed over when they did that. But she had had a number of very intentional wrap-party flings.

“No, that’s not what we’re calling it now. The whole crew went out for drinks after the first day of shooting. He’s very charming, but that’s the end of it—he’s working for the ad agency running this campaign, so I’m not going there.”

Even though Ben seemed like he’d be a delightful person to break her long dry streak with . . . but no, she couldn’t.

“Mmm, but you brought him up right away, though; it seems like you maybe want to go there.”

Anna stopped to think about that.

“Part of me does, but, P—I don’t know if I’m ready. I haven’t, since before everything last year. And I just don’t know if I can relax with another person like that yet. Or, I guess, trust another person.” She sighed. “I never used to worry about that.”

“I know,” Penny said. “But also maybe you’re building it up in your mind as something that you have to stress about, since it’s been so long, and finding excuses not to do it?”

Penny knew her too well.

“Me? Build something up in my mind? Never. Fine, yes, but also that doesn’t make it feel any less true right now. I’ll get there eventually, don’t worry.” Anna took a sip of water and thought about Ben from the night before. “Okay, get this—he used to be a backup dancer. Years ago, I mean, but he still has that . . .” She paused, trying to think of the right words to describe it. “That way of moving, like he’s light and nimble and on high alert, all at once.”

Penny was silent for a while, for so long that Anna looked at the phone to make sure they hadn’t been disconnected.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Penny finally said. “You’ve got a backup dancer on the string and you haven’t closed the deal yet? This is not the Anna Gardiner I know. Hell, it’s not even the Anna Rose I know.”

Penny had a very good point there.

“Oh, and—” She was just torturing herself now, but if she couldn’t tell Penny, who could she tell? “He does that thing where he listens to me really intently, and then asks me questions about what I’ve told him, and let me tell you, after dealing with men in Hollywood who only want to talk about themselves, that had me ready to throw my panties at him.”

“I would love to see you throwing your panties across a San Francisco bar, what a sight to see,” Penny said. “You’d better throw them at this man at some point.”

Anna sighed and pushed that fantasy away.

“I wouldn’t count on it. Anyway, enough about me—how are you? How’s business?”

Penny worked at a winery in Paso Robles. She and Anna had worked together at their first jobs after college and bonded over their terrible boss. That bond had lasted for more than ten years now, through many job and life changes.

“Business is good right now, thank God. We’re still not out of the woods yet, but if we have a few more months like last month, I’ll be able to sleep through the night for the first time in well over a year.”

Anna let out a deep breath. What a relief.

“I thought you didn’t worry about all of that accounting stuff and just stuck to the wine,” she said, just to make her friend laugh. It worked.

“Yeah, that’s me, just wandering around in a vineyard, tasting grapes, drinking wine in a backyard, and raking in the dough. Easy life, you know.”

Now they both laughed. Anna knew how hard it had been for Penny. She’d fallen in love with the wine business a few years after they’d become friends, just when Anna was starting to find her way into acting. After about a year of thinking about it, she’d quit her job and gone to grad school at UC Davis to learn everything she could about wine, and then had become an assistant winemaker. Now she was one of a handful of female winemakers in California. And, as far as Anna knew, one of only a few Black women winemakers in the country. Penny loved her job, but small family-owned wineries like hers had a lot of ups and downs.

Well. Family- and Anna-owned, now.

“Don’t worry, I’m protecting your investment,” Penny said. Anna had bought into the winery the year before so they didn’t have to go out of business; partly to save her best friend’s job, but also to save a place that she loved. But Anna also loved having this secret from most of the world, and she especially loved that she got to share it with Penny.