“Hey, so, change of plans,” she said when she sat down on the couch next to him. “My best friend, Penny—I’ve told you about her . . .”

“The wine person?” Ben took a sip of his coffee.

She nodded.

“Yeah. Well, she’s going to be in L.A. today. I know you have some work to do, but I haven’t seen Penny in way too long, and . . .”

“And she wants to meet me?” he said with a raise of his eyebrows.

Anna tried to fight back her smile but didn’t succeed.

“Yeah, she wants to meet you. Is that okay? You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I can go meet her alone. We still have the play later tonight, so if that’s all the activity you feel like doing today . . .”

He waved that off.

“You talk about Penny a lot; I’m glad I’ll get to meet her. Just let me know when I should be ready.”

Ben lifted his coffee cup to his lips, then stopped.

“Wait, just so I know—what does Penny know here?”

Anna laughed.

“Penny knows everything.” She grinned at him. “Well. Almost everything. Don’t worry.”

So at a few minutes before three, they pulled into a parking spot on Figueroa. Ben had driven so she’d be able to text Penny right away to let them in.

The restaurant door opened as they walked toward it, and Anna swept inside, Ben behind her.

“Anna!” Penny pounced on her, and they fell into a hug, both laughing. And at least on Anna’s side, crying a little. Even though they only lived about three hours away from each other, that three hours could be five or more if there was a lot of traffic, and between her career and how hard Penny had been working over the past year, they hadn’t seen each other in months.

Finally, they broke apart, both grinning.

“I missed you,” Anna said.

“I didn’t miss you at all,” Penny said. She also had tears in her eyes. Anna grinned at her and turned to Ben, who was still standing by the door.

“Penny, I’d like you to meet Ben Stephens. Ben, Penny Malone.”

Ben reached for Penny’s hand.

“Very nice to finally meet you, Penny,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Penny’s eyes danced.

“Likewise.” Oh no. Was Penny going to embarrass her? Yes, of course she was.

“Does a booth work, Ms. Malone?” Someone from the restaurant came up to Penny and studiously didn’t look at Anna. “I’ll keep setting up in the back room.”

“A booth is perfect, thank you.” They followed him to a booth in the corner, which was already set up with a cheese plate and wineglasses.

“I figured if I had you here, I might as well have you taste some of your investment,” Penny said when the restaurant guy walked into the back room and left the three of them alone.

“Investment?” Ben asked as he slid into the booth next to Anna.

“Oh, Anna didn’t tell you?” Penny pulled her corkscrew—the engraved one Anna had given her when she’d gotten the winemaker job—out of her pocket and started opening one of the bottles on the table.

Ben looked at Anna. Right. She hadn’t told him this part.

“Penny likes to overstate my involvement, but yes, I am a minor—”

“Major,” Penny said.

“Silent partner in her winery,” Anna finished. “It’s very easy work for me—I just had to write one check, and now I get all of the wine I can drink.”

Penny poured wine for all three of them, then sat down on the other side of the booth. She lifted her glass.

“Cheers to new beginnings, and complicated partnerships.”

Ben’s eyes crinkled at that.

“Excellent way to put it.” They all clinked glasses, and then he took a sip of the wine. “Since you’re the expert, can you tell us about this wine, or is that a boring question for you to have to answer when that’s your job?”

Anna slid her hand on Ben’s knee under the table. That was the perfect question to ask Penny.

“I’d love to tell you about our wines. I brought some of my favorites for tonight—we do a lot of Italian-style wines, and this is a Barbera style that I bottled a few years back—shortly after I came to the winery, actually.”

“That’s good with food, right?” Ben asked.

Anna turned to him and narrowed her eyes. She’d never heard him talk like he knew about wine before. He saw her glance and laughed.

“I only know that because of my brother—as you might imagine, he’s very into wine.”

Yeah, Anna could see that.

They sat there for the next hour, drinking wine—mostly Anna, since Penny was working and Ben had said he’d drive home—and eating cheese and talking. Not about anything major, and Penny didn’t even ask Ben that many questions about why he was doing this with Anna like Anna had thought she might. They talked about wine, and Penny’s adventures with tourists, and the times Ben went wine tasting with his brother, and when Anna and Penny had gone to France together a few years back. Anna hadn’t realized just how much she’d missed Penny until she was here together with her and Ben. She was glad Penny had insisted on meeting him. He’d been such a big—if temporary—part of her life these days; she was glad Penny finally knew him as a person, and not just a series of stories.

All too soon, Ben nudged her.

“I hate to do this, but you told me to tell you when it was four, since you want to make sure to get out of here to give Penny time to finish setting up.”

She looked at her watch, and he was right. She reached across the table and grabbed Penny’s hands.

“We can’t go this long again before seeing each other, okay?”

Penny nodded. Were those more tears Anna saw in famously stoic Penny’s eyes?

“Absolutely. I’m holding you to that. This week we’ll pick a date for next time. Next month?”

Ben slid out of the booth and smiled at Penny.

“It was really great to meet you,” he said. “And I’ll make sure to tell my brother about your winery. He’ll want to get some wine.”

Penny reached into her pocket and handed him a business card.

“Have him contact me.” She winked. “I’ll give him the friends-and-family discount.”

They were still all laughing together when Penny unlocked the restaurant door. Anna stepped outside, and a flash went off in her face.