“If I don’t, someone else is going to, and it’s going to destroy me to sit back and watch, knowing I did nothing to stop it.”

His eyes widened. “Okay. So, Operation Julia is officially back on?”

I laughed at the name we’d come up with in the seventh grade after we convinced ourselves that we could get Julia to kiss me before school let out for the summer. We’d failed, and the operation had been canceled—or at least, paused indefinitely.

“Looks that way. And, this time, it’s going to work.”

Dane didn’t look convinced. “Wanna bet on it?”

“Do you?” I countered.

“Betting doesn’t end well in your family,” he said as he gripped my hand and shook it hard, “so I’d be a fool not to.”

FIRST PLACE

Julia

Five hours of schmoozing, people-pleasing, and smiling were finally nearing an end. It wasn’t that I didn’t love this part of my job, but I was exhausted. Being forced to be on in that way took a lot out of a person. It sounded stupid, I knew that, but it didn’t make it any less true.

“How are you holding up?” Jeanine whispered as the last few glasses of our wine disappeared.

I smiled at her before answering, “Good. Tired.”

“I know. This shit’s exhausting.” She shook her head and rubbed at the back of her neck. “And I don’t even do half the entertaining that you do.”

“All part of the job.” I faked a curtsy and wished like hell I could take off my heels. As soon as the winner was announced, I’d slip them off and tuck them into my bag.

“Todd Lestare is going to ask you out again. I overheard some girls talking in the restroom about him and James.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. Todd wasn’t my type, not even in high school, but he never seemed to take no for an answer. To be fair, every time he asked me out and I turned him down, my reasons were flimsy, my excuses weak. I told him things like I had too much going on at the winery to get away or it was harvest season or I was in the middle of a launch or rebrand. Instead of figuring out that I wasn’t interested in him, he took my rejections as temporary setbacks. I should be honest and straightforward, but I had no idea how to do that without hurting his feelings and feeling like a jerk in return. The only person whose feelings I never cared about hurting was James. I thought I got a sick joy out of being mean to him. I decided to psychoanalyze that part of myself later.

“You could do me a solid and take him off my hands, you know.” I nudged Jeanine with my shoulder.