“Stop kicking me,” he groaned, reaching under the table to rub his shin.

“Stop annoying me,” I taunted.

“I’m so happy that we can be done with all the hate,” Jeanine announced.

I suddenly realized how hard it must have been for them to be our closest friends. They’d been thrust into a war they had nothing to do with and forced to pick a side.

I was about to thank them for putting up with us when our waitress appeared and started distributing our food. All other sounds died as we dug into our respective breakfasts, appreciation escaping all of our lips. You would think we hadn’t eaten in years. I watched Julia eat every last bite of her enormous waffle, just as she’d promised she would. It was a total turn-on, seeing a woman enjoying her food. The cutest part might have been when she spilled syrup on her shirt. She cared for all of about two seconds before shrugging her shoulders at me and forking another bite into her mouth. I laughed and swore I had fallen more in love with her in that moment.

After breakfast, I paid the bill, and we walked outside after answering questions from each person in the diner on our way out. Most of them congratulated us, told us to extend the happy thoughts to our parents before commenting on what a lovely couple we made.

“Should I come get my car?” Julia asked, looking between me and Jeanine.

Jeanine spoke up, “Nah. You ride home with lover boy, and I’ll drop your car and things off.”

“Are you sure? How will you get back home?”

She cast a nod in Dane’s direction. “This guy’s offered to take me.”

“Okay then”—Julia grinned at her best friend before giving me a questioning look—“if you’re sure.”

“Oh jeez, you two, go away.” Jeanine swatted Julia’s arm, and we laughed before heading toward my car.

I walked to the passenger side, clicked the button on my remote, and went to open her door when the sound of someone shouting our names stopped us both.

“Julia! James! Wait!”

“It’s Ginny Stevens,” Julia said at the same time I realized who it was.

I wondered if she was going to ask us about our dinner from the other night or if she had an actual business question for us.

We stood still and waited for her to reach us.

“Hi there! I just came to see for myself.” She looked down at our hands, which were not clasped. “Is it true?” she asked, her eyes wide as she waited for an answer.

She hadn’t come to talk about wine at all. She’d come to have something to gossip about.

“Is what true?” I pretended not to know what she meant.