“What?” I ask.

“You look gorgeous in this light,” she says, getting up from our table. “You’re glowing. I’ll be right back.”

33: Gemma

No way!” I laugh when Celeste returns with her camera. I cover my face with my hands, suddenly feeling shy.

“Yes way,” Celeste says with a gentle smile. “You’re beautiful, Gem. And I realized I haven’t taken pictures of you with my DSLR yet. Other than for work, I mean.” She adjusts the lens of her camera, but then pauses to add, “Do let me know if you’re not comfortable with me randomly taking pictures of you, though. It’s totally fine.”

“I don’t mind at all,” I reply. “Thank you, Celeste. This is sweet of you.”

She takes a few photos of me, some with me looking at the camera, others not. When the waiter brings out our wine, he has an amused grin on his face.

“Would you like me to take a picture of you two, as well?” he asks. “I know a thing or two about cameras.”

Celeste hesitates for a split second before she says, “That’d be great. Thank you.”

She loops her arm around my shoulders and kisses my cheek, and I laugh as the waiter snaps a photo.

“I don’t normally let other people touch my cameras,” Celeste whispers to me after he’s gone. “But I really wanted this picture of us.” She reviews the photo and smiles. “And he did a pretty good job. Nice!”

After safely storing the camera back in its case, Celeste pours me a glass of the pinot noir. “For you,” she says, handing it to me with a big flourish.

I laugh. “Oh, stop. You’re acting like we’re on a romantic date or something.”

Celeste raises her eyebrows. “I was messing around, but have you gone on a date where someone actually served you wine like that? Mr. James Matheson, maybe?”

“Thankfully no,” I say, taking a sip of the rich, red wine. “Or else I’d die laughing.”

She gives me a teasing smile. “I can see you doing that.”

I shrug. “It’s not a good idea to try so hard to impress the other person. Dates should be about getting to know each other to see if you have genuine chemistry. Not putting up some front.”

If it bothers Celeste that I put my advice columnist cap on, she doesn’t show it. She takes a long sip of her wine, growing contemplative. “Fair. So then, I’m curious. What would you say our chemistry is like?”

There she goes again. It’s like Celeste can’t talk to me for long without flirting.

“Good,” I say truthfully. “Natural. I never felt uncomfortable with you, not even when we first met in college.”