“If you must.” Jewel sighed, setting her mallet down. “Ten minutes is enough time to walk to the vineyard and back.”

Stella fell in step beside her, keeping the leisurely pace. “You should know my goal is to make you regret making a deal with me,” she teased.

“Not possible,” Jewel said, voice losing some of its brightness. “You’re annoying and not anywhere near compelling enough to have an impact on my life.” She looked at Stella, stone-faced with one perfect eyebrow arched. “Change my mind.”

Okay. Wow. Right on cue, Stella’s heart shouted, Yep! Still gay! “I’d call you rude, but I know that wasn’t your aim. I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that you can’t hurt my feelings.”

“I have,” Jewel said. “I’d like to get to know you, Stella At All Times. You wanted me honest and unfiltered. This is me—I like talking to people, getting to know them and their story. It’s why I started my app.”

“I thought it was because you liked puzzles.”

“That unexpectedly came later,” Jewel said. “You can learn a lot about a person from what they post online, but there’s hardly anything about you.”

“Just the way Lloyd and Diane like it. Can’t get catfished by a misogynistic internet predator who likes to rape and murder young girls if they can’t find you,” she said all in one breath. “Are we trading life stories, then? I’m very interested in yours.”

Jewel laughed. “We can trade, but only if you’ll be honest and unfiltered too.”

“Lying isn’t my style.”

Jewel scoffed. “Sure.”

“It’s true. Perception can be manipulated by details and delivery, but that doesn’t mean I’m telling wholesale lies. I can’t control someone else’s assumptions. Surely, someone of your stature and circumstances can appreciate that,” Stella said. “I like to tell jokes. I take my fun where I can get it, but beyond that? It stops being my problem.”

Jewel regarded her for a moment before turning away. She chewed on her index fingernail, no doubt trying to figure out how to fit someone like Stella into a box for her little game.

The problem was, Stella realized suddenly, that Jewel hadn’t anticipated someone like her being there. A match that rode too close to being an equal.

Leaning into that could be … fun.

Switching gears, Stella decided to enhance her plan by adding in some earnest revelations. She’d give Jewel a few more pieces to work with, make her feel like she had a way to keep things exciting and according to plan. “You should know that I’m not allowed to date,” she said conspiratorially.

“Is that what we’re doing here?” Jewel said, distracted.

“We’re not not doing that. I figured it was best to let you know before we opened that very obvious door.”

“Do you think you’re my type?”