“She has no right—”

“Hey, hey! It was totally off the cuff. She wasn’t implying anything more than that. She said like one thing about it when Jai and I were picking the wine.”

Her anger deflated, only to be replaced with shame. “Yes. Of course. I’m sorry.”

He leaned forward onto his forearms. “You’re getting really worked up about ‘nothing,’ honey. And something definitely happened at the barn the other day—I could tell. What’s going on?”

She took a sip of her wine to give herself a moment to collect her thoughts. When she met his eyes again, she laughed, weakly. “It’s nothing, really. We’re…attracted to each other. That’s all.”

He perked up at once. “Oh, yeah?”

She smiled. “Of course, you doofus. She’s hot, and you know she’s totally my type.”

He was beaming at her now. “And you’re hers, for sure. I mean, you’re anyone’s type, really, but definitely hers.”

She waved a dismissive hand. “But anyway, it doesn’t matter.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not like, I mean, it isn’t as if we could…she lives here, and I live in New York, and we have totally different, like completely opposite priorities. It’s like she’s this way, and I’m that, and if we tried—”

She might have kept rambling on like that for a while, but he burst out laughing. “Oh my God! You’re totally into her.”

“No. It’s not like that at all. I mean, I think she’s interesting and gorgeous and smart and nice, but I’m not ‘into’ her in any way. Any serious way, that is.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake—you totally are. And I bet you’re both being totally useless lesbians right now, denying what’s right in front of you when you could take it and be happy with it. With each other.”

“No—that’s not true.”

He set his wineglass down and grabbed her hands. “Listen to me, and listen to me well. She’s one of the best people I know. You could be really happy with her if you let yourself.”

She yanked her hands free and stood up, her temper back at once. “What are you talking about? How could we be happy? It’s not as if she’d move to New York.”

“You could move here,” he said, shrugging.

She laughed. “You can’t be serious.”

“Why not?”

She laughed again. “What on earth would I do here? And anyway, my life is in New York. I have a business, a career that I love, a life—”

“That’s totally empty.”

“Fuck you.”

They stared at each for a long beat after this. Both had tears in their eyes now, and her guilt was instant, crushing.