Something in the Wine Read Online Free PDF

have a craving for seafood. Do you mind if I get the shrimp pasta?”
    The question surprised Annie. None of her dates had ever been this considerate. “Go ahead. I don’t mind.”
    The waiter returned with Drew’s glass of water, and they placed their orders. “Do you want garlic bread with the house salad?” the waiter asked.
    Annie and Drew exchanged a quick glance; then Drew grinned. “Sure, why not. I guess there won’t be any good-night kisses on this date.”
    The casual comment made Annie frown. She peeked at the waiter to see how he reacted to Drew’s words, but his face was a polite mask. On the one hand, Drew’s joke in front of the waiter embarrassed Annie, but on the other hand, she marveled at how at ease with herself Drew seemed to be. Seems she’s really out and proud. Not afraid of what people might think. I wish I could be more like that.
    “Would you care for a glass of wine to go with that, ma’am?” the waiter asked.
    Drew pointed at Annie’s glass and then looked into her eyes. “What are you drinking?”
    “A Merlot from a local winery. It’s pretty good.”
    “Do you want us to get a bottle of it?” Drew asked.
    Normally, Annie never drank more than one glass of wine when she was on a date. But this wasn’t a date, and after what Jake had put her through tonight, she deserved a second glass, so she nodded.
    The waiter brought the bottle of wine and presented it to Drew, who gave a pleased smile. After he opened the bottle and poured a small taste, she swirled it around in her glass, then sniffed and took a sip. Finally, she looked up and nodded.
    The waiter filled her glass and walked away.
    Drew clinked her glass to Annie’s. “To your brother.” After a pause, she added, “A first-rate jack-ass.”
    Annie had just taken a sip and now nearly spewed wine all over the table. She coughed until she suspected her face was redder than the Merlot.
    “I’m sorry,” Drew said. She looked as if she wanted to get up and pat Annie’s back.
    “No, you’re right.” Annie took a more cautious sip of wine, soothing her burning throat. “Jake can be a real jerk.” Sometimes, she wondered how she had survived her childhood—or how he had. After all the silly little pranks he pulled on her, she had wanted to kill him more than once.
    “Oh, yeah. I nearly throttled him during freshman year.”
    “You went to college together?” Annie asked. Drew didn’t seem like Jake’s usual kind of friend.
    Drew nodded.
    “What did he do?” Annie asked.
    “He sent me little love notes,” Drew said.
    “But he wasn’t ...?”
    “In love with me?” Drew laughed and held her open palms out to her sides, indicating her sturdy frame. “No. I’m not his type. He’s not exactly mine either.” She winked. “I had a major crush on Ruth Calverson, not knowing that she in turn had a crush on Jake and was sending him love letters. So when he pinned those notes to the door of my dorm room, I thought Ruth was smitten with me too, and I finally found the courage to show up at her dormitory with a bunch of roses and ask her out.”
    Annie winced.
    “Yeah.” Drew nodded. “Needless to say that didn’t turn out so well. Who knew a bunch of roses could hurt so much when someone hits you in the face with them?” She made a pathetically sad face.
    The sound of her own laughter surprised Annie. She took a sip of wine. “After a prank like that, you’d think you would stay far away from Jake. Why are you still friends with him and even stayed in touch after college?”
    Drew swished the wine in her glass around. “Despite all his faults and his weird sense of humor, Jake isn’t a bad guy. When I told him I’m gay, he was cool with it. Up until then, my lesbianism has been a disappointment to everyone I came out to—my parents, boys who wanted to date me ...”
    “And Ruth Calverson,” Annie said with a smile.
    Drew returned the grin and nodded. “And Ruth Calverson. But to Jake, it was never a