Something in the Wine Read Online Free PDF Page B

big deal. Once, a homophobic asshole made a derogatory comment about me in a business lecture. The day after that, the guy found his beloved convertible filled with gravel.”
    “Jake did that?”
    Drew nodded. “No one ever made stupid comments about me again.”
    Wow. For the first time in her life, Annie was proud of her brother.
    “So,” Drew said after a while, “what pranks did he play on you? He told me some stories, but I admit that after a while, I stopped listening.”
    Annie pressed her napkin to her lips. She wasn’t eager to recount the embarrassing stories, but Drew had shared the Ruth Calverson story, so Annie felt obliged to answer. Over the years, Jake had played so many pranks on her that she hardly knew which story to tell Drew. Annie adjusted her cutlery while incidences flashed through her mind like photos in a slideshow. Finally, she settled on one of the less humiliating pranks. “Once, he made me believe that the cat had eaten my bunny.”
    “And you believed that?” Drew asked. “Cats don’t eat bunnies.”
    “How was I supposed to know? I was five years old.” Warmth penetrated the sleeve of Annie’s silk shirt. When she looked down, she discovered Drew’s hand on her arm, giving her a comforting squeeze. Annie froze. In her everyday life, few people came close enough to touch her, and knowing Drew was a lesbian made Annie even more aware of her touch.
    Drew followed her gaze and pulled away her hand. “Sorry. I’m a touchy-feely person.” She cleared her throat. “What else did he do?”
    Annie rubbed her fingers over her forearm, where Drew’s hand had rested. She hesitated again.
    “Come on,” Drew said. “Don’t be embarrassed. It’s not like I haven’t been duped by Jake a few dozen times too.”
    Annie sighed. Her mind leafed through the impressive collection of Jake’s pranks and chose one at random. “On my first day at my job, he switched the contents of my shampoo for hair dye.” Annie scrunched up her nose. “I ended up going to work with pink hair.”
    Drew nearly spewed wine across the table. She laughed and dabbed her mouth with the napkin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh at you. That must have been embarrassing, but the mental image of you showing up at work with pink hair ...”
    “Pretty funny, yeah.” Annie didn’t smile. “But not if you had to endure Jake’s pranks for thirty years.”
    Drew leaned forward. “Didn’t your parents ever interfere when Jake pulled a prank on you?”
    “Sometimes,” Annie said. She pressed the tip of her index finger against her fork until the metal dug into her skin. “But usually, they were too busy with their art.”
    “Oh, that’s right. I have one of your mother’s paintings in my living room. Her use of colors is amazing. What does your father do?”
    The questions about her and her family kept throwing Annie off stride, but she couldn’t find a good reason for not answering without coming across as impolite. “He’s a conductor.”
    “Not a train conductor, I take it?”
    Annie laughed as she imagined her father’s reaction to being mistaken for a train conductor. “No. He’s with the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra.”
    “And you?” Drew asked. “What do you do for a living?”
    There it was: the question that always came up sooner or later. People often seemed disappointed by her answer, maybe because they expected the daughter of a musician and an artist to have a creative job too or at least to do something fun and unusual for a living, as Jake did.
    The waiter brought their food, allowing Annie to stall for a moment.
    When Drew looked at her expectantly instead of focusing on her pasta, Annie said, “I’m a CPA.”
    Drew didn’t smirk or yawn. A shrimp still hovered on her fork, forgotten for the moment. “Which firm?”
    Annie dug a mushroom out of her lasagna. “It’s a small firm, so you probably haven’t heard of it.”
    “Try me.” Drew continued to look at