Page 25 of WASP

While Max typically wasn’t one for small talk, finding most of it boring as hell and a waste of her time, she found herself genuinely wanting to indulge Annie in her question.

“It was good. Saturdays are my one day off between the club and the winery. Lynn and I—you met her at Mae’s a few weeks ago—usually work out together in the morning and then hang out in her level of the house for a bit. Today we were crafting.” She looked both ways, bringing the car to a stop at the end of the lane, catching the pleasantly surprised expression on Annie’s face. “Is it the crafting or the fact that my best friend is twice my age that’s throwing you off?” she asked mischievously.

“Both, but I think it’s the crafting that threw me off more.” Annie let out a laugh. And wow, okay. That was a sound Max would never forget. She straightened herself in the driver’s seat, trying and failing to ignore the way that sound seemed to linger in her mind. “You don’t seem like the crafty type.”

“I’m, like, comically bad at it,” Max admitted, laughing too, thinking back to all the different craft sets she had gotten herself over the years that she had either ruined beyond repair or abandoned altogether. “I have fun trying though. I have recently become obsessed with paint-by-numbers.” She tossed Annie a cocky grin.

“You’re fascinating, you know that?”

Max stopped at a red light, the engine humming beneath them. “Life’s too short to be boring.” The light turned green as they pulled onto the highway toward Hartford.

They fell into a comfortable silence as Max drove. She quietly thanked herself for putting on music before Annie had gotten in the car, therefore preemptively eliminating any awkward silences. Stop it. Why do you care? This isn’t a date. Get your head out of your vagina!

“So,” Annie started, a hint of unease in her voice. Oh God, Max thought, had she been quiet in her head for too long? “How long have you worked at the club? And the winery is your other job, right?” More small talk. Not surprising, anyone could do small talk. That wasn’t really connecting though—at least not in the way she craved it.

“Yeah. Winery and the club. Although I only picked that one up a year and a half ago. Needed some extra money and they were looking for someone who knows a lot about wine.”

“Can confirm you are very knowledgeable on that subject, at least from what I observed yesterday.”

“An observation that carries weight…” Max teased gently.

“How did you get into wine? Did you study viticulture in college?”

“Ha, uh, no. I did two years at community college then transferred to a state school to finish up my history degree—and before you give me that look… I know. I don’t know what I was thinking either. I was young and dumb and didn’t really have a solid idea of what real life would be like or how paying back student loans would work. Couldn’t find a job in my field and ended up working at vineyards in Virginia. Eventually found my way up here.”

“So you’re from Virginia, then?” Annie asked.

“Eastern Maryland. My parents were both in the Navy and we moved around a lot. Dad teaches at the Naval Academy now.”

“And your mom? What does she do?”

Max considered herself pretty good at reading people. But reading Annie was a whole different game, and for the life of her, Max couldn’t tell if she was asking her questions to be polite or because she genuinely wanted to know more about her. “Did I miss the memo? Are we playing twenty questions?” she interjected.

“Oh my God,” Annie said quickly, shifting in her seat. “I’m sorry. I do that sometimes—you know—ask too many questions.”

“It’s okay,” Max reassured with a smile, “I don’t mind, I just also want to know things about you too.” She tightened her grip on the steering wheel reflexively.

“What do you want to know?”

Everything. What? No. Stop it. She scolded herself for even thinking that. “Tell me a secret. Something not a lot of people know about you.” Her voice dipped unintentionally—okay, maybe intentionally— as she asked.

“You already know my secret,” Annie pointed out. “I got cheated on. That’s the only secret I have.” She shrugged.

Max turned on her blinker, guiding the car onto the exit ramp as their speed began to decrease. “Oh come on. Everyone has secrets. Emphasis on the plural.”

“Oh yeah? Wanna share some more of yours?”

“Touché. Okay. We’ll table the secret sharing for the time being. Fine. What made you throw the wine at your ex that night at the club?” They sat at a red light, Max using the opportunity to sneak a glance at Annie, her face illuminated by the glow of the dashboard as she shifted in her seat.

“Man, you really want to jump right to the deep personal stuff, don’t you?”

“As I said, life is short. And small talk is boring. I want to get to know you—the real you. What are the things that make you tick? Had to be something good to get you to waste such a nice glass of wine.” She arched an eyebrow, catching Annie’s gaze.

They stayed like that for a moment, eyes locked, Max wanting nothing more than to reach out and trace the tips of her fingers up the length of Annie’s perfect thighs.

Annie spoke softly, clearly having accepted Max’s question. “Caroline called me boring. Like, you know. In bed. Which I’m not. I’m a good lay—I-uh-think—I’m—I’m not boring,” she finished feebly as Max’s heart broke the tiniest bit because ouch.

Yeah. Max would definitely have thrown a glass of wine all over someone, too, if they had the gall to say that to her face.