I hand her my own glass and sure enough, she chugs that one, too. I get more wine and this time, we sip our drinks like proper adults while we sit and talk on the couch.
“That kissing,” she shakes her head. “I can honestly say I didn’t expect that when I decided to go camping.”
“What did make you decide to go camping?”
“Life has been a little stressful lately,” she shrugs.
“How so?”
“My job is...complicated.”
“How so?”
“I’m a writer,” she tells me. “And I go to a lot of events where people come meet me.”
“Book signings?”
“Pretty much.”
“And those are stressful?”
“They can be,” she says. “Everyone expects me to be a certain way, and to be honest, I’m kind of introverted. Attending events, signing books, and meeting people can be a little scary for me.”
“I’m sure everyone adores you.”
“My fans are wonderful,” she says. “And really, they aren’t the problem.”
“So who is?”
“My personal assistant.”
“Your assistant?”
“She basically runs my life, and not in a good way. She’s been stressing me out and honestly, I’ve been thinking about just firing her. I asked her not to sign me up for any more events this year so I can just focus on writing, but I just found out she signed me up for another event next weekend.”
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “That sounds exhausting.”
“It is,” she admits. Then she shakes her head.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t even ask what your job is.”
“I’m in real estate,” I tell her.
“Really?”
“Really and truly. I actually just bought myself some land and I’m going to be building my dream home on it.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“But I buy and sell houses,” I tell her.
“And you enjoy that?”
“I don’t do it super-seriously,” I admit. “I only do it enough to have fun and pay my bills, but yeah, it’s really fun. I love taking old houses and fixing them up. I love turning a wreck of a house into someone’s new dream home. It gives me this deep sense of satisfaction.”
“That actually sounds really magical,” she tells me.
“It is.”