“No,” I lied as Marian and I attempted not to laugh as if Jen had just told the funniest joke imaginable. We broke out in hysterics anyway.
“Pass them up, bitches,” Tina said, sassy as usual. It was one of the things I liked most about her. When I’d first started working in the city, it was Tina who taught me how to hold my own.
I looked at Marian, who vigorously shook her head. We laughed again. Thankfully, we’d been doing a lot of that today, thanks to the vodka roadies we’d decided to make for the ride. Three wineries down, one to go.
“You know what? This is a lot better than crying on my couch,” I said.
It was my way of telling the girls how much this trip meant to me. Getting laid off probably wouldn’t have been so bad if the guy that could have prevented it wasn’t the same one I’d been dating for nearly a year. The only good thing to come of the whole mess was an impromptu girls’ trip to cheer me up.
And it was working. If only I could get my former boss/boyfriend out of my head.
“Hell yeah,” Debby yelled. “Is that it?” she asked a second later.
I looked out the small window.
Grado Valley Vineyards.
Not only had my girls cleared their schedules for an impromptu extended weekend to cheer me up, but they had done all of the planning too. I’d been to the Finger Lakes before, but never this winery. Amy had been here a bunch of times and said this was always her favorite.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, taking in the sprawling lakeside estate. To the right of us, was the longest and second deepest of the Finger Lakes, according to our driver.
“Holy shit, it’s huge,” Amy said.
“That’s what she said,” chimed at least three of my friends at once.
I couldn’t see out the front window from back here. But at least I had Combos. Or did have them, anyway. Looked like Marian had passed them up to Tina after all. Which was totally fine. I had apparently been working on the opposite of a revenge body since the breakup and could use a fewer Combos in my life, but the pizza flavored pretzel snacks always called to me.
As the ladies began to pile out, I could finally see what Amy was talking about. While some of the wineries we’d been to were one or two buildings—converted barns and the like—this one was like a playground for adults.
Amy talked to the driver about pickup details as Jen and I walked ahead, checking the place out.
Behind us, we could see some of the vineyards. I wondered what it would be like to wander through them with a wine glass in hand. In front of us, two massive wooden posts, with wine barrels as their bases, supported a massive “GVV” sign. As the others caught up, we walked under it into a huge courtyard.
“Where do we even start?” Jen asked.
“I have no idea,” I said. “But does it really matter? Let’s pick a building and get to it.”
The others laughed as we did just that. I started walking. There were multiple buildings to choose from, all in different shades of green and tan, giving the entire compound a woodsy feel, like you’d just been plopped into the middle of the Adirondacks but with wine.
“That’s the Brooke I know and love,” Debby said.
“Taking charge,” Jen added. “Happy as a clam.”
“Life of the party,” Marian said behind me as they piled on the compliments.
“You guys are just being extra nice because my life is such shit right now,” I called back.
Silence.
I laughed. “And you don’t even deny it.”
But just as we were about to enter the building, Jen pulled me aside. The other girls walked past us into the building.
“They’re not blowing smoke up your ass, Brooke. You are pretty awesome.”
“Aww,” I said, “you’re pretty awesome yourself.”
“Brooke,” she said in a more serious tone. Like drunk-serious. Which meant I could totally trust what Jen was saying to be one-hundred percent true. “I know you’ve been dealt a crappy hand, but I’m glad to see you back to your old self today. You’ll get through this.”