Flirting Lessons

Chapter Two

Two

Avery paced around her apartment. What the hell should she wear for her first flirting class with Taylor? How the hell had she gotten herself into this?

She’d spent the rest of the party attempting to convince Taylor that no, she didn’t need flirting lessons, she’d be just fine without them, she would manage to figure out some sort of hobby, wasn’t that good enough? Taylor had just laughed at her arguments and demanded her phone number.

She’d texted the very next day.

Taylor

Tuesday. 6:30 pm. be ready. what’s your address? i’ll pick you up

Avery texted back.

Avery

You really don’t have to do this!

Taylor had just sent a laugh reaction.

Taylor

Address please

Avery gave in and sent her address. Oh God, Taylor was really going to make her do this, wasn’t she?

Avery

Where are we going? what should I wear?

Those were both, she thought, perfectly reasonable questions. Had Taylor answered either of them? Obviously not.

Taylor

Hmmm, I think where we’re going should remain a surprise, don’t you?

Avery

No. I don’t think so.

Taylor

Lol

And then she hadn’t said anything else! Finally, Avery had texted her earlier that day and asked, again, what she should wear. Taylor had responded immediately.

Taylor

Oh you were serious about that question ok. ummmm wear something kind of nerdy but also approachable. does that help?

Avery

No

Taylor had just sent the laugh reaction again. And that was the last Avery had heard from her.

It had felt good to tell Taylor that she wanted to date women. That wasn’t something she talked about with most people; it wasn’t a secret, just that she was usually private about her love life. Luke knew, of course, as did some of her old friends back in L.A. But since she’d moved home to Napa, it hadn’t really come up, especially since she’d been dating Derek for a lot of that time.

But she was still very nervous about how the night would go.

“Where are we going?” Avery asked as soon as she got in Taylor’s car.

“You’ll see,” Taylor said. Of course she did.

“Is it time for the makeover montage?” Avery asked as she settled herself into the car. “New clothes and hair and makeup so I can attract women to my side like bees to honey?”

Taylor looked her slowly up and down before she finally met her eyes. Avery blushed at the look on Taylor’s face.

“Avery. My smoking hot friend over here. You don’t need a makeover. You look fantastic. You might need a confidence implant, but your clothes and hair and makeup are all just fine. More importantly, you are fine as hell.”

Avery blushed again and looked out the window.

“Um. That’s very nice of you to say.”

Taylor laughed as she started the car.

“I can see this is going to be a process. I really need to teach you how to take a compliment. But first, and this is important.” She waited until Avery turned to face her. “That was a genuine compliment. I’m not bullshitting you. And that leads to the bigger thing: I’m in this to win it. I want you to turn into a fantastic flirt, I know you’ve got it in you. But this isn’t going to work if you don’t trust me. I wouldn’t tell you I thought you were hot if I didn’t think so, and I’m not going to tell you that you did a great job flirting with someone if I don’t think that. I’m going to be honest with you, okay? And I want you to be able to be honest with me about how you’re feeling, or what you don’t want to do, or anything else. Okay?”

Avery dropped her eyes.

“Um, okay.”

Taylor nodded and pulled out into the street.

“In the interest of honesty,” Avery said, “I want you to know it’s killing me that I don’t know where we’re going and what we’re doing tonight.”

Taylor laughed. It was more of an evil cackle, actually.

“Oh, I know,” she said.

That didn’t help.

“Okay, but, I don’t even know what the structure of this is going to be.”

That made Taylor actually giggle.

“The structure of this? Oh, Avery, you’re a delight. What kind of structure do you mean?”

What Avery really wanted was a syllabus, lesson plans, readings, but she supposed Taylor wasn’t going to give her any of that.

“I mean, are you going to give me an assignment for tonight or something? Or are you just going to throw me into a scary situation, like speed dating or ax throwing or a candy-making party, and I’ll have to go through it by myself while you watch me?”

Taylor turned to her again.

“First of all, I would never. And you know that. You wouldn’t have gotten into a car with me if you thought I’d do that.”

Well. That was true.

“Second, you don’t have to do this, you know. When you were trying to talk me out of this on Sunday, I got the impression you actually wanted to do it, so I wasn’t going to let you off the hook. But if you really don’t want to, just say the word, and I’ll take you home.”

Avery sighed. She was anxious about this. The whole prospect was scary. The thought of attempting to flirt with people freaked her out. She already knew she was bad at it, she was sure she’d do something stupid and humiliating in front of Taylor, who made flirting with people look so effortless. Avery had seen her do it over and over again throughout the party. And she had no idea what Taylor was going to make her do.

But…she was also kind of excited. To do something different, to change things up about her life, and to hang out with Taylor, who was fun and hot and relaxed and confident, a whole bunch of things that Avery was not. Taylor was probably never uncertain about anything and probably never worried about what other people thought.

She gestured at the road in front of them.

“Fine. I’m in. Take me wherever you want to go.”

Taylor smiled that slightly smug smile of hers and drove on.

“And third of all,” she continued, “?‘a candy-making party’? What the hell is a candy-making party? ‘Ax throwing’? Like, actually throwing axes around? Who do you think I am?”

“Look, I was brainstorming, okay?” Avery said. “I obviously don’t know what I’m doing here!”

Taylor smirked.

“Mm-hmm. I can tell.”

Avery narrowed her eyes.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re annoying?”

Taylor nodded, a grin on her face.

“All the time, as a matter of fact. I never pay attention.”

“That’s clear,” Avery said under her breath.

“What was that?” Taylor asked.

“Nothing,” Avery said. Taylor just laughed.

“Okay, so here are a few flirting tips to keep in mind,” Taylor said as she got on the freeway. “First of all, and I know it sounds basic, but bear with me: Make eye contact, at least briefly. Don’t stare—at least not until you get a little more advanced at this—but you want people to know that you’re looking at them. Second: Smile. You don’t have to give everyone the exact same smile, it doesn’t have to show all of your teeth or whatever, but people like to spend time talking to someone who seems friendly. And third: Ask people their name and try to remember it. Say it back to them right away, say it a few times in the conversation to keep it in your head. Remembering names makes a difference; people are really flattered by it.”

Avery wanted to pull out her phone and write all of this down, but she thought Taylor might make fun of her if she did. Then she thought about what Taylor had said about being honest. Taylor was right; she didn’t want to do this if she was going to worry at every moment that Taylor was going to make fun of her. And if Taylor did make fun of her, fine, she’d just go home. She pulled out her phone and started a new note.

“Okay: eye contact, smile, remember names, anything else?”

Taylor glanced down at Avery’s phone and smiled.

“I also don’t remember anything unless I write it down. Hmm, okay: Ask people questions about themselves, and really listen to the answers. If they say something interesting, keep asking more questions. I know, I know, this is Conversation 101, but sometimes people think of flirting as something different and freeze up, when it’s just a category of conversation. You seem like you have the potential to freeze up.”

Avery let out a breath.

“You are correct about that.” She added ask questions, then more questions to her list.

“But also,” Taylor continued, “flirting isn’t one size fits all. Pay attention to who you’re talking to and how they interact with you. People like to be flirted with the same way they flirt.” She laughed. “That goes for other things, too, but I digress. Some of what I said won’t work for everyone. Some people don’t like eye contact but will hang around and keep talking to you, some people hate being casually touched while others are super into it. What matters is what you like—if you’re not vibing with someone, don’t force it.”

Not one size fits all

Pay attention

Like to be flirted with the same way they flirt

Oh God, this was already so many things. How was she going to remember all of it?

“And I can already feel your shoulders getting tense over there, so please don’t try to memorize this all now and think there’s going to be a pop quiz or something, little miss A-plus student.”

Avery tried to relax her shoulders.

“A quiz would be easier than having to do this in real life,” she said.

Taylor ignored that.

“Oh, and this is the most important thing: Only flirt with people that you actually want to flirt with. Where there’s some attraction, or they seem friendly, or they say something funny, or they’re just very hot, whatever. This is supposed to be fun, and attempting to flirt with people you don’t want to flirt with is no fun.”

Avery stared at her.

“I’m supposed to do all of this and also have fun?”

Taylor laughed.

“You don’t have to do all of it at once! Try to do one or two things, and let the rest come. I’ll remember not to give you too much information in the future; I should have known that you would want to ace it all.”

There was no chance of her being able to do that.

“Okay, we’re here,” Taylor said a few minutes later.

“Where are we? What are we doing here?” Avery asked as Taylor pulled into a parking space.

“So suspicious,” Taylor said with laughter in her voice. “If you get out of the car, maybe we can go see what we’re doing here.”

Avery grumbled a little as she unbuckled her seat belt.

“This isn’t some escape room or magic show or anything, is it? Because if so, I’m—”

“Avery. I know we don’t know each other very well, but do you really think I would take you to a magic show ? Especially with no warning? Come on. And no, just the thought of escape rooms makes me claustrophobic. But keep throwing out these nightmare scenarios, please. I’ll start taking notes for the future.” She held a finger up. “Now that I think about it, speed dating would be a good idea.” Avery blanched, and Taylor grinned. “Come on. Let’s go.”

They got out of the car and followed a stream of other women heading in the same direction. Even though Avery had been—slightly—playing up her desire to know what they were doing tonight, she was now deeply curious. Where could these women be going? Was it, like, a jewelry trunk show? No, Taylor wouldn’t bring her to that. A major designer sale? No, again, this was Taylor. And plus, that wasn’t the vibe of the women around here. They had more of a friendly, young librarian kind of energy. Some sort of a…cult meeting? Now she was just grasping at straws.

They turned a corner, and she saw where all of the women were heading.

“We’re going to a bookstore?”

Taylor nodded.

“There’s this writer I like, Holly Brock. She writes queer romances, she has a new book out, and—”

Avery’s mouth dropped open.

“I love her books! Wait, is she here tonight?”

Taylor looked smug again, but Avery didn’t even care.

“She is. I thought it would be a good opportunity for you to do some socializing and light flirting with some like-minded strangers. Ease into all of this. Everyone else here will be excited, and you’ll have a built-in topic for conversation.”

This was much less scary than she’d anticipated.

“A book event,” Avery said. “I think I can do that.”

“You’re welcome,” Taylor said.

Avery looked at the women around them again and laughed.

“Oh, nerdy but approachable, I get it.” She looked down at her sleeveless blue-and-white-pinstripe shirtdress. “I think I fit the brief?”

Taylor patted her on the arm.

“You do. But remember, you have to talk to people, too. You can’t be all wallflower in the corner like I know you want to be.”

How did Taylor know that’s exactly what she wanted to do? Ah, because that’s how she’d gotten into this thing in the first place. She stopped a few feet from the bookstore.

“Do I really have to?” she whispered to Taylor.

Taylor shrugged.

“Like I said, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

Now Avery felt like an asshole for all the whining she’d been doing since she got in Taylor’s car. Taylor was doing this for her to be nice, and she’d just complained the whole way.

“I know, I know. Okay. Let’s go.” She took a step and then stopped again. “I do better with specific measurables. How many people do I have to talk to?”

“?‘Specific measurables.’?” Taylor shook her head slowly. “Good Lord, you need my help. Okay, fine—five people.”

“Five!” Avery tried not to shriek. “I thought you were going to say, like, two! Maybe three!”

“Five,” Taylor said firmly. “And you get extra credit for any more than five.”

Extra credit? Avery liked the sound of that. She was the queen of extra credit.

Avery took a deep breath.

“Okay. Okay.”

“But saying ‘hi’ or ‘excuse me’ or whatever doesn’t count,” Taylor said. “Five actual conversations. And here’s one more tip: a compliment is a great conversation starter.”

Avery took her phone back out and added compliments to the list.

Then she took a breath and walked into the bookstore. There was already a good-size crowd there with some women sitting down, some milling around the store, and others gathered by a table along the side wall. That must be the snack table. If she knew one thing about parties, it was that people often gathered around the food.

Granted, this was a bookstore event, not a party, but she was pretty sure the same principle applied. She walked over to the snack table and turned to ask Taylor if she wanted anything, but Taylor was no longer next to her. Avery glanced around the bookstore, until she finally saw Taylor by the new-fiction shelf. She gave Avery a thumbs-up and an encouraging grin. Oh, so Taylor was going to make her do this all by herself? Great.

Avery took a glass of prosecco, and then put some cheese and crackers on her plate. The other women by the snack table were all in cute colorful dresses and cardigans. Did they all know one another and decide to dress alike? Or was that the unwritten uniform for book events? Or maybe there was a dress code, and Taylor hadn’t told her? Taylor didn’t seem like the type of person who would care about a dress code.

Okay, now she was just spiraling. She was supposed to be talking to people, remember?

“I love your dress,” she blurted out to the woman standing next to her. Oh God, that was awkward. The poor woman looked startled, probably because Avery had almost shouted at her. But Avery hadn’t lied, she did love her orange and pink maxi dress.

“Oh, thank you,” she said. “I just got it. I feel a little overdressed, but I love Holly Brock’s books, so I thought it was a great first occasion for it.”

Taylor was right, people did love compliments.

“I love her books, too. I’m really excited for this one,” Avery said. “Um, also, hi, I’m Avery.”

Yep, introducing herself to a stranger who probably wasn’t at all interested in talking to her felt just as weird and awkward as she’d anticipated.

“Hi, Avery,” the woman said. “I’m Pam. Nice to meet you.” And she smiled at Avery—in a stiff way, yes, but it was still a smile.

“Nice to meet you, too, Pam.”

Pam walked off with her drink, and Avery took a deep breath. She’d done it. One down.

She glanced in Taylor’s direction, and Taylor winked at her. Avery felt a little tingly inside. She threw caution to the wind.

“Those cookies are so cute,” she said to the woman across the table. Two in a row!

“Oh my God, they’re so good,” the woman said. “I’ve already had one, and I’m hoping they’re going to bring out more so that I don’t feel guilty for taking two.”

Avery laughed as she looked down at the book-shaped cookies.

“Okay, thank you, because sometimes the cutest baked goods taste like nothing, and it’s so disappointing.”

The woman nodded.

“I know, I hate that. These are great, I promise.”

Avery picked one up.

“I’ll have to grab one now before they’re all gone.” She grinned. “Or two. One for my friend over there.”

“Good thinking,” the cookie enthusiast said. “Thank me later.”

Avery put the cookies on her plate and walked back toward the seats. She found two next to a woman wearing a blue dress with an ice-cream cone pattern on it—anyone who wore a dress with ice-cream cones on it must be friendly, right? Avery put the plate of food on the seat next to hers to save it for Taylor.

Then she looked around the room again. A bunch of people already had the book in their laps. Were they supposed to buy the books before the event started, or afterward? She had no idea. See, this was why she didn’t like going to events when she hadn’t prepared in advance.

Even though she very much did not like confessing her ignorance about anything to anyone, this question might be a good opening. Time for number three. She turned to the woman in the ice-cream cone dress.

“Do you know if we’re supposed to buy the book before the event starts? I’ve never been here before.”

Ice-Cream Cone Dress turned to her with an eager expression on her face.

“Oh, either before or after works. But there will be a signing line afterward, and it’s usually faster to get in the line if you buy the book first.”

Avery was sure Taylor would make her get in the signing line.

“Oh, thanks, I’d better do it now.” She started to stand up, and then turned to Ice-Cream Cone Dress again. “Will you save my seats? For me and my friend. Is that weird? I’m Avery.”

Oh God, she was so awkward. Was she in kindergarten with this seat-saving thing? This was why she shouldn’t be allowed to do things like this.

But Ice-Cream Cone Dress immediately put her bag on Avery’s seat.

“Of course. Not weird at all. Nice to meet you, Avery. I’m Mallory.”

Avery smiled at Mallory and then turned to find the register. Right, of course, she should have noticed the line of people near the register, all clutching books to their chests. Avery grabbed two copies of the book and joined the line.

Speaking of Taylor…aah, there she was, flipping through books in the personal growth section. She glanced up and waved at Avery. Avery smiled at her and waved back.

Fine, this may not have been a terrible plan. She absolutely wouldn’t tell Taylor that, though. Especially after how pouty she’d been in the car on the way here; please, how embarrassing would it be to tell Taylor that she’d been right?

Should she try to do one more? It would feel great to get four conversations over with before the book event even started. Granted, nothing she’d done with any of the first three women could in any way be described as flirting, but still, you had to walk before you could run.

She was grateful that Taylor’s mission for her tonight had been to just talk to people; thank goodness she would get to ease into flirting.

Oh, look! She had a conversation starter for the woman in front of her. She took a deep breath. Time for number four.

“I’ve been thinking about getting those sneakers,” she said. “They’re so cute, are they comfortable?”

The woman turned around, an animated look on her face. She had warm brown skin, and long braids piled up in a big topknot.

“Yes! I’m evangelical about them, honestly. I just moved here, and I wore them all day when we moved in, and my feet weren’t sore at all. That’s the biggest testament to them, don’t you think?”

Avery nodded.

“Absolutely.” She remembered what Taylor had said. Follow-up questions. “You just moved here? From where? I’m Avery, by the way.”

The woman held out her hand.

“Hi, Avery, I’m Beth. I moved from L.A. My girlfriend…well, fiancée and I moved up here for her job; she works for one of the big hotels. She’s over there saving our seats. We figured that instead of staying in and trying to organize things, which I absolutely didn’t want to do, we’d try to get out and do something fun, see the lay of the land in our new home. So far, it seems good. Do you also live around here?”

Beth seemed better at this conversation thing than Avery was. Thank goodness; someone had to be good at it.

“Yeah, in Napa. Born and raised, though I did leave for a while before coming back.”

Beth smiled at her.

“We’re neighbors. Well, maybe not neighbors, Napa isn’t that small of a town, but you know what I mean. I’m deep into researching things to do in Napa, which has been harder than I thought it would be, because all of the lists are for tourists. There’s only so much wine I can drink on a day-to-day basis, you know?”

“Have you discovered anything that sounds good?” Avery asked. She wasn’t just asking to keep the conversation going; she really wanted to know. “The problem with growing up in a place is that you get very stuck in your ways and don’t experience a lot of new things. At least, that’s how it is for me.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Beth said. “Lots of knitting groups, but I’ve been working on the same scarf for years, so I’m not sure if I’m the right person for that. A few book clubs, but I like to know at least one person in a book club before I commit—I need to make sure that it’s not one of those book clubs where they take it all super seriously, you know? I like to chat about the book, sure, but I don’t want it to feel like homework. And there’s a gardening club at a local community garden that sounds fun—it meets every Sunday, and I guess the experienced people help the newbies, which I would need. It’s already July, so I have no idea if people can still show up for it, but I want to.”

“I don’t even think I knew we had a local community garden,” Avery said. “That sounds like fun. I have a bunch of indoor plants, and I’ve gotten kind of obsessed with them, but I don’t have any outdoor space.”

“Oh, you should come to the garden club!” Beth said. “Maybe then I wouldn’t be the only new person. I also want to look into some volunteer work, and—”

“Excuse me?” the person at the cash register said. Beth and Avery both looked around and then realized it was Beth’s turn to pay.

“Oh! Sorry about that!” Beth said, stepping up to the counter. “Nice to meet you, Avery! I hope I see you at the garden club!” she said after she paid for her books.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Avery said. It was only after Beth walked away that Avery realized she should have asked her where the community garden was. Oh well. At least she’d finally had a good conversation with someone.

When Avery got back to their seats, she looked around for Taylor and saw her deep in conversation with someone in the cookbook section. She probably hadn’t seen Avery sit down or witnessed her long talk with Beth. But a few minutes later, Taylor slid into the seat next to her.

“Four people, good job,” Taylor said in a low voice.

So she had been paying attention. Avery glanced her way.

“You mean five.”

That little grin appeared on Taylor’s lips again.

“The cashier doesn’t count.”

Damn it. Avery had hoped she could get away with that.

“Fair,” she said.

A woman at the front of the store cleared her throat for attention, and everyone settled into their seats before she introduced both writers. Avery didn’t know what she had expected from a book event like this—something like an English class in high school, maybe? But with more pretentious, snotty adults in the audience who could tell this was her first book event and looked down on her? She didn’t know why she’d thought that. Especially since she’d always liked English class in high school! But the conversation between the writers wasn’t like that at all—relaxed, interesting, and actually kind of funny. And no one in the audience was snotty or pretentious; they were all just nice and friendly and kind of awkward.

Well, not everyone. A few people seemed shy, and a few were hot and aloof. Then there was the very hot and not at all aloof person sitting next to her. She hadn’t failed to notice just how many people checked Taylor out and then checked her out when they saw that Taylor was with her.

Not with her with her, which was probably easy for people to figure out as soon as they watched her and Taylor together. Partly it was because they clearly interacted as just friends (and they were barely friends at that). But mostly it was because someone as magnetic and attractive and fun obviously wouldn’t be with someone like her, Avery Jensen. She knew she was relatively good-looking, but in a boring, uptight sort of way, and boring and uptight were polar opposites of Taylor.

She wasn’t even sure if Taylor noticed all the people looking at her. Was she so used to people checking her out that it didn’t even faze her, or was she just oblivious? Avery had no idea, but she was enjoying being in Taylor’s reflected glory.

She also was enjoying being with Taylor, and not just because of that. Yes, she oozed sex appeal, but she was also very funny and managed to put Avery at ease in a way few people did.

It had still been humiliating to open herself up so much to a virtual stranger, and embarrassing to smile and make stupid small talk here with people she didn’t know, though she had felt kind of triumphant when she’d done it. Even from across the room, it felt like she’d been able to sense Taylor’s approval. Maybe she was making that up, though. She probably was. But…Taylor had paid attention to how many people she’d talked to.

The whole crowd—including Taylor—laughed at something, and Avery mentally shook herself. She’d been sitting here thinking about Taylor instead of listening; that wasn’t like her. She had to focus. What if Taylor wanted to talk on the way home about whatever had made everyone laugh? She turned her attention back to the front of the room.

Taylor watched Avery watching the crowd. She’d proposed these flirting lessons for Avery on a whim, and then she’d half encouraged, half forced her into them mostly because the whole idea of them tickled her. Besides, Avery seemed like she desperately needed her help. Taylor also needed something to keep herself busy for the rest of the summer after her bet with Erica. And okay, maybe it was also a tiny bit because she found Avery wildly attractive, in her uptight, buttoned-up kind of way, but it wasn’t like she could act on it, because of that damn bet again.

She was a little irritated at Erica about that bet. Mostly because of how smug she’d been in the days since the party, with her little comments about how she was sure she’d win, since Taylor would never be able to make it that long. Yes, it would be a challenge, but was that how Erica really thought of her?

Avery laughed at one of the audience questions, and Taylor smiled as she glanced over at her. She’d managed to eavesdrop on Avery during some of her chats with people around the snack table, and the way she’d stuck to the tips that Taylor had given her had been very awkward but also deeply endearing.

The question-and-answer portion of the book talk ended, and Taylor leaned over to Avery.

“Ready to do some flirting in the signing line?”

Avery sighed dramatically.

“That’s a yes, I assume?” Taylor asked. She didn’t even bother to hold back her grin.

Avery stood up.

“That was a ‘ready as I’ll ever be.’?” She handed a book to Taylor. “Here’s your book, by the way.”

Taylor looked down at the book Avery had given her.

“Oh, thank you. You didn’t have to do that, I could have—”

Avery shrugged.

“I know, but you didn’t have to do any of this.”

She turned to get in the signing line. Well, that was very sweet.

Avery talked to four more people as they waited in line, and even offered to take pictures of the woman in front of them as she met the author. She was a little stilted and self-conscious at first, but she relaxed some by the end. When Avery got her book signed, she blushed and stammered a bit as she talked to Holly while Taylor snapped a few pictures of them together. It warmed her heart to see the shy smile on Avery’s face in the photos.

When they got back into Taylor’s car, she turned to Avery.

“You hungry? We could grab something to eat before I drop you off unless your social battery is depleted.”

Avery shook her head.

“My social battery is low but not quite in the red yet. And, more importantly, I’m starving. That cookie was delicious, but it wasn’t dinner.”

Taylor started the car.

“Just tell me where you want to go—dinner is my treat because of all that extra credit you got.”

Avery looked over at her.

“You don’t have to…” She stopped and shook her head. “You know what? No, I’m not going to look this gift horse in the mouth.”

Taylor laughed.

“Excellent. It would be no good, anyway.”

Avery was mostly quiet on the road, but when they sat down at a corner booth at Taylor’s favorite taqueria, she grinned at their tray full of tacos.

“I did get a lot of extra credit, didn’t I?”

Taylor couldn’t help but smile at the proud look on her face.

“So much extra credit,” she said. “Eight people, plus both authors. Great job.”

She meant that, too. She could tell that it had been hard for Avery to strike up conversations with people, especially at the beginning, but she’d done it, and she’d kept doing it.

“Thanks,” Avery said. That was all she said, but Taylor could tell she’d meant it. She’d expected Avery to act like it wasn’t a big deal, or that this hadn’t been a challenge for her, or even just change the subject. Or that she’d be grumpy in the way that she had been in the car on the way to the bookstore. So, when she just gave Taylor that little smile, and then looked away, it was pretty adorable.

“Did you have any fun?” Taylor asked. “In addition to getting that extra credit, I mean.”

Avery let out one of those deep sighs again.

“?‘Fun’ would be overstating it. But, yes, it was enjoyable, I guess.” Then she shook her head. “No, sorry, that was ungracious of me. I apologize. I did have a good time. Thanks for thinking of this. And for doing this with me.”

Taylor hadn’t expected that. She’d assumed Avery would be grumpy and irritable all night, just to hide her vulnerability. Clearly, it had been hard for Avery to say that—she hadn’t quite made eye contact with Taylor during that speech—which made it feel all the more genuine.

“You’re welcome. But I’m not completely selfless here—I love both of those authors, and I’d been wanting to go to that event. So thanks for coming along with me, and for being a good sport about me making you do this.”

Now Avery did look at her.

“But was I a good sport? Really? ”

They both laughed.

“Okay, well, not at first,” Taylor said. “Maybe not even at second . But you got there. And it wasn’t that bad, was it? This is going to be a breeze for you. You’ll be hitting on people and asking them out in no time.”

Avery burst out laughing. “I absolutely won’t be hitting on people in no time. As for asking people out? Oh God no. Because, wow, that was most definitely not a breeze for me.”

At first Taylor laughed at the expression on Avery’s face, but then it worried her.

“Was the bookstore really that hard for you?” Was she putting Avery through hell? “It seemed like you were having fun while we were there.”

Avery looked up quickly with remorse on her face.

“No, no, I really did. I’m sorry for being such a buzzkill about all of this. I really did have a good time at the bookstore, and I’m so grateful that you thought of this and brought me there, truly. I mean it.”

She sounded like she meant it, but Taylor still didn’t know her that well. Avery was hard to read.

“You don’t have to apologize, but I guess I just want to understand more. You seemed good at chatting with people tonight, and you obviously do it a lot for work, and I’m sure you’re great at that. What’s so hard about this for you?” Taylor shook her head. “Forget I said it that way, I sounded like an asshole. I just mean—”

“No, you don’t sound like an asshole, I get what you mean.” Avery’s expression had relaxed from the rigid look she’d gotten while Taylor had been talking.

“I guess it’s a few things,” she said. “This isn’t the biggest one, but ugh, the small talk! It’s so stupid, I don’t know how you do it all day. I mean, I guess I do know—you must have a system like I do when I’m doing it for work. And yeah, I do it for work, but I hate it so much. I do it the same every damn time: blah blah talk about the weather, the traffic, ‘ooh, I love your shoes.’ But it’s so inefficient! I would rather just cut to the chase and get business done, you know?”

Oh God, Avery was one of those people.

“No, I don’t know,” Taylor said. She set down her horchata. “And also no, I don’t think small talk is stupid, either. That’s the way people get to know one another, trust one another, find common ground in things. What’s so great about efficiency anyway? No one is going to trust you to do business with them if they don’t think you’re someone who will respect them, listen to them and their needs and concerns, take them seriously. Small talk is the way people learn about one another in social contexts. No one is going to want to be friends with you—or go home with you that night—if they can’t have a fun little conversation with you about cookies or books or music or whatever. Well, some people would want to go home with you without doing that, but no one you’d be interested in taking home, I bet. How do you think people learn to trust other people with the big talk if they don’t start with small talk to warm things up?”

Avery stared wide-eyed at her, and Taylor realized she’d been getting progressively more and more passionate as she talked.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to get so worked up,” she said, “but I guess this is something I care a lot about. People are always so dismissive of small talk and the getting-to-know-you type of conversation, and it irritates the hell out of me. Especially since I work in hospitality, and it’s one of the things that I do all day, as you noted. And I like that about my job. I get to know so many new and different people. Sure, sometimes it’s boring, or the people are annoying, but other times those same questions and conversation starters can lead to such interesting stories.”

Avery didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Don’t apologize,” she said stiffly. But then Avery always seemed stiff; maybe it was that perfect posture of hers. “I insulted what you do without even thinking about it. I’m sorry. And you’ve given me something to think about.”

Avery looked uncomfortable, and for a moment, Taylor regretted her monologue. Then she pushed that regret away—she and Avery had to be honest with each other, like she’d said, right?

“Good, I’m glad,” Taylor said. “Don’t worry about insulting me—I mean, don’t do it again, for sure—but lots of people feel this way. I think most of the time, it’s because they’re just nervous in social situations with people they don’t know, and maybe a little awkward and self-conscious, so they resent having to do any of that because they hate feeling uncomfortable and bad about themselves. And they blame it on ‘small talk’ in general, instead of any of the reasons that they feel like that.”

Great, right after she’d gone on a rant about what Avery had said, she then turned it back around and made it about Avery being self-conscious and awkward, the very things she was trying to make Avery not feel like.

“I didn’t mean that you—”

Avery cut her off.

“You did, and you were right. I am awkward and self-conscious in situations like tonight. That’s one of the reasons I wanted—sort of—to do these…flirting classes or whatever with you.”

“Okay, you’re definitely not as awkward as you think you are, though you may be very self-conscious. Also, you’re not always self-conscious, right? I mean, I’ve seen you work events, you’re great at those. And I saw you talking to other people at the winery party, you seemed to do well there.”

“Oh, but see, I know how to do those things,” Avery said. “I’m used to events, I’m prepared, I know what to wear”—Taylor grinned at her, and she smiled back—“and who is going to be there and what they’re going to be like. Plus, I know what my role is for all of those things. But…” She stopped and shook her head. “Never mind, it’s nothing.”

Taylor gave her a long look.

“Don’t do that. It’s not nothing. If you don’t want to talk about this, just tell me that, but don’t say it’s nothing.”

Avery stared down at the table, her lips in a tight line. Well, this might be it for their flirting lessons.

“I don’t really want to talk about this, but fine,” she said eventually. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do when it comes to flirting. And I guess I’m worried that people will say—in so many words—‘why the hell are you talking to me ,’ and then just turn around and walk away.”

Taylor laughed softly.

“Ah, so just a perfectly normal fear of rejection, got it. And I totally understand. But the thing about flirting with people—and about making friends, for that matter, since I know that’s something else you want to do—is that you have to put yourself out there. Which is hard. But also worth it, because you don’t get anything if you don’t try. Remember that you’re in the driver’s seat in this, too. It’s not all about you putting yourself out there and waiting for people to reject you—part of this is for you to get more comfortable talking to people, so you can decide if they’re even worth your time. Like, do you want to keep talking to them ? Trust your instincts with people.”

Avery shook her head.

“No. My instincts are off. I have a terrible ex-boyfriend, remember?”

Now Taylor was even more determined to help Avery find the great new girlfriend she deserved.

“Yeah, but didn’t you know in your heart that he was terrible? And you ignored your instincts? This is what I mean: listen to yourself next time. Like, think about the people you talked to tonight. There were conversations that went better than others, weren’t there?”

Avery thought for a moment, then nodded.

“I guess so. Especially one woman I talked to in line to get the books. She’s new to Napa, she moved here with her fiancée and doesn’t know anyone, and she talked about maybe doing a class at the local community garden, which I didn’t even know existed. And she sort of invited me to go along with her, but then it was her turn to pay, so I’m not sure if she was serious, or…”

“Go!” Taylor said. “Yeah, you don’t know if she was serious, but isn’t it better to go and maybe do something fun, rather than stay home out of fear? This is low stakes, it’s a gardening class. If it’s weird or whatever, you just leave! And I get it, rejection sucks and is scary. But the only thing to make it less scary is to face it, over and over.”

Avery put her head in her hands.

“That sounds terrible.”

“I know. But really, that’s how you learn that it’s not all that bad, that life will go on afterward. So, okay, some of our lessons have to work on that fear of rejection. I have some ideas about how we’ll do that.”

Avery raised her head. She looked alarmed, as Taylor had known she would.

“And might I ask what those ideas are?”

Taylor grinned.

“You can certainly ask .”

Avery groaned.