When we were through, he grabbed my hand and held it all the way to the door while yelling back “Thank you!” to the crowd. We both bowed and then he said, “We’ll be back next Wednesday for the encore.” Everyone cheered loudly.

Once outside, he turned to me, “You were awesome.” His eyes were gleaming.

“You’re already promising I’ll be back next week? Pretty confident of you, isn’t it? I doubt I’ll still be here next Wednesday. I’m on a serious budget with the paper.” The idea of going back to reality in Chicago made my stomach hurt.

He drove his hands into his pockets, looked down at his feet, and shrugged. “Wishful thinking, I guess.”

I was doing the same thing, hoping that there would be some reason to stay longer, to get to know Jamie better. “Well you, my friend, were truly fantastic in there, especially with those ladies.”

His face went expressionless. “I had to work at that, Kate. It didn’t come easily.”

We both burst into laughter. I looked up at the sky and saw a hundred million stars shimmering brightly. We quieted, but I stayed where I was, staring at the sky, transfixed. I wondered if I had been at the winery for years. That’s what it felt like. I couldn’t believe I had only known Jamie since the day before. I knew so little about him but I didn’t care because, when I was with him, I didn’t feel alone.

“Kiss me,” I said strongly. He took a staggering step back and then scanned my face but didn’t respond. “You heard me.”

“Is that how you ask nicely?” One side of his mouth lifted.

“Please kiss me.”

“You have a boyfriend.”

I didn’t hesitate for a second. “Not anymore.”

And then his lips crushed mine.

We kissed eagerly, clutching at each other. My hands went to his neck, tangling my fingers in his soft hair. His hands ran upward from the small of my back. His lips were softer than they looked and he took his time, moving from my mouth to my neck and then up my jawline to my ear, trailing tiny kisses before coming back to my lips. I could have kissed him like that for days. When he finally slowed, his fingers ran up my spine to my neck, and I shivered. When he let go, I stumbled to the side, not completely in control of my body. He braced me by the elbows. His eyes were wide and bright, and I could tell he was waiting for me to say something.

“That was nice,” I said, still stunned.

“Nice?” he said in mock offense.

“Wondrous?”

“Mind-blowing,” he came back quickly.

“Spine-tingling.”

“Exploding stars.”

“Intoxicating.”

“Christmas morning.”

“Chocolate lava cake.”

“Potassium chlorate and gummy bears.”

I squinted sharply. “What?”

“It’s chemistry. Google it.” He took my hand in his and pulled me along into the darkness.

“Where are we going?”

“Let’s watch the stars.”

We lay down on some blankets in the back of his truck, which was still parked in the main parking lot. We watched the stars, talked, and laughed as we heard the drunken ladies pouring out of the restaurant, talking about Captain Fantastic.

As the parking lot fell quiet, I decided to get personal. “Tell me your story, Jamie.”

He didn’t move for a few moments. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell me about your life and what brought you to this place.”

“Well, I was adopted by two of the greatest people to walk this earth. I was their only child. I grew up on the West Coast, not too far from here, and aside from the diabetes, I had a truly idyllic childhood. When I was eighteen, I found my birth parents. They were married and had another child, whom I’ve never met because a month after I reconnected with my birth parents, they tried to steal money from me.” I squeezed his hand, but he continued without pause. “I cut off all ties to them, not that there were many to begin with. I went to college on the East Coast and then came back to California for a couple of years. Before I found the winery, I traveled a lot and tried my hand at a few different things. I met Susan when I was going through a rough time, and she brought me to this place.” He paused for just a second. “Your turn.”

It seemed like Jamie was uncomfortable talking about himself or his life. I didn’t get the feeling that he didn’t want to share certain things with me; I just got the impression he was a live-in-the-moment kind of guy and didn’t dwell on the past. Still, something about the way he described his life reminded me of my own, and the solitude I felt in it. I thought dreamily for a moment about how it seemed like Jamie and I were two lost and lonely souls finding each other in the vast wasteland of adulthood.

“No rebuttal questions?”

“I want to know about you, Katy.”

“Well, I was raised in Chicago by my mother. I never knew my father. I don’t even know his name, so I’ll never find him. When I was eight, my mother died of cancer. After that, I went to live with her best friend, Rose. I have no family that I know of, my grandparents are dead, no siblings, no aunts or uncles. I was shy growing up so I didn’t have a lot of friends. I came out of my shell when I went to college, but didn’t have many lasting relationships from that, either. I’ve worked at the Chicago Crier for five years. I live alone.” In that moment I wondered if I was scaring Jamie away, but he just continued listening and nodding every few seconds, so I went on. “I’m good friends with Beth, a writer at the paper. I’m pretty sure she’s a closeted lesbian. I also have a pretty good relationship with Jerry, the editor you talked to yesterday. Let’s see, what else? Oh, my ex, Stephen, just basically told me he never loved me and that he had been unhappy for a long time. So, that’s my story. Pretty pathetic, huh?”

“He’s an idiot,” he said up to the sky. We were both lying flat on our backs, holding hands.

“Who, Stephen?”

Jamie just nodded.

“I can think of a few stronger words for him. We broke up last night and he was already at breakfast with another woman this morning.”

“You deserve better,” he said and then brought my hand to his mouth and kissed it. “Where is Rose now?”

“She’s dead. She died nine months ago,” I said, flatly. He turned his whole body toward me.

“Kate, I’m so sorry.”

“I don’t want to talk about her. It’s too hard.”

“I understand. Let’s change the subject. What shall we talk about?”

“Um, what kind of music do you like?”

“A little bit of everything. Mostly indie rock, folk, that kind of thing.” We lay on our sides, facing each other.

“Same here.”

“So why’d you ask me to kiss you?”

I swallowed and made a loud gulping sound. “I . . . er . . . uh, did you not want to kiss me?”

“Are you kidding? Let me think . . .” He scratched his chin. “I’ve wanted to kiss you pretty much every second I’ve spent with you since we met, but that wasn’t my question.”

My heart was racing. I felt momentarily paralyzed with fear that I might accidentally blurt out that Jamie was the single hottest guy I’d ever been alone with. “I wanted you to kiss me,” I said, shyly.

He touched his index finger to my bottom lip and tugged down on it. “I know, but why?”

“You know why.”

“Was it my amazing karaoke skills?”

“No.”

His face went expressionless. “Was it to get back at your ex?”

“No.”

“Then what was it?”

I smiled giddily and tried unsuccessfully to stop. Finally giving in, I laughed and said, “I like you, okay?” I felt like the biggest dork in the world.

He smiled, kissed me on the nose, and then said, “I like you, too.”

• • •

Later that night, Jamie walked me all the way to the door of my room. I opened it and asked in a confidential whisper, “Do you want to come in?”

“Yes . . . but I’m not going to.” He took a step toward me, reached his tattooed arm out, and wrapped his hand around my neck, pulling me toward him, my mouth meeting his. He kissed me softly and slowly and breathlessly. “First, I want to take you on a real date tomorrow. I’ll show you the city. There’s somewhere special I want to take you.”