Justin returned to the dining room and packed up all the leftover dishes they had not finished, along with the opened but unfinished bottle of wine. He stuffed everything into several bags and carried them out.

Handing the leftovers to Jacob, he said, “If we’re going to keep up appearances, we need to make it look like we’re really giving you our charity, so take these leftovers back with you. You can heat them up for dinner tonight, otherwise, just toss them in the trash after you leave, but don’t throw away the wine—only you two had it. We haven’t touched it.

“This wine is really good stuff, too. Where you’re from, even if you had the money, you wouldn’t be able to buy such fine wine. And if you did find any, it’d probably be fake.”

Jacob took the leftovers and the unfinished bottle of wine from Justin. The wine was indeed excellent. In fact, he would have asked for it himself even if Justin had not offered it. In all his life, he had never tasted such good wine.

“Once you’re re