“I’ll bring you a bottle next time I see you.”
Which would be when?When would I get to see her again?How soon?
“I’d like that,” I replied.
She reached for the door handle of her SUV.“Well, those glasses aren’t going to polish themselves.I best be getting back.”
My stomach fell, and disappointment flooded me.“Right.Time to be a responsible adult and parent again.”
“Exactly.”She opened her door.“Let me know if I need to reimburse you for any medical expenses.”
Huh?
I bunched my brows in confusion.
“In case, you know, your cheek spontaneously starts bleeding uncontrollably, or you get home and realize my yoga strength fractured your eye socket and you need seventeen stitches.”
I snorted.“I will definitely send you a bill if my fractured eye socket requires seventeen stitches.”
Climbing into her car, she flashed me a big, almost flirtatious grin.But maybe I was being overly hopeful, and it was just a friendly smile, not a flirty one.I really wasn’t very good at this kind of thing.I’d never dated, never flirted or pursued a woman before.
She started her car while I still stood outside mine like an idiot.
Thankfully, she took pity on my awkwardness and rolled down her window.“I’m sure my kid will be practicing Hacky Sack when I get home.So you should go brush up on your skills yourself, otherwise an eleven-year-old might show you up on Monday.”
“Have a good rest of your weekend, Naomi,” I said as she reversed out of the parking lot.
“You too, Lennox.”Then she gave me a wave that also could have been flirty, or just nice, and drove off, leaving me standing there, with the warm spring sun beating down on me, birds chirping in the trees, and an enormous, stupid smile on my face.
CHAPTER FIVE
Naomi
Bythetimethreeo’clock rolled around, I was mostly done inside the tasting room.Raina came to help me.So with two hands, we managed to get everything done a hell of a lot quicker.We needed more glasses, both white and red, and some flutes for sparkling.I wanted a few different variations of plates for the food, but other than that, we didn’t have to order much.
“Lookin‘ good,” Raina said, reaching forward to playfully tug on one of my braids.“I think we’re ready to open.Or we will be when the glasses and plates arrive.”
“Well, we still have a lot to do …” I glanced up at the light fixtures, many of which had burnt out bulbs, then out onto the patio where mildew and slime covered the concrete pavers, and the planters were full of dead leaves and spindly sticks.“But we’re making progress.”
The front door to the tasting room chimed, and in walked Jagger, Raina’s man, in all his bearded lumbersnack glory.He still had a slight limp when he walked, curtesy of a horrific altercation he had had with one of Raina’s brothers earlier this year that left him with a shattered knee.But he was recovering, and no longer needed a cane, which was progress.
“Hello, ladies,” he said, sidling up next to my ginger-haired cousin and pressing a kiss to the side of her head as he wrapped one arm around her waist.“Things are looking pretty spiffy in here.”
“Marco ready to go?”Raina asked him.
Jagger nodded.“He’s got his bike already in the truck.”
“Where are you off to?”I asked, reaching for the water glass I had on the counter.
“There’s that new bike pump track by the community center,” Raina said.“We’re going to meet all the McEvoy kids there so they can ride their bikes.I invited all of our kids, but they turned me down.Sam, Laurel, and Honor are heading to Tommaso’s with Danica to hang out with the horses.Damon is working on podcast stuff with Maverick, and Austin said he wants to practice his Hacky Sack.”
I snorted.“Of course he does.”
“Keeps him outside,” she said.“He’s getting his fresh air and vitamin D.”
“Gabs is …?”
“Lawyer work stuff.In her office.”
