“Do I?”
“Yes.You’re what Dawn calls a ‘social butterfly.’”
That made me smirk.“Ever thought of making some friends yourself?”
Wide eyes of horror stared back at me.“Why?”
“Because while you might not be a butterfly, you are still human, and humans are social creatures.We need connection.”
Her chest lifted on a forced out huff.“I’ll think about it.”
“That’s all I ask.”
“What shenanigans did Piñata get up to?”
I snorted and smiled.“Got stuck in the goat house.”
She exhaled a laugh through her nose.“As Tom says, ‘You let them shenan once, they will shenanigan.’And he let that donkey shenan once when he first arrived.”
“Did you just make a joke?”
“I repeated Tom’s joke.So technically, it wasn’t my joke.But yes, I said a joke.”
“Wow.We haven’t even been on the island a month, and already you’re developing a sense of humor.”
She rolled her eyes.“Don’t get used to it, old man.”
Laughing, I reached over and gently shoved her shoulder.“Watch it, whippersnapper.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Naomi
ItwasThursdayafternoon,and we had two days until opening day.
While we didn’t open the tasting room every day of the week until late June, we still had a lot to take care of before Saturday.
However, we also needed to train new staff on what we required of them when the tasting room wasn’t open.Typically, staff were scheduled to help with the bottling process in the barn, roam the rows of vines to check on growth, make sure there wasn’t any rot or fungus growing on the grapes, and help package up cases of wine to ship to the mainland.
Today though, I was busy teaching Brittany how to get the siphon going from the demi to the bottles while Damon—who had finished all his school work—was teaching Corbin how to use the corker, and Amy was showing Tova how to wash bottles with the special bottle washer in the industrial sink, when two voices coming toward the open barn door pulled my attention.
Even though I hadn’t seen or heard from Lennox since that awkwardness in the driveway on Monday night, my heart did a happy little pitter-patter in my chest when I realized it was him and Mabel.
I was determined not to let the awkwardness bleed into today, and approached him with a big smile.“Hey, stranger.”I nodded at Brittany, who seemed to get the siphoning process and proceeded to start filling the bottles.I wasn’t sure what to expect when I walked toward him and Mabel, but it definitely wasn’t him instantly wrapping an arm around my waist and going in for a kiss.
I was lightheaded immediately.
“What brings you two by?”I glanced at my watch.“Oh, wow.Is it four o’clock already?”
“Actually,” Lennox said, glancing at his daughter.“It was Mabel’s idea.”
“Oh?”I turned to Mabel, who seemed to have laser-focus on Damon.She left her dad’s side and marched up to him.
“Hello, Damon,” she said.
Damon’s gray-blue eyes narrowed.“Uh … hey.”
“Would you like to go birdwatching with me tomorrow?”she asked.
