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“If somebody else asked you, would you go out with them?”
Oh for the love of heaven… “I like Liam. I’m looking forward to going out with him. You sound like you’ve got something against him.”
“Nope. Just checking.” Carol dumped the halved tomatoes into the bowl of lettuce, then turned the burner on underneath the pan of water she’d filled earlier.
“Checking what?”
But apparently Carol was through with the discussion. “I’m going to go watch Friends.” She disappeared through the door to the living room.
Ruth closed her eyes. That was a surreal conversation. Fortunately, she hadn’t had to go over the real reasons she was looking forward to dinner with Liam, since they had nothing to do with dinner and everything to do with what came afterward.
Chapter Eleven
Peaches appeared promptly at seven thirty the next morning, beaming happily. Ruth let her in and began making coffee in their largest urn. She had a feeling they’d be busy.
Having Peaches working in the kitchen gave her a chance to be in the cheese room when her brother Brett showed up later with the daily milk delivery. She helped him get the milk into the cooler and the holding tank where she’d add the rennet and get the day’s batch working. “How are things at the farm?”
Brett paused, frowning. “Okay, I guess. How long has it been since I talked to you last?”
“I’m not sure—a couple of weeks?” It might have been longer than that. While she’d been dealing with her Barbara Jean crisis in the deli, she’d barely had time to say more than good morning while the delivery was being made.
Having a chance to talk qualified as a luxury, even if the conversation did mostly revolve around dealing with a rented billy goat whose presence could make the milk turn gamey if they weren’t careful. “But we got a couple of pregnant nans out of it,” he concluded. “And the arrangement works—Earl gets some income for his billy, and I don’t have to keep one around full time.”
Ruth nodded as she pulled on her white overalls. “As long as you can keep the milk as sweet as usual, having a randy billy around doesn’t bother me.”
Brett grinned in her direction. “Keeps the nans happy, that’s for sure.”
Well, it would. Ruth hoped her cheeks weren’t flaming quite as much as she suspected they were.
“How’s Carol?”
“Fine. Well, okay. She’s still mad about the California trip.”
“Asshole should have cleared it with you first.” Brett and David had never exactly gotten along. “Why don’t you have her come out to the farm for a couple of days? Ginger’d be glad for the company now that Will’s headed off to college. He’s got orientation this week, but he’ll probably stay down in Fort Collins for a few days after that.” Ginger, Brett’s wife, was currently in the early throes of empty-nest syndrome.
“Carol would like that. She hasn’t been to the farm much this summer.” Ruth would like it, too, since it would give her a free night with Liam.
“Okay, I’ll come by this evening and pick her up. You can call me if there are any problems.”
“Great. Thanks, bro.” There would be no problem. Carol would go visit her aunt and uncle. On that, Ruth was set.
Because, if Carol went to the farm, Ruth would be free to stay with Liam as long as she wanted. He could even come to her place. Although maybe that wouldn’t be such a great idea. Maybe she should be able to go back home alone if things didn’t work out.
My, aren’t we a ray of sunshine? It wasn’t that she didn’t think things would work out between them. Well, it sort of was. She worried about it, anyway.
What if all the heat that had built up between them was just, like, smoke? What if it disappeared when they got down to having real, unadulterated sex? In a bed? With lots of time?
Ruth bit her lip. Nothing like a little performance anxiety. It’s just sex. You’re just in it for the sex. But the sex could turn out to be a disappointment. She could turn out to be a disappointment.
Someone knocked on the door of the cheese room, and she pulled off her latex gloves. Peaches was standing just outside, her golden hair tucked up under a chef’s beanie, her body wrapped in a canvas apron that was almost too long for somebody her size. “Do you have any plans for the raisins in the pantry? I was just going to make some simple spice muffins until I get a chance to do some grocery shopping this afternoon.”
