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I shake my head, turning to throw my empty bottle in the trash. As much as Jack can be a pain in my ass, he is right about one thing. If someone’s worth hanging on to, you do it. And even though I’d been unsure of his motives when he showed back up here after fourteen years, talking shit and acting like he was king of the fucking world, I do have to hand it to him. Not only does he know his way around a vineyard, but he’s a hard worker too. And he absolutely adores Lauren. Always putting her first, above everything and everyone else. It’s obvious to everyone that those two were meant to be together and I do like how much she smiles now, how happy he’s made her since he showed up and stuck around.
Plus, his orchard and cider house has been a brilliant idea. It’s definitely going to boost tourism and money to this place, all of which will only help Ellen and Lauren.
But as much as I did like Caitlyn, I knew things weren’t working between us. What we had was nothing compared to what I can see Jack and Lauren, or even Ellen and Will have. It’s like Caitlyn and I were just going through the motions in the end and I’d barely put up a fight when she’d given me an ultimatum, asking me to choose between this place or her. It didn’t even feel like a choice to me.
Somerville’s is where I’ve grown up. I’ve spent the better part of my life working at this place and even though I know it isn’t mine, I still can’t help but feel like this is where I belong. Ellen and Lauren are like family to me and they’ve always been good to me, letting me build a small place at the far edge of their property, overlooking the vines and the small lake they have.
Plus, I enjoy my job and the work I do here, and I love the people I work with…even Jack, mostly.
“Maybe you should try getting on Tinder or something?” Jack suggests, still grinning.
“Fuck off,” I tell him, unable to stop the laugh.
“Grinder then?”
“No seriously, fuck off.”
Jack laughs. “What? Get some action, relieve a little tension? It’ll make you less grumpy.”
“I’m not fucking grumpy,” I repeat, just as Oscar struts into the workroom.
He holds up a hand to wave at me before walking toward Jack. I watch as the two of them go through this weird ass handshake ritual they always do, before Oscar turns and leans against the bench, his arms crossed over his chest just like Jack.
I shake my head at the two of them. “You know he’s actually morphing into you now, don’t you?”
Oscar and Jack both grin as they glance at each other before turning back to me. “Okay, no Tinder, no Grinder. What about something else?”
I shake my head as Oscar says, “What’s Grinder?”
“Oh, fuck me,” I mutter as Jack starts laughing.
“Nothing you need to know about just yet,” he says, moving to cover both of Oscar’s ears. “Come on, live a little, Tommy,” he says now. “There’s this new app that’s all the rage. You get a month’s free trial. Why don’t you give it a shot?”
“I don’t need help getting laid,” I say, glaring at him. “Now if you don’t mind, some of us have work to do. The new guys are starting over at Apple Jacks today and I gotta go make sure they know what they’re doing.”
Jack removes his hands from Oscar’s ears who looks up at him with a legitwhat the fucklook on his face that comes squarely from his mom and aunt. The kid is a laugh, he and his sister Olivia, and they definitely make the place interesting.
“Shit, yeah I forgot they were starting today. I’ll head over with you,” Jack says, just as his phone rings.
“No worries, I’ll see you up there,” I say, heading out of the shed as Jack smirks at me. It takes me a second to realize I’ve just used one of his catchphrases. His weird Aussie sayings apparently rubbing off on all of us.
As I head over to the work cars parked out front of the sheds, I cross paths with Penny, who’s obviously heading in to start work at the tasting room. She gives me a wave and a grin as she calls out, “Heading into work now, Tommy!” Obviously giving me shit after I called her out earlier.
I find myself smiling back at her, even as I’m shaking my head and checking my watch with mock exaggeration. “About time,” I shout back.
She pokes her tongue out at me and I swear my fucking dick actually twitches as I watch her disappear into the main building. There’s no denying she’s hot. She’s all long legs and tanned skin and this long dark brown hair that I’ve definitely thought about wrapping my hands around as I pulled her head back to expose her neck.
But she’s also like ten years younger than me and a co-worker, so definitely off-limits.
Still, I can’t deny there haven’t been a few times I’ve caught myself checking her out or fantasizing about bending her over the counter in the tasting room whenever I’ve walked in there and found her leaning over it as she does some paperwork.
“Jesus, Tommy, maybe you do need to get laid,” I mutter to myself, scrubbing a hand over my face as I reach for my phone, which I discover is not in my pocket, but sitting back on the bench in the workroom. I stop and turn to go back, but see Jack now jogging toward me, a huge grin on his face and his hand outstretched, my phone in its grip.
“Here, you forgot this,” he says, shoving it at me.
“Thanks,” I reply, sliding it into my pocket as we both walk toward one of the work trucks that we’ll take over to the cider house.
“No worries, mate,” Jack says, sliding into the passenger side.
