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Grady cocked his head to the side. “You’d like that?” And there he’d been thinking that it’d be all wrong for him to date anyone.
Ava nodded eagerly. “I’dlovethat.”
Well, how about that? The door behind them opened, and as they followed the girl out to the kennels, Grady couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he should ask Hannah out. He might run the idea by Molly. She’d set him straight if it was a bad idea.
Chapter Six
Hannah sat at the coffee table, staring out the window. She’d always loved the view from the cottage. The vineyards stretched away into the distance. She loved seeing them in the summer, but there was something special about the rows of bare vines marching away over the rolling hillside toward a gray sky. She’d only been back a couple of weeks, but she was already wondering why she’d stayed away so long. This place was home, whatever the season. Jacob had tried to talk her into staying at the house with him, but she hadn’t wanted to. She loved her brother dearly, but if she was going to stay here, she needed her own space.
She’d been busy ever since her first day back. She wasn’t one to sit around doing nothing. Now, she had a full schedule all the way up until Christmas. She smiled. Jacob hadn’t been too keen on the idea of opening the estate up to the public for the tree lighting ceremony, but she was happy that she’d managed to talk him into it. She used to love Christmas, but since their parents died, it didn’t feel the same. She was hoping that brightening the place up with the lights and having a whole bunch of people over would help the estate – and her – feel more festive.
She reached for her phone when it rang and smiled when she saw Molly’s name on the display.
“Hi, Molly.”
“Hey, Hannah. How are you?”
“I’m great thanks, just getting ready for the day.”
“What are you up to?”
She blew out a sigh. “I’m going to be out around the estate shooting photos for the website. I’m looking forward to that, but this afternoon I have to go into the offices. Jacob wants me to do headshots for the team.”
Molly laughed. “I don’t know how you ever managed to work in LA. Even when we were kids, you liked shooting nature way more than shooting people.”
Hannah laughed with her. “It’s true. And some of the people I had to work with in LA made me wish I could shoot them with something other than my camera.”
“Well, you’re home now. Where you belong.”
“I am.”
“I was calling to see if you wanted to come over for lunch today; will you have time?”
“I could squeeze it in, if you can do noon?”
“I can do that. So, you’ll come?”
Hannah pursed her lips. She should say that she couldn’t make it.
“Okay, I’m no good at beating around the bush,” Molly said when she didn’t reply. “Grady will be here. Is that a problem?”
It shouldn’t be. But Hannah’s heart was pounding as she remembered Ava telling him that he should ask her out.
“Talk to me?”
She laughed. “What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t honestly know. But you like him, and he likes you and I’m trying to play matchmaker, so I suppose what I really want is for you to either tell me to butt out or say that it’s okay and you’ll come.”
Hannah blew out a sigh. “I ran into him and Ava at the shelter on Sunday.”
“You did? How did that go?”
“Not terribly. Ava’s a little sweetheart. She wants me and her Uncle Grady to be friends.”
Molly laughed. “She tries to look out for him. She worries that he’s given up his life for her.”
“Aww. What’s her story?”
