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My cheeks heated and I ducked my head. I liked that she knew about them, that it was obvious enough that the Halston pack had taken an interest in me. Sure we weren’t formally courting or anywhere close to bonding bites… but the thought of another omega in their lives nearly killed me.
Yet there was so much to figure out.
“Okay, Autumn, don’t think too hard,” she teased. “So about going out?”
“Sounds good to me,” I grinned, pushing away my erratic thoughts before they could drown me. “What is there to do in Holiday Hollow?”
“Go to the bar,” she joked. “That’s about it unless we want to head out of town. But to be fair they do live music once a month. In a couple weeks it's a local band, Hollow Chords. You’ll love them, they’re amazing.”
“It’s a date,” I joked. But inside I was doing a happy dance. I’d been so busy with school and internships that I hadn’t had the chance to keep many close friends. Claire was fun and sweet and I knew we’d get along great.
Another point for Holiday Hollow.
How was I ever going to choose?
Chapter19
Autumn
It turns out I had quite a few dates on my docket, not just the upcoming one with Claire. We had to push ours back slightly since she got caught up between the business and holiday rush, which, between the work I was doing on marketing and planning the new products for the orchard and the sudden influx in my dating life, it worked out for both of us.
Between calling contacts, potential distributors, and making sure things were running smoothly on the project I was working on—a topic I’d been particularly hush hush about—the guys had taken it on themselves to take me on dates.
Okay, so Hunter hadn’t asked me out on a date because he still couldn’t get out of his head, but we still did things together when we were home, and all four of us as a group. Jack and Boone on the other hand seemed to consume my every waking moment outside of work, and I certainly wasn’t complaining.
For the first time in my life, I was getting to experience what being a pack could actually be like. Not some carefully crafted fantasy, or the type of ads they tried to swoon omegas with to encourage us to pack up, but actually mundane daily activities too.
I knew way too much about them now, and they knew about me too. I knew I got to pick all the olives off Jack’s pizza and eat them for myself and that Hunter had a pair of reading glasses he sometimes used at night when he read, a fact I couldn’t help but find adorable. Boone had his schedule he liked to stick to, but without fail, every morning whether I was around or not he would seek me out or send me a text, letting me know his plans for the day and making some with me in return.
A knock on my open door pulled me from my thoughts and where I’d been staring at my laptop, the mock label for this year’s run of cider I was working on still in the final stages.
“Hey,” Jack said. “I brought you a little snack. Thought you might want a little something before we head out.”
“Is it time already?” I asked, looking at the clock and realizing I’d been working the entire morning and early afternoon without a break. “Sorry, Jack. I totally got wrapped up. Just let me save this and freshen up and we can go.”
“Hey, there’s no rush,” he said, setting the plate down on the desk and wrapping his arms around me as he placed a kiss on my temple. “We can push our double date back slightly if you need, it’s a rather casual one, if you need more time we’ll make it work, Autumn. Whatever you need.”
I tilted my head up to him, seeking his lips as my hands covered his arms wrapped around me. When Jack wasn’t up to his favorite pastime of getting me to stuff my face fatter than a thanksgiving turkey, he was always making sure I had everything I needed. It was a new experience for me, having people think of me in that way, and it made that ache in my chest, the one I never realized was there, ease.
“I’m at a good stopping place,” I assured him once we broke apart.
“I thought you already had labels?” Jack questioned, looking at the screen. “Wasn’t that part of the branding package you put together?”
A smile sprang across my face. “One would think you know a thing or two about marketing now, farmer Halston.”
“Well, I did have an excellent teacher. She’s this brilliant, funny, clever, smart, sexy…”
“Alright, alright, babe,” I said with a laugh. “Flattery will get you everywhere. This is just a special edition label I was working on for the new batch we came up with. I was thinking of doing something a little unique and special for the festival run only. Something that people would either be excited to try or could have as keepsakes if they wanted.”
“See? Brillant.”
“Let me eat this delicious snack and get changed and I’ll meet you downstairs in thirty?”
Jack nodded, squeezing me in his arms one more time. “That works. Boone will be home in a few and then we can ride all together. Wear something comfortable and shoes you don’t mind walking around in.”
“Still no hints?”
“Nope,” Jack said with a grin as he made his way to the door. “Wouldn’t want to scare you off before the fun starts.”
