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I satmotionless as I watched Whitney leave the shuttle, her words echoing in my ears. I kept my eyes glued to her as she ascended the staircase to the winery, letting herself in the door.
Only then did I release a jagged breath. Dragging my fingers through my hair, I noticed a slight tremor to them.
Hell, I’d been nervous.
And now I had to wait.
I did exactly as Barb and I had planned. I told Whitney everything, not leaving a thing off the table.
If we stood any chance of being together, we’d have to start with a fresh slate, one where she knew about all the skeletons in my closet.
Where she knew how much I loved her in high school and how much I loved her now.
After giving Whitney a head start, I reluctantly pulled myself out of the seat.
I grabbed as much of Whitney’s gear as I could manage. I’d send someone else to collect the rest.
Pulling the wallet out of my back pocket, I grabbed an extra fifty and handed it to the driver as a tip. I nodded solemnly then made my pilgrimage up to the winery.
I opened the door, astonished at the transformation.
Warm candles and flowers filled the space. Although this wasn’t the main area for the event, everyone would walk through it to get to the cellar, making it equally important when it came to making a big impression.
A registration table was being set up by Penelope and another staffer, Jorge.
Penelope looked up from the box of name tags in front of her. “Hey, boss. What do you think?”
Standing upright, Penelope almost matched my height. Her pink hair and nose piercing stood out in Haver’s Creek, but her work ethic and outgoing personality always won over the harshest of critics. Hands on her hips she looked at the space just as I did.
“It’s incredible. You did an amazing job. We need to make sure the photographer gets shots of the space before we have people filling it. This will be great for promotional purposes.”
Penelope laughed. “Whitney already told the photographer the same thing. She said to make sure to send the copies to me as soon as they are ready.”
I should have known. I wrapped my knuckles on the table. “Well, keep up the good work.” Penelope saluted me and then got back to organizing the registration table, while I scoped out the rest of the tasting room.
Little chocolate mint bowls sat on various tables throughout the space.
Everything looked impeccable.
Searching the room for Whitney came up empty, so I descended into the cellar, noticing how a green garland wrapped around the arm rail.
The cellar was just as spectacular as the tasting room.
Maybe more so.
This was where the magic was happening. I easily spotted Whitney pointing at where a box should go.
She’d taken off her coat, revealing a slinky red dress that draped over every curve of her body.
It was as though someone had crushed the air out of my chest.
If I had known she’d been wearing that the whole time I sat next to her I may have been too distracted to string together a sentence.
With her hair pulled to the side, and the heart-shaped neckline of her dress, I wanted to disappear into a dark corner and kiss up and down that long column of creamy skin.
I didn’t need to look down to know that I was getting hard beneath my fancy suit. I thought about football plays, then walked up to the nearest staff person I knew and asked how I could help.
Then someone carrying a box of wine bottles ran into me. A perfect distraction. They put me to work organizing the glassware at the bar station they had set up down here. A few wine barrels with a glass topper made the perfect make-shift bar.
