Page 50 of Twin Babies For The Grump

Edward opens the passenger door for the backseat. “Do you remember your address, miss?”

“I’m not wasted,” Macy jerks backward, even though no one’s touching her. There’s just pure drunken fury on her face as if she’s taking the rejection impossibly personally. “I’m—you’re—fuck!”

“Come on, Macy. Just let Edward drive you home,” I say, helping my driver corral the woman into the backseat. I nod at Edward. “I’ll grab her address from the records and text it to you. Just get her out of here.”

“Owen,” she says, reaching out from where she’s sitting in the car. Her hand goes for mine, but I pull it away at the last minute. The rage on Macy’s face shifts into drunken tears instead, and she makes a sad, waning sound in the back of her throat, shifting and turning away from me.

I close the door and give Edward an appreciative smile. “Thanks, Edward.”

“Normally, I say that it’s no problem and just all part of the job,” says Edward, “But I get the feeling that this is going to be a very, very long drive. I will take that thank you.”

He turns and gets into the car. I wait until it pulls out of the driveway, just to make sure that everything is running the way that it should, and then head into the estate house, to find the papers with her address on them.

A quick text has it sent off to Edward, who Igreatlyappreciate helping with this. After it’s sent, I toss the phone onto the top of the desk and scrub my face. Shit. I tried to be more friendly with the workers and look where it got me.

I can already tell that this is going to be a fucking mess tomorrow. I need to nip this issue with Macy in the bud before it blooms into a full-on thorny mess. What was she saying, that I only promoted Tess because she was young and hot, is fucking ridiculous.

Tess practically had the job for a whole year before I got here. All I did was make the title official.

The fact that we’re close to each other doesn’t mean jack shit. It doesn’tfactorinto this at all! I would have given Tess that position even if we weren’t getting ready to start a family together.

“Fuck,” I mumble, raking a hand through my hair. The brunts of my nails scrape over my scalp. I don’t even want to think about this again until tomorrow.

I shove Macy’s files back into the metal cabinet and then step out of the office.

Bear and Bubbles are being kept in the house since they don’t know to run around in my winery the way that they might on their own. Bear gets to his feet, excitedly rushing to meet me. I reach down to give him a pet on the head, and I’m instead treated to a nice hand washing, courtesy of his tongue.

“Gross,” I laugh, sidestepping into the kitchen to wash the dog spit off my hand. Bear follows me into the room and then back out. Bubbles is laying in front of the door, as though he’s keeping watch. The dog wags his tail and looks up at me with big, brown eyes.

“Not happening,” I tell him. “You two have to stay in here.”

Bubbles head drops back down onto the top of his paws. He whines.

“Nope. No amount of pouting is going to change my mind.” I step over the dog, curling a hand around the door handle. “But I shouldn’t be too much longer.”

Bear sits down next to Bubbles, maintaining his hopeful look at me.

“Sorry, boy,” I tell Bear, and then I step out onto the small patio. I’m careful to push the door shut and make sure that it latches, despite both dogs leaning against the glass and giving me their most watery-eyed, mournful looks.

I’m not fooled.

I leave their butts in the house and head back down toward the main event; the Wine Night, which is, hopefully, winding down and wrapping up.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tess

Ishecomingbackdown yet?

No, not that I can see.

My teeth catch on my lower lip. I trust Owen, really, I do!

But watching Macy lean all over him and get up in his face made a bolt of something hot and angry curl down my spine.

I can’t help feeling jealous. At least now I can justify it. We are together. And Macy’s drunken words seem to have taken a new spin. Maybe they weren’t caused by my promotion. Maybe it was all about Owen.

“Good night, Tess,” says Adela, giving me a wave. “You sure that you don’t want to come with me and keep things going?”

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