Page 23 of A Table for Two
She shook her head. “They know I bake, but that’s about it. A couple of years ago, I contributed three cakes for the Fourth of July celebration fundraiser. Before the evening ended, the women in charge asked me to do it again. Speaking of the Fourth, you should plan to join the festivities.”
“I just may do that. Oh, I wanted to give you my number in case you needed something.”
“Funny, I thought about the same thing. I told Andrea I’d be available to help you and totally dropped the ball. Let me run inside and get my phone. Or better yet, you can just come in.”
Gabriel debated for a few seconds. “I should probably wait out here. Nana’s on her way over, and I don’t want to miss her.”
Serenity smiled. “Good thinking. I don’t want to get in trouble with Ms. Della.”
His eyes were glued to her shapely backside in her snug shorts as she walked away. The woman looked good from every angle. The sound of a car approaching caught his attention, and he saw his grandmother park in front of his house. Pushing away from the porch column, he went to meet her. “Hey, Nana,” he said, opening her car door and helping her out.
“Hi, honey.” She wrapped him up in a hug. “You waiting for Serenity?”
“Yes. She went inside to get something.” Gabriel didn’t think she needed to know they were exchanging phone numbers.
“Good. Flora sent her a box. Can you get it out of the back seat?”
He went around to the passenger side and retrieved a box of fresh vegetables and fruit twice the size of the one the woman had packed for Nana.
“I told her Serenity would put it to good use.” Nana closed the door and followed him over to where Serenity was just coming out of the house. “Hey, Serenity.”
“Hi, Ms. Della. We missed you at dinner last week. How was the wine train?” The women embraced.
“We had such a good time. You really need to go.”
“I keep saying I will, but I haven’t gotten around to it.”
Gabriel listened to them talk about wine tasting and good food, thinking maybe he could interest Serenity in taking the daylong trip with him. He’d never been to Napa and knew he would enjoy seeing it with her. A touch on his arm cut into his musings. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“Are you going to stand here staring off into space all day?” Nana asked, her hand on her hip. “Take the box on in for her.”
Out of his periphery, he saw Serenity fighting hard not to laugh. She climbed the steps and held the door open. He let Nana go in first and moved to the side to let Serenity pass.
“Better start paying attention,” Serenity whispered with a chuckle.
“Just tell me where to put this box.” He tried to keep a straight face but failed.
“Bring it on back to the kitchen.”
Gabriel left Nana in the living room and followed Serenity. After placing the box where she indicated, he dug his phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Input your number and I’ll call you, so you’ll have mine.” She added her information to his contacts and handed it back. He hit the call button, let it ring once before disconnecting.
“Wow, I can’t believe Ms. Flora sent all this.”
He leaned over as Serenity dug below the bunches of greens to unearth tomatoes, strawberries, green beans, and a few other goodies. Her head came up and their faces were mere inches apart. Neither moved for several charged seconds. He leaned a fraction of an inch closer, wanting to find out if her lips tasted as sweet as the desserts she made. Then he remembered Nana was in the living room and thought better of it. “I’d better go.”
“Y-yes. You don’t want to keep Ms. Della waiting.”
“May I call you later?”
She nodded.
Unable to resist, he brushed his lips across her cheek, pivoted, and put one reluctant foot in front of the other to get away from temptation. She was slow to follow, and he could tell that she had been just as affected as he was by the moment.
“Thanks for bringing the goodie box, Ms. Della. I’ll call Ms. Flora later to thank her, too.”
“You’re welcome. Ready, Gabriel?” Nana divided a knowing glance between him and Serenity, then smiled.
Uh-oh.“Yes.”
