Page 46 of A Perfect Pairing
“So, I heard you and Natasha went out last night,” his mother said casually.
“We went out to dinner.”
“And you spent the night at her house.”
He choked on the lemonade he’d just swallowed. “What?” he croaked, trying to clear his throat. “I don’t know who told you that, but I did not spend the night. I brought her home and stayed for a while talking, thenwent home.” Okay, so he just didn’t say what kind of talking they did. He’d heard everything her body said.
He tried to engage Noelle in conversation, but his mother was not going to let up.
Nate’s low chuckle floated across the table. “What time is the groundbreaking ceremony for the condos next Saturday?”
Antonio sent his brother a grateful look. His grandmother smiled knowingly. “It’s at eleven. Are you all going to be there?”
“Definitely,” his father answered. “It’s going to be nice having a place for some of the younger folks.”
“And a few of the older folks who mentioned wanting to downsize.”
His mother opened her mouth, no doubt to return to her favorite subject, but his brother and sister-in-law kept steering the conversation to other topics. Antonio owed them dinner or something.
Finally, his mother cut in, “You should invite her over for Sunday next week.”
Antonio paused. “I’ll check and see what her schedule is like and let you know.” The last time he’d had a woman at his family’s dinner table was his ex-wife, during her one and only visit to Firefly Lake shortly after their marriage. After they’d left, she’d complained about everything from the color scheme to the fact that everyone had come casual except her. She felt Sunday dinners should mean dressing up. He wouldn’t have to worry about that with Natasha. She fit in well with his family… and with him.
“Do you know how long this thing is supposed to last?” Natasha whispered to Antonio Saturday morning as the town gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony for the new building project. The mayor had been talking for a good fifteen minutes already.
Antonio shrugged. “I figured it would be a welcome, toss some dirt with a shovel, a cheer, and done. Not sure why he needed an entire agenda of activities.”
She bit her lip to stifle a giggle. “I see you still don’t have patience for long, drawn-out stuff.”
He took a peek at his watch again. “Yeah, no. I really wanted to skip the whole thing. I don’t need to be up there, front and center.”
“Of course you do,” she said, placing a comforting hand on his back. “This is big news for this little town. One of their own is making dreams come true and pumping money into the economy. The mayor didn’t mention it at the town meeting last month, but I heard that in addition to the other development company wanting to go big, they’d also planned to bring in their own folks, instead of using Davenport employees first, then supplementing, as agreed. Just shady all around.”
“Well, at least we don’t have to worry about that.”
“Antonio, where are you?” The mayor shielded his eyes from the sunlight as he searched the crowd.
“That’s your cue, handsome.”
Chuckling, Antonio shook his head, then weaved his way through the throngs of people to reach the front.
Natasha couldn’t have been any prouder to see him up there, living out his dreams. She saw Serenity and Dana a few feet away and made her way over to them.
“I need the mayor to wrap it up,” Serenity said. “I have to get home and start the prep for our dinner tonight.”
“Girl, you know Mayor Brewer has always been long-winded. Somebody needs to go up there and tell him to hush.” Dana waved a hand. “We don’t need to know the history of how this project came about and all the pitfalls and delays that happened along the way. Get. To. The. Point.”
“Amen,” Natasha said. She almost laughed at the look of irritation Antonio kept throwing at the mayor. Most people wouldn’t notice the subtle change in his expression, but because she’d known Antonio most of his life, she could tell. The man wrapped up his comments a few minutes later.Finally.Along with the mayor and Antonio, Mr. Davenport and two other town officials joined them. Each held a shovel with a yellow ribbon. After a count of three, they all dug in and flipped the dirt. A loud round of applause went up, and people rushed over to congratulate them.
Dana leaned close to Natasha. “You might as well either make yourself comfortable and wait or catch up with Antonio later, because those folks are going to keep him hemmed up for hours.”
“Looks that way.” Natasha caught Antonio’s gaze and held her hand up to her ear, intimating that she’d call him later. He gave her an imperceptible nod and went back to greeting the long line of people. She faced Serenity. “What color scheme are you thinking for tonight?” She often brought the table linens and centerpieces.
“I have no idea. Something spring-ish sounds good. I’m thinking of using my plain white china, so whatever colors you come up with will be fine.”
“Okay, I’ll see what I have at the house.” She spoke to her two friends a moment longer, then made her way to her car. As she settled in the seat, her cell rang. She frowned, not recognizing the number, but answered.
“Hello, is this Natasha Baldwin?’
