Page 84 of Whisking It All

“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Tessa said. “Kyla will have no problem keeping Sugar Grapes going for twenty-four hours while I’m gone. Especially now that we’ve hired some more staff.”

“And Anabel prefers when I leave her to run Lemon and Thyme without my interference anyway,” Jamie said, his hand sliding higher on Tessa’s thigh.

“You have the talking points I sent over?” Gavin asked.

Tessa nodded. “We do. Really, it will be fine,” she said with a laugh. “Oh, and Baz, I looked over those projections you sent over.”

She and Baz talked about budget projections and cost savings and return on investment, and she was breathtaking. Confident and competent, she fit so perfectly—in the town, with his friends, with him. He felt like he was standing in the eye of a storm, and she was the storm, all around him and ready to rip his world apart. So why did he have the overwhelming urge to throw himself into her chaos, to let her tear down the life he’d built and shape it into something new, something inextricably hers?

“Really, boys? Star Wars?” Ruth Greene asked as she and Dot Blumenthal approached their table.

“What’s wrong with Star Wars?” Gavin asked.

“Nothing’s wrong with it, dear,” Dot said. “It is, perhaps, a tad uninspired.”

“Everyone will know it’s you in the dunk tank this year,” Ruth chided with a pointed look at the Darth Vader helmet.

“I’m pretty sure everyone already knew, Mrs. Greene,” Baz said.

Ruth tsked as if that were hardly an excuse.

“But you do make a handsome Hans Solo,” Dot said, squeezing Jamie’s shoulder. “I always did like that Harrison Ford. And his holster.”

Tessa nearly spit out her Midori sour, laughter dancing in her eyes.

“And who are you supposed to be?” Ruth asked, eyeing Gavin.

Gavin smiled and pulled on the brown faux fur coat that he’d discarded as soon as he’d arrived. He zipped the coat up to the top, flipping up the hood. “I’m Chewbacca.” He tilted his head back and did his best impression—which wasn’t very good.

This time Tessa did laugh, her fingers twining with Jamie’s under the table. A wave of peace that he had no right to washed over him and he fought the urge to pull her into his lap.

For a moment he could picture it, what it would be like if Tessa were really his, if they didn’t have to hold hands under tables and pretend they hadn’t spent the night tangled in each other’s arms. They’d go to trivia at The Rookery on Monday nights and brunch at The Dockside on Sunday mornings before the church-going crowd arrived. They’d tease Gavin about his horrible impressions and they’d run the food and wine festival every year. They’d have hectic days in the bakery and the restaurant, and at night they’d fall into bed and make love until they were both too tired to think. And then he’d wrap her in his arms until morning came and they did it all over again.

They’d build a life in Aster Bay, one filled with laughter and good food and even better friends and maybe even a raven-eyed baby or two… He could see it all and he wanted it so badly his chest ached. Tessa turned her brilliant smile on him, laughing at some joke at Gavin’s expense that he’d missed in his daydreaming, and he wondered what he would do to be able to see that smile for the rest of his life. To be able to kiss it off her lips right there in the middle of trivia night.

Anything.

The answer was immediate and so clear it knocked him off balance. He’d do anything to have forever with her.

But, of course, that was the problem, wasn’t it? Because she wasn’t his to have, and he wasn’t even certain she wanted to be.

Tomorrow, when they were away from Aster Bay and its prying eyes and all the reminders that he was not supposed to fall for his best friend’s daughter—tomorrow they’d talk about all the things they’d been avoiding talking about. Things like what happened when Ethan came home, when the festival was over, when Sugar Grapes closed for the season?

She squeezed his hand, a silent question in her eyes to match the thousands of questions swirling in his mind. He took a sip of his gin and tonic and squeezed back.

Chapter 27

“Tessa?” Jamie’s voice rang out through the darkened house.

“In here!” Tessa called from her bedroom.

“Why are all the lights off?” he asked, his voice getting closer.

“Because I was going to wait for you on the front porch, but then I realized I hadn’t packed my blue blouse and I thought maybe blue was a better color for promoting the festival because blue is kind of like purple and purple is the color of red wine. I don’t know why they call it red wine when it’s really purple.”

She whipped another set of hangers to the end of the closet. When had she accumulated so much clothing? She was pretty sure she’d arrived at Ethan’s with only two bags, and now she had a closet full of clothes. She’d never had a closet full of clothes before—too cumbersome when it came time to move again.

“And now I can’t find the blue blouse. Oh! Maybe I should wear a Nuthatch t-shirt? I don’t have shirts with the Sugar Grapes logo but I could promote the vineyard at least. Or maybe—”

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