by Claire Raye
Reaching across the table, I slide my fingers over hers as they fiddle with her wine glass.
“Tall, mysterious foreign guy, huh?” I say, pulling her fingers from the stem. “Hot accent?”
Lu blushes now as she murmurs, “Mmmm.”
I chuckle, turning her hand over as I brush my thumb across the inside of her wrist. I open my mouth to speak just as Carey reappears to drop off some appetizers, compliments of the house.
Lu pulls her hand from mine, reaching for her napkin now as she busies herself with pretending to eat. I let the moment go, even though there are so many things I want to ask her.
The rest of our lunch passes by with no further discussion about the school dance or what it might mean that her friends all still know about me.
Eventually, after we finish off the bottle of wine and decline dessert, I head inside to fix up the bill while Lu hits up the bathroom.
“On the house,” Carey says, grinning at me.
“No, I can’t let you do that,” I say. “Please, let me pay.”
Carey shakes her head. “Nope,” she says.
“Okay, fine,” I say, pulling a fifty from my wallet anyway and sliding it into the tip jar by the cash register. “Thank you. The food was great, just as I remember it.”
“You’re welcome,” Carey says, grinning. She looks over my shoulder as though checking for something before turning back to me. “She never forgot you, you know?” she says, her voice a whisper as though she doesn’t want anyone to hear what she’s telling me.
“What?”
“Lauren,” she says, eyes flicking behind me again. “She…”
But her words are cut off as Lu materializes beside me. “Ready to go?” Her question stopping any further discussion.
“Was great to see you again,” Carey says, hugging her. “Don’t leave it so long next time.”
We say our goodbyes and head back out to the car, but I can’t resist glancing backward as I hold the door open for Lu. Carey is watching us, a strange smile on her face as she meets my stare quickly before turning away.
The drive back to Somerville’s is quiet, the only noise the songs coming from the radio and the gentle breeze that blows in through Lu’s half open window.
I watch as her loose hair blows around her, her fingers constantly tucking it behind her ears every time it gets in her face. I have an urge to reach out and do it for her. To run my fingers through her long blonde strands, wrap them around my hand as I pull her close to me.
By the time we pull back into the vineyard, my mind and body are going crazy with lust, fueled by everything I learned today and every kilometer I sat silently watching her on the way home.
Lu parks in front of her house and we both get out of the car. I wait as she walks around toward me, reaching for her hand as she stops beside me.
“Thank you for lunch,” I say, my eyes locked onto hers.
“You’re welcome,” she says, swallowing.
“I,” I start, pausing as I try to work out the right words. “I ahh,”
“Aunt Lulu!” comes Oscar’s voice as he comes tearing out of her house, the front door slamming and totally killing the moment.
I glance over, see him staring at us, arms crossed over his chest. When I turn back to Lu though, her eyes are still on me, watching.
Knowing this isn’t the right moment, I grin as I lean down and put my mouth against her ear. “That hot accent,” I whisper, my eyes closing as I breathe in the scent of her. “You should hear me talk dirty in it.”
And then before I give in and do all the things I’ve only dreamed about, I let go of her hand, turn and give Oscar a wave, before heading inside my house.
Chapter Ten
Lauren
He’s growing on me.
Or maybe he’s just always had a place in my heart.
I’m still smiling as Jack walks away and with Oscar looking up at me, I’m beginning to wonder if these kids are catching on.
They seem to have impeccable timing, but maybe that’s good. It’s keeping me from jumping into something with Jack that I might not be ready for.
“Where’ve you been?” Oscar asks, his excitement about seeing me has now turned accusing. He narrows his eyes and waits for my answer.
“Why?” I ask, teasing him as I mimic his face back.
“Ollie tells me you’ve got some old grapes you need to throw away.”
“Ollie?” I question, my nose wrinkling up as I cock an eyebrow at him. “Who’s Ollie and why are they worried about my old grapes.”
Oscar lets out a long sigh, his annoyance with my questioning wearing thin.
“Olivia,” he replies like I’m a total idiot for even asking. “Jack calls her Ollie so now I call her Ollie.”
“Should’ve known,” I mutter in mock annoyance, but I’m anything but bothered. I love that Jack has taken an active interest in them. They’re probably the coolest kids I’ve ever met and I’m loving that he’s noticed too.
“So…” Oscar leads waiting for me to tell him he and Olivia can have my old grapes.
“Let’s go,” I say, holding out my fist and he bumps his against it and then screams for Olivia as he runs for the shed.
The two of them are impatiently waiting for my slow ass to arrive in the shed and they act like they’ve been there for a decade. As soon as Olivia sees me, she begins jumping up and down and screaming.
I’m laughing before I even reach them, because the last time we did this, they swore it was the best day of their lives.
It’s not often that we waste grapes or that I have the time to stop and fuck around with them, but today seems like a great day for it. I can’t remember the last time I just stopped and enjoyed the day.
My lunch with Jack was the perfect start, and now I’ll end my day having a grape war with the kiddos.
I walk into the shed and Olivia and Oscar are gathered by the buckets of grapes, but when I take in what’s there, I could’ve sworn we had more than just four buckets full.
The amount of grapes that came out of that machine was insane; a total waste and I recall feeling sick to my stomach at the thought of throwing them all away. I know they were going out into our compost areas, but I didn’t realize Tommy had worked so quickly clearing the place out. He had a ton of other stuff on his plate this week.
“Okay, grab a bucket,” I say to the two of them and they both examine the buckets trying to decide which one has the most. Because like everything in their lives, they want more than the other one and that’s when the argument ensues.
“I want that one!” Olivia shrieks, her hand clutching the handle of the bucket and Oscar practically throws his entire body on top of the same bucket.
“It’s mine,” Oscar hisses at her, and as frustrating as their arguing can be, it’s also comical. They can go from best friends to worst enemies in no time flat.
“There are three other buckets,” I say, knowing it doesn’t matter and that all logical reasoning has been thrown out the window. “Come on, guys. We aren’t going to be able to do this if you can’t…”
No one is listening to me and the arguing has kicked into high gear with Olivia now screeching at the top of her lungs as the fake tears pour down her cheeks.
It’s her go-to when she wants to win, but Oscar is immune to it now and he has no qualms about using brute force to get his way.
Just as he’s about to shove her out of the way, Jack appears in the doorway. He slips past me and grabs Oscar around the waist. He hauls him into his arms and spins him around until I swear Oscar is going to puke.
He’s dizzy as hell, but laughing so hard he can hardly speak. And when Jack finally sets him down, he doesn’t get a break.
“My turn!” Olivia yells, running right up to Jack and holding her arms up at him.
“You’ve gotta tell me what’s going on in here first,” Jack states, his hands on his hips.
“Oscar was trying to take my bucket,” Olivia wails, really
turning on the drama for Jack’s sake.
“We were about to have a grape war,” I add, knowing the drama will continue to overshadow the fun we were going to have if I don’t cut in.
“A grape war?” Jack questions, now intrigued by what that means. “Fill me in here, Ollie.”
The flow of huge crocodile tears cease immediately and Olivia begins talking so fast that I’m certain Jack misses ninety percent of it.
But that doesn’t stop him from shouting an enthusiastic, “I’m in,” and then he begins to name teams. “I’ve got Ollie,” he says, high fiving her and shooting a glare in my direction. “You’re going down, Lu.”
“Oh, you think? Oscar and I get the launcher!” I call running for the buckets and grabbing two of them before darting out into the fields.
Most of our fields are closed to the public and that’s a good thing, because something tells me we are going to make a huge mess.
Before I can even reach the launcher the kids and I made last summer, Jack has nailed me in the back with a handful of mushy grapes.
I drop the buckets where I stand and Oscar and I dig in, launching loads of smashed and rotten grapes in the direction of Jack and Olivia.
The kids are laughing wildly as grapes fly through the air. My face is covered making it hard to see and I’m caught off guard when Jack grabs me around the waist. He holds me in place and yells for the kids to attack.
It’s a set up; they’ve ambushed me and I’m being pelted with grapes as I thrash around trying to escape Jack’s grasp.
“Oh my god! You’re cheaters!” I scream, laughing so hard tears stream down my cheeks.
When I finally escape from Jack, I grab a nearly empty bucket and attempt to dump it on him. But he’s stronger than me and most of it ends up on my head, remnants splattering on Jack and the kids as they cling to him.
It only takes us ten minutes to exhaust all the grapes, but in that short amount of time, we’re all thoroughly covered, including Jack.
“This was the best day ever!” Oscar cheers, throwing his arms around my waist and then doing the same to Jack.
Olivia is still hanging on to Jack, smiling up at him and he picks her up, lifting her onto his shoulders.
“We gotta go get cleaned up,” I say, being the one to ruin the fun. “We’re having dinner with your mom and dad tonight and she’s going to kill me if we show up at my house covered in grapes.”
I lead everyone back to one of the sheds that has a shower and a clean-up station for the employees. It’s not just grape wars that cause people on the property to become covered in grapes.
Jack drops Olivia off his shoulders and I shove her and Oscar under the water. They both dance around rinsing off as I grab for Olivia, Jack reaches for Oscar and we begin washing their hair. This isn’t going to get them totally clean, but it’ll be enough for me to sneak them back to my house, put them in the bath and get them clean clothes before Ellen makes it back there.
They’re both wiggling around and it’s like trying to wrangle a greased pig, and once again they have Jack and I laughing. I look up at him as Olivia manages to slip away from me and the smile that is plastered on his face makes my heart race.
I feel my stomach flutter, the feeling of butterflies rising up into my chest.
I’m suddenly overcome with a dream of what my life would be like if Jack and I were in a relationship. This is what I imagine every day to be like. That I wake up feeling happy, that seeing him brings a smile to my face.
It’s something I long for. It’s something I’ve never experienced, and I realize now that had I gotten married, I would’ve sold myself short, because days like this should be the norm and they never were.
Jack steps toward me, his fingers swiping at the grapes that are stuck to my face.
“You okay?” he asks, his head tilted to the side and I wonder what the look on my face is telling him.
“Yeah, I’m great.” For once in the last year I actually mean it.
We leave Jack in the shed while I rush Oscar and Olivia back to my house to get cleaned up. We make it just before Ellen and Will walk in the door and Ellen’s pleasantly surprised when she finds them clean and already in their pajamas.
“Wow, look at that. Aunt Lulu being all responsible,” she jokes, giving a wink to the kids as they watch an episode of Teen Titans Go barely noticing the arrival of their parents.
“I’m always responsible,” I retort back, also winking at the kids. “And I even made dinner.”
Ellen follows me into the kitchen, the table already set with plates, salad and wine, and while it’s by no means gourmet, I did manage to make a couple of frozen pizzas. It won’t impress Ellen, but it would if she knew I threw this all together in ten minutes and managed to scrub her children clean.
Will is much easier to please, giving me a quick smile and simple hug as he takes in the pizza.
“Nice work, Lauren. Nothing like coming home to a nice home cooked meal,” he says, winking at me because he knows what a pain in the ass Ellen can be.
We eat and chat, but we only make it about ten minutes before Olivia rats me out and confesses that we spent the afternoon covered in grapes.
Both her and Oscar are so animated and excited as they tell Ellen and Will about our afternoon. They leave no detail out, and as much as I know Ellen isn’t a fan of me wasting grapes and teaching her kids to chuck them at each other, she takes in their every word.
The night ends with Ellen and Will carrying the kids out to the car since they both passed out on the couch, exhausted from their day. I follow them out, opening the car doors so they can slip the kids in.
“Later, guys,” I say, waving to them as I walk back to the house.
“Lauren,” Ellen calls and I turn back toward her finding Will already in the driver’s seat and her waiting outside the passenger’s side. Thinking she’s going to make some snarky comment about me letting her kids get dirty I almost roll my eyes. “Happiness looks good on you. It’s been a while,” she says.
I smile a thank you, but say nothing more.
She’s right. I haven’t felt this free, this happy in so long. My whole body feels different, almost healthier and as much as I should confess this to her, I keep it to myself, wanting to enjoy it a little longer.
I walk back into my house and grab a beer from the fridge. It’s a beautiful night of clear skies and stars and warm breezes as I take a seat on my front porch. I hit play on my phone and the music comes through the Bluetooth speakers, playing softly.
Only a few seconds later Jack walks up. He’s clean, but his clothes are still stained from earlier today, like he hadn’t gone back to change.
“What are you doing out here?” I ask, stepping off the porch, meeting Jack at the bottom of the stairs.
“I was fixing the gutters on one of your outbuildings,” he says, tossing his head in the direction of where he just came from. “Damn gutter was all clogged up and wasn’t draining properly.”
“You didn’t have to do that Jack. I’ll make sure that Ellen pays you for your time.”
“I didn’t tell you because I expect you to pay me. I’m telling you because it’s something that needs to be done regularly and it seems like it hasn’t been.”
I swallow hard; even though there’s nothing in Jack’s words or the way he speaks that indicates that he thinks I’ve done something wrong. I know I’ve slacked on things and playing catch up is more difficult than I thought.
“I know it needs to be done regularly,” I say nodding my head in agreement. “Things just got a little…” I trail off not finishing my thought because I don’t want to get into it with Jack right now. He doesn’t need to know that when I fell apart, I practically took the business down with me.
I change the subject quickly. “So, Ollie, huh?”
Jack shrugs his shoulders, but that cheeky grin is written on his face. “She liked that I call you Lulu. Thought I’d give her a nickname too.”
“
She loves it. She adores you, you know? They both do.”
Even in the dim porch light I swear I see a small bit of blush creep onto Jack’s cheeks and it makes my heart skip a beat.
“They’re cool kids.” Jack laughs a little and steps closer to me. “You know what’s funny, Lu?”
“What’s that, Jack?”
“I thought they were your kids when I first got here.” We both chuckle a little at his words. “Crazy thing, it kinda got me right here,” Jack says, his hand over his heart and now I’m laughing even more at his dramatics, shaking my head at him. But what he says next makes my breath catch in my throat. “I always hoped you’d wait for me.” His tone now serious and all humor is gone.
There’s a stillness between us now, a silence as his words hang heavy in the air, and there’s no joking passing between us at this point.
I don’t know what comes over me, but in the quiet of the night I murmur, “Maybe I still am.”
Now it’s my words that float around, a comforting silence, but the charge in the air between us sends sparks throughout my body.
“You want a beer?” I ask, my voice shaky, and I swallow back the lump that has formed in my throat.
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
When I step out the door, Jack’s beer in hand, he takes it from me, setting it down on the small table between the two chairs.
“Dance with me?” he asks, his hands sliding over my hips as Miranda Lambert’s “Vice” starts playing in the background.
I don’t say yes, I just lean into him, my arm wrapping around his neck, my fingers threading into his as we sway to the music slowly.
Jack’s lips are next to my ear; his warm breath causes goose bumps to raise up on my skin and when he begins to whisper the lyrics I nearly melt in his arms.
“Another vice, another town. Where my past can't run me down…”
My lips brush his neck, and my body is wired with want and need and nervousness. I can feel my heart racing in my chest, slamming hard and fast against my ribs. I wonder if Jack feels it. I wonder if he’s having the same response.