Prosecco and Peonies

by SJ McCoy

  His big brown eyes were shining with love. She knew he meant every word he said. A warm wave of happiness washed over her. “We can spend as many nights as we want together now, can’t we?”

  “We can spend every night that you want to. You know, if it were up to me, it’d be every single night for the rest of our lives.”

  “You really mean that, don’t you?”

  He nodded.

  She wanted that, too. She wanted them to get back on track, to get back to living the life she thought they’d share, but part of her was still afraid that somehow the rug would be pulled out from under her again, and she didn’t know that she could survive the fall a second time.

  He planted a kiss in the middle of her forehead. “Don’t worry. I’m not asking for it. I’m only saying it’s what I’d like. Whether or not I get it is up to you. I’ll try to earn it … that’s all I can do.”

  She nodded. He was right. As much as her heart wanted her to say it right now, she knew it’d be wiser to wait. There was no rush—especially not if they had the rest of their lives.

  “Do you want to get up and go for breakfast?”

  “Sure. I promised I’d take you.”

  As they walked into the resort, Molly hoped that the whole gang of friends wouldn’t be there. She liked them all well enough, but she wanted to make the most of time alone with Marcos.

  She was relieved when they got there, and the outside deck wasn’t busy at all. There were only a few tables occupied. Once they were seated, she looked out at the lake. “I love this place, it’s so beautiful.”

  Marcos smiled. “Well, I have a house here now. Whenever you want to come …”

  She nodded. “That seems so weird to me. All this time you were thousands of miles away, in another country, and then for the last month, you’ve been here.” She frowned as a thought struck her. “So, does that mean you were here when I came up with everyone a few weeks ago?”

  He shook his head. “I was in New York. Antonio only told me you were coming the night before. Otherwise, I would have come back.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t.”

  He nodded. “I am, too. It wouldn’t have been enough time. This is better.”

  “And what’s going to happen after I go home on Sunday?”

  “Well, if you meant what you said, I’ll come the week after.”

  “I meant it.” She smiled. “I wish you could come back with us.”

  “I do, too, but I have a lot to sort out before I can come. I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

  She nodded.

  “But that’s next week. We should make the most of today and tomorrow first. What do you want to do today?”

  “I don’t care, as long as we do it together. We should probably go to the rehearsal dinner tonight. Your family will be there.”

  “Yes. We should. And tomorrow will be all about the wedding. What time do you leave on Sunday?”

  “Early afternoon, as far as I know. They’re having the brunch at the lodge and then Cam and Piper are going off on their honeymoon, and we’ll all head home.” She looked up as the server came with their coffees.

  When she’d gone, Marcos held her gaze. “Is there any chance you’d want to stay for the week?”

  Her heart raced. Of course, she wanted to. She didn’t want to leave him now that she finally had him. But she had to get back. She shook her head sadly. “I need to get back to the restaurant.”

  He smiled. “I know, but I had to ask, just in case.”

  The sound of her phone ringing in her purse made her jump. She fished it out and checked the display. It was Grady. “Sorry. I need to take this.”

  Marcos nodded. “Do you want me to order for you when she comes back?”

  “Please. I want to try the full Boathouse breakfast.” She hit the answer button on her phone.

  “Hey, Grady. What’s up? Is everything all right?” It might have been her imagination, but Marcos didn’t seem very happy. She hoped he didn’t have a problem with her being on the phone. It was about the restaurant. He had to understand that.

  “Hey, Molly Moo. Everything’s fine here. Everything apart from the fact that you’re not here. I miss you.”

  She laughed. “Don’t be crazy. I’ll bet you’re glad of the opportunity to run things your way for once.”

  “Nah. I prefer being under you—or I would if I got the chance.”

  She felt the heat in her cheeks and turned away to look out at the lake. What would Marcos think if he could hear? “Well. You won’t. Have you got everything ready for today? You know it always gets crazy on the weekend.”

  “Of course, I do. I’m not just a pretty face, you know. I can take care of business. But I think a monkey could run this place if they followed the instructions you left. You covered everything—nothing’s left to chance.”

  “Nor should it be. So, what do you need?”

  “You, to come back.” He chuckled. It was a sexy laugh, she’d give him that. If she hadn’t given her heart away to Marcos when she was a kid, she could see herself being interested in Grady.

  “I’ll be back on Sunday.”

  “Are you going to come in?”

  “Probably.”

  “You should. Come in and have dinner. I’ll take good care of you.”

  She had to laugh at the innuendo in his voice. “Don’t you wish.”

  “I do.”

  “Well, sorry, but it’s not going to happen.”

  “Okay. I’ll let you get on with your day. I just wanted to hear your voice. I miss you.”

  Molly shook her head. “Whatever. I’ll see you on Sunday. Call me if anything comes up.”

  “Seriously?” She knew full well what he meant by the way he laughed.

  “Anything with the restaurant. Bye.” She hung up and put her phone away with a smile. Grady was a goofball, but he was a good guy, and she knew the restaurant was in capable hands while he was in charge.

  “Is everything all right?” Marcos looked a lot less happy and relaxed than he had earlier.

  “Yes, it’s fine. Grady was just checking in.”

  “Is he the guy who you said asks you out?”

  Molly nodded, wondering what his problem was, and then it hit her. “Oh, wow! Don’t tell me you’re going Mr. Pouty Italian on me?”

  He pursed his lips and looked away. “I was just curious.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “About what?”

  “About what kind of relationship the two of you have.”

  “A working one. Though even if it were more than that …” She stopped and shook her head. “There’s nothing going on between us, there never has been. But honestly, it pisses me off that you’re acting jealous. You left me and married Caterina. How could you have a problem with me seeing someone else? For all you knew, I could have gotten married myself.”

  “I would have known.”

  He was right, of course. Just because he hadn’t been around, his brother was still one of her best friends, his parents still came to town every year. “I know! But you get my point. You don’t have any right to act jealous.” She slowed down and forced herself to take a deep breath. “And more to the point, there’s nothing for you to be jealous about. I told you that yesterday. He’s a good guy. He’s good for the restaurant. He’d go out with me if I said yes. But I haven’t said yes—because I was too busy pining for this Sicilian jerk who dumped me years ago.”

  The server came back at that moment to take their order. As soon as she’d gone, Marcos took hold of Molly’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

  She gave him a rueful smile. “No, I am. I shouldn’t have gotten mad at you.”

  “You have every right.”

  She shrugged. “You’re not a jerk.”

  “I was.”

  “But you’re not anymore—other than when you get jealous about Grady. That’s crazy, it’s almost an insult that you could think you have a
ny competition there. It makes me feel like—I don’t know what, but something pretty stupid, to admit that you’ve never had any competition.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Neither have you.”

  She scowled at him. She didn’t want them to keep going around and around having the same conversation about him and Caterina.

  He shook his head. He knew what she was thinking. “Caterina was never your competition. She was my mistake—and I was hers.”

  Molly nodded. “I’m glad you said that.”

  “Which part?”

  “That you were her mistake. I’m not inclined to like her very much, but there are always two sides to a relationship. I’d love to think she was a bitch and you were the poor unsuspecting male, but …”

  “No. I don’t blame her. I can’t say I don’t blame her at all. But I was just as responsible as she was. On paper, we were a good match. In our hearts, we didn’t match at all. She’s not a bad person, I don’t mean to make her out to be the villain. It was just a bad situation—for both of us.”

  Molly nodded. “Thank you for explaining that. I didn’t want to think of you as the poor dumb guy who got taken for a ride by the evil witch and didn’t want to think that you were denying all responsibility and blaming her for everything either.”

  “No. I was blinded by my own stupidity, not by her.”

  “Okay. So, how about we change the subject? Do you want to show me your house after breakfast?”

  He smiled, no doubt as relieved as she was to leave talk of Caterina and Grady behind. “I’d love to. I think you’ll love it. And if you do, we can come up here for the weekend whenever you want.”

  She chuckled. “How about the midweek, since weekends are my busy times?”

  “We can come whenever you want.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Marcos looked around the room. It was full of the important people in his life. His cousin, Cameron, and his bride-to-be, Piper, looked happy. The rehearsal had gone well, with lots of laughter and few screw ups. Marcos could see that the two of them had a great future ahead of them.

  He smiled at the sight of his mom talking to Molly. She’d always loved Molly and had made her displeasure known when Marcos had come home to Sicily without her. She’d even sat him down on the night of his own rehearsal dinner and told him it wasn’t too late to back out. At the time, he’d thought her overly emotional—that she didn’t understand how important the family was to him. Now he understood all too well that the family was what she’d been talking about. She wanted a happy family and couldn’t care less about social standing or reputation. She only wanted her boys to be happy.

  He turned as someone came to stand behind him.

  “Is it going to work out?” Pete pinned him down with his icy blue gaze.

  “I hope so.”

  “You don’t know? You haven’t closed the deal yet?”

  Marcos laughed. “It’s not a deal, Pete. It’s the rest of my life—the rest of hers. It’s not about negotiating the details.”

  Pete smiled. “I know. Hell, I know all about it.” He turned and looked across to where his wife Holly was standing talking to Mary Ellen.

  “Holly’s good for you. She reminds you that there’s more to life than deals and negotiations.”

  “She does. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me, and I know it.” He shook his head. “I almost let her slip away before we got married. I almost fucked it up.” He held Marcos’ gaze for a moment. “I can’t stand to think about how it would have been.”

  “Take it from one who knows; you don’t even want to imagine.”

  “Is it at least looking hopeful that that you and Molly will give it another shot?”

  “It is. I’m going back to Napa next weekend.”

  “For good?”

  “I hope so.”

  Jack came to join them. “What’s going on?”

  “Not much. I’m just telling Pete I’m going back to Napa next weekend.”

  Jack grinned. “With Molly?”

  “For Molly. She’s not one hundred percent convinced yet, but she’s open to the idea.”

  Pete laughed. “You should talk to Jack. Do you remember when he and Em first got together? She was head over heels in love with him, but she still didn’t trust him not to break her heart.”

  Jack nodded. “Yeah, and I wasn’t the asshole who broke it in the first place. Oh. Sorry, Marcos. I didn’t mean …”

  Marcos punched his arm. “It’s okay, I was an asshole, but I know you weren’t calling me one. I’ll take any tips and advice you want to give me for convincing a woman that you love her, and that you’re for real.”

  Jack smiled. “If my experience is anything to go by, you’re going to need a hell of a lotta patience, and you’re going to have to be totally transparent in everything you do. Don’t give her any reason to doubt you. Tell her what you’re doing and who you’re doing it with and why. Oh, and don’t waste too much time, or some other dude might try to win her away from you.”

  “Someone else tried to get with Emma?” Marcos hadn’t heard that story.

  Pete laughed. “Yeah. I remember that. Chase, who sings with the band at the resort.”

  “Seriously? But I thought he was happily married.”

  “He is now,” said Jack. “This was before he met Kenzie. Emma thought I was messing around on her, and Chase didn’t know there was anything going on between us.”

  Pete laughed. “He soon found out though.”

  “Yeah,” said Jack. “I’m just grateful that he’s a good guy. I talked to him; it was all good. I don’t think Em would have forgiven me if we’d gotten into a fight.”

  Marcos shook his head. “I had no idea.”

  Jack smiled. “That’s because it’s all in the past now. We figured it out, we got there, and now we’re living out our happy little life—wedded bliss and babies and all.”

  “Babies? In the plural?” Pete gave Jack a hard stare.

  “Not yet. But soon, I hope. Anyway, what about you and Holly? You’re the next ones due a baby.” He smiled at Marcos. “And if I know your mom, you’ll start getting the pressure as soon as you and Molly are back together.”

  Marcos nodded. They were good friends—old friends—but he didn’t feel like getting into a conversation about his infertility. “There’s plenty of time for that.”

  “That’s what I keep saying,” said Pete. “There isn’t plenty of time for you and Molly before she leaves again, though, is there?”

  “Smoke said they’re leaving at noon, as soon as Cam and Piper go,” said Jack.

  “I thought it was early afternoon.” Marcos had been hoping for late afternoon.

  “No, they had to move it forward for something.” Jack grinned at him. “So instead of standing around here talking to us, you should probably go and make the most of your time with her. I’m glad you guys went off to have dinner by yourselves last night.”

  “I am too.”

  “I’m proud of you,” said Pete. “When Chelsea suggested it, I thought for a minute you were going to be too polite to leave.”

  Marcos shook his head. “In the past, I would have. I would have stayed because it was the right thing to do. I learned the hard way, doing what you think you’re supposed to doesn’t make you happy—in fact, it can make you downright miserable. You have to do what you want and not care about the rest.”

  “That’s right,” said Jack. “Follow your heart.”

  Pete nodded. “But don’t lose sight of logic on the way.”

  Jack laughed. “You should go and find Molly. If you stay here listening to us, we’ll be like those two little guys on your shoulders—you know, the devil and the angel. One saying, follow your heart. And the other saying, stick with the plan.”

  Marcos laughed. “That sounds about right with the two of you. I’m hoping I can find a path somewhere through the middle. I need to follow my heart and have a pla
n to get to where it wants to go.”

  He smiled to himself as he walked away from them. They were right. He enjoyed their company, but he enjoyed Molly’s more. He couldn’t get enough of it. She’d come to hang out at his place today. They were here tonight, and he was going to stay at the cabin with her afterward. They’d be at the wedding most of the day tomorrow, and then on Sunday, she’d be gone. It’d only be a week until he could see her again, but he wanted to make the most of every moment.

  Chapter Eight

  Mary Ellen nudged Molly in the ribs and grinned at her. They were sitting in the second row of guests on the terrace overlooking the lake. Cameron was standing up at the front, and they were waiting for Piper to come out.

  “What?”

  Mary Ellen leaned in close and whispered in her ear. “Where do you think you and Marcos will get married?”

  Molly shook her head. “Slow down, girlfriend. Just because you and Antonio did the whole whirlwind romance, doesn’t mean the rest of us want to.”

  “It’d hardly be a whirlwind, would it?”

  Molly shrugged and turned to look at Marcos who was sitting on the other side of her. He smiled and gave her a questioning look.

  Mary Ellen laughed. “We’re talking about you, not to you.”

  Antonio leaned in and looked at his brother. “Maybe it wasn’t a wise move to let them sit in between us. Who knows what they’re whispering about.”

  Mary Ellen rested her head against his shoulder for a moment. “We were just saying how wonderful you are.”

  Antonio laughed. “Yeah, right. I’m not sure I believe that.”

  Molly shrugged at Marcos. She wasn’t going to tell him what Mary Ellen had said. She was still trying to make herself relax enough to believe that the two of them could have a future together. She didn’t need to go making wedding plans just yet.

  Marcos looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Here she comes.”

  They all turned to look, and Molly felt tears prick her eyes when she saw Piper standing there with Mr. Hamilton. Piper had never known her dad. Her mom had died a couple of years ago. She didn’t have any family. Or at least, she hadn’t until she met Cameron. Now his dad was walking her down the aisle. For some reason that made Molly want to cry. It highlighted how wonderful a family the Hamiltons were.