by MJ Duncan
“Thank you,” Bryn murmured, and the gentle smile Anna gave her in return made her stomach flip. Desperate to regain some of the equilibrium that she seemed to be constantly losing whenever she was around Anna, she asked, “So, Ms. Fitzpatrick, what would you like for dinner?”
“Well, that depends.” Anna dropped her bag by the side of the couch and scooped up the universal remote from the coffee table. “What are you in the mood for?”
Bryn shrugged and considered their options as Anna turned on the television and pulled up Bryn’s iTunes account through the Apple TV. They had spent quite some time discussing music the weekend before, and Bryn had tossed the remote at Anna around the time she went to prepare their coffee, telling her to feel free to go through her playlists. Anna had been unimpressed with Bryn’s extensive classical music collection, and had eventually chosen the playlist Kendall always picked as well.
“How does a vegetable penne sound?” Bryn asked as she watched Anna skip through her various playlists. “I can make a lemon-caper sauce, or we can just drizzle it all with olive oil and balsamic vinegar?”
Anna nodded. “That sounds wonderful.”
“Okay, then. Are there any vegetables you don’t like? I need to go out to the garden to collect them.”
“I’ll eat anything,” Anna said, shaking her head. She grinned and waved the remote at the highlighted playlist on the screen, one that Bryn had created just before going to bed the night before. “Really?”
Bryn blushed and nodded. “Yes, well, you were so insistent that she was the ‘best thing ever’…”
“And? What did you think?” Anna hit play and bobbed her head to the music that began to play through the surround-sound speakers hidden in the ceiling, filling the room with a rich, ringing piano melody. “She’s good, right?”
“I actually haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet.” Bryn shrugged. “I purchased the albums last night, planning to listen to them this morning while I worked around the house, but I ended up spending the morning out in the field with Gerald because there was a section of irrigation tubing that we only just realized had broken, and we were assessing the damage and trying to figure out how best to try and save that section of grapes.”
“Shit.” Anna’s eyes widened. “Really? Were you okay to go climbing then? Shouldn’t you have stayed to deal with that?”
“I would have called and rescheduled if I needed to.” Bryn smiled and shook her head, touched that Anna was so concerned. “We got the section fixed just after one, so there was no reason for me to change our plans.”
“You’re sure? Do you need to go check? I don’t want to be the reason another part of your vineyard isn’t going to be good for the season.”
“Anna.” Bryn sighed and crossed the room to where Anna was standing. “Thank you for your concern—” she reached out and gave Anna’s hand a light squeeze, knowing that she would be reassured by the touch, “but it is fine. And if, for some reason, the repairs need to be adjusted, Gerald will call me and I will either leave him to it, or go out then. For now, I am right where I want to be.”
Anna nodded and looked down at their hands. “Okay.”
Bryn’s breath caught when Anna’s eyes locked back onto her own. There was something simmering in those crystalline blue depths that made Bryn’s heart leap into her throat, and she cleared it softly as she pulled her hand away. “Okay. So…what time would you like to eat?”
Anna closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and, when she looked back at Bryn, her expression was once again playfully neutral. “Whenever.” She shrugged. “I’m easy.”
“I’m actually getting a little hungry,” Bryn admitted. “Would you like to go help me pick the vegetables for the pasta?”
“Of course.” Anna smiled and reached for her bag. She pulled out a pair of leather flip-flops and slipped them onto her feet. “Should I turn off the music?”
Bryn shook her head. “I can flip the speakers on outside,” she said as she took the remote from Anna. She turned on the patio speakers, but did not turn off the ones inside the house so that they could come and go however they pleased and the music would just follow them. “The sound will carry all the way down to the garden; I like to listen to music while I work out there.”
“Great. Then lead the way, milady.”
Bryn laughed and gave Anna a small curtsey. “Of course. Follow me.”
After a quick stop in the kitchen to retrieve the small basket and sheers she used for harvesting, Bryn led them outside. The south-facing patio was bathed in late-afternoon sunlight when they stepped onto it, and the warm summertime air stirred with a gentle breeze. Bryn took a deep breath and glanced back at Anna to make sure she was following before she led them across the patio and over to a small path that snaked down the hill to her garden.
“Damn, Nakamura.” Anna’s eyes swept over the large rectangular garden that was surrounded by a little white picket fence. “This is some garden.”
“It keeps me busy.” Bryn shrugged. She had started it not long after she purchased Spectrum, a project to fight off the loneliness that had threatened to overwhelm her. She had been alone back in Boston, too, but there were people to talk to, meetings to oversee, decisions to be involved in, and disastrous set-ups her mother arranged to try and avoid. She had been too busy to be lonely, but that first season in Washington, with only Kendall’s occasional visits to keep her company, she had too much time to herself. The garden gave her something to focus on, something that was hers and hers alone. Its failure or success was incidental—if the crops thrived, she had a ready supply of vegetables, and if they failed, it would not mean financial ruin like it would if it were to happen to the grapes that filled the rest of the property.
“I’ll bet,” Anna whistled, shaking her head. “What all do you have out here?”
“Pretty much everything,” Bryn admitted. “Except pumpkin. I really can’t stand the taste.”
Anna gasped and gave Bryn a look of mock-horror. “Not even pumpkin-spiced lattes?”
“Especially those, I’m afraid.”
“Wow. You’re lucky you make such good wine, then,” Anna teased. “Because I’ve broken up with girls for less than that.”
“You sound like Kendall,” Bryn chuckled.
“I can’t wait to meet her. Will she be at the Harvest Festival too?” Anna asked as she began walking down the aisle, her eyes flicking over the plants on either side of her.
“She should be,” Bryn said.
“Are those artichokes?” Anna pointed at a large bush in the back corner that looked more like an overgrown bush of weed than anything else.
Bryn nodded. “They are.”
“Sweet. Can we put those in the pasta?”
“We can put whatever you would like into the pasta. However, I do have tinned artichoke hearts in my pantry that might be better than these. It would be a lot of unnecessary work to cook them and then cut them up just to get to the good stuff.”
“Good point.” Anna hummed under her breath and pointed at another plant. “Zucchini?”
“Very good.”
“My mom used to have a garden when I was a kid,” Anna shared with a smile as she took the shears Bryn offered her. “Not as big as this, but she was really good at it. We practically lived on the vegetables she grew.”
“That must have been nice,” Bryn murmured, thinking back to her own childhood. When she had been home, she had taken her meals alone in the kitchen with only the chef for company, and if she was at school—well, she generally ended up eating alone then, too, it was just at a table with a bunch of other girls that she was friendly enough with to have short conversations about the various assignments they shared, but not nearly close enough to consider them friends.
“It was. In the summer, she’d let us take all the extra vegetables that would go bad before we could eat them, and we’d pile them in our wagon and sell them to the neighbors to get money for the ice cream truck.” Anna smile
d at the memory and shook her head as she looked back at Bryn. “Anyway, artichokes from the pantry, zucchini…what else?”
“Whatever you would like. I also have some crimini mushrooms in the fridge.”
“Ooh, I love those. And, um…” Anna looked around them. “What about some bell peppers?”
Bryn nodded and handed Anna the basket she was still holding. “Just pick whatever looks good to you, and if we don’t cook it all, you can take the leftovers home with you.”
“You’re going to make me do all the work? Really?” Anna drawled, winking at Bryn as she knelt down to remove a zucchini from its stem.
“Well, if I am to provide you with dinner…”
“Hey, we had a deal. It’s not my fault that I was right and you totally loved it.”
Bryn chuckled and shook her head. “Whatever you say, Ms. Fitzpatrick.”
“Glad you agree,” Anna sassed as she pushed up from her crouch and wandered over toward the peppers.
Bryn folded her arms over her chest as she watched Anna drift through the garden, stopping occasionally to pick whatever it was that caught her attention. It did not take her long to fill the basket, and Bryn smiled when Anna held it up for her inspection. Besides the zucchini and peppers, Anna had collected some squash, cherry tomatoes, and snow peas. “Perfect. Shall we head back up to the house, then?”
“You’re the boss,” Anna drawled, waving a hand for Bryn to head up first. She pulled the basket away when Bryn went to take it, and shook her head. “I got it.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course. I don’t want you to tire yourself out before you can make me dinner.”
Bryn rolled her eyes and smiled. “Thank you.” She started up the hill. “So, do you know what you want to put into the pasta?”
“All of it. It can be like garbage pizza, but healthier.”
Bryn shot Anna a confused look. “Garbage pizza?”
“Yeah, you know, where they just chuck whatever they’ve got onto the pizza. It’s pretty good.”
“I’m afraid I haven’t had the pleasure,” Bryn said, trying to not look too repulsed by the idea.
“Ah, we’re going to have to fix that, then.”
“We really don’t have to,” Bryn demurred, shaking her head. “If you’d like, we could always make pizza next time.”
Anna grinned. “Next time, huh? I like the sound of that.”
“Because it would save you the effort of going grocery shopping?” Bryn teased as she led them onto the patio.
“Well, that is an added perk, yes.” Anna laughed and bumped Bryn with her elbow. “But mostly because I like hanging out with you.”
“I…” Bryn smiled shyly and nodded. “Me too.”
Anna walked through the door Bryn opened for her, and set the basket she was carrying onto the kitchen counter. “So, wine with dinner?”
“Of course.” Bryn waved a hand at the wine fridge on the other side of the kitchen. “Go ahead and pick one, and then we’ll see about making this garbage pasta creation of yours.”
“It’s awesome.”
“That has yet to be proven,” Bryn pointed out, and laughed when Anna responded with a loud raspberry and a dismissive wave of her hand. “You are a child!”
“Only around my friends. The rest of the time I’m a respectable adult. But adulting is tiring, and sometimes it’s fun to just let loose and be a kid again.”
Bryn’s heart leapt into her throat at the easy way Anna included her as a friend. “Yes, I imagine it must be.”
Anna looked back at Bryn as she crouched in front of the wine fridge, her gaze sharp, leaving Bryn feeling like she could see into her soul. “You were never free to just have fun and be a kid, were you?”
Bryn shrugged. “I was too desperate to try and fulfill my parents’ expectations to worry about having fun.”
“And now?”
“Now…” Bryn shook her head, blown away by the fact that Anna understood her so well. “I have you to teach me.”
“That, I can do,” Anna declared. “Lucky for you, fun was my third major in college.”
“Third major?”
“Yeah. I needed something to balance out all the chemistry and biology I was studying. You just keep hanging out with me, Nakamura, I’ve got you covered.”
“I’d like that very much,” Bryn murmured.
Anna grinned and nodded as she pulled a bottle of Merlot from the fridge. “Good. Me too.”
Seventeen
Bryn drove slowly down Anna’s street, her eyes searching out the numbers on each of the well-maintained Craftsman-style homes for the address she had been given. The houses looked to be of decent size and a fairly even mix of single- and two-story floor plans, and Bryn smiled as she spotted the address she was looking for on a charming two-story bungalow with blue-gray siding, white trim, and a bright red front door.
She parked at the curb because there was already a baby-blue Prius and a black Ram parked in the driveway, and she took a deep breath as she pulled her key from the ignition. She and Anna had met for dinner a handful of times at restaurants near the hospital in the week and a half that had passed since they had gone climbing, but they had not managed more than that because of Anna’s hectic schedule, and she had been pleasantly surprised when her phone rang earlier that afternoon with an invitation to this impromptu “movie night”. It was a bright spot on an otherwise ordinary Saturday afternoon, and Bryn smiled as she grabbed the cloth bag full of vegetables from her garden off the passenger seat and climbed out of the car.
The street was quiet as she made her way up the front walk that cut through an impeccably-mown lawn to the porch. The flowerbeds that curved in front of the elevated porch were well-maintained, if a little sparse, and she surmised that gardening was not high on Anna’s priority list. She rang the bell and took a step back from the door, and twisted the handles of the bag in her hands as she waited for it to open.
She did not have to wait long, however, and her heart leapt into her throat when she saw Anna smiling at her. The reaction was surprising because she had thought she was finally over her nerves when it came to Anna, but apparently there were still some left for her to get ahold of.
“Hey, you made it!” Anna said, stepping away from the door and waving Bryn inside.
Bryn offered Anna the bag she was carrying as she stepped over the threshold. “Artichokes, as requested.”
“You spoil me.” Anna took the bag and peeked inside. “These are huge!”
Bryn nodded. “They are.”
“Thank you.” Anna looked back at Bryn. “Everybody’s in back. Can I get you a drink or something?”
“What do you have?” Bryn asked as she followed Anna through a cozy living room that was just big enough to accommodate the two small loveseats and oversized armchair that filled it. A flat screen was mounted above the aged-brick fireplace, and the built-in shelves on either side looked to be original to the house. The kitchen at the back of the house looked like it had been recently redone with its maple cabinetry, gray quartz countertops, and stainless appliances, and Bryn nodded appreciatively as she took it all in.
“What do you want?” Anna set the bag of artichokes onto the counter beside the sink and looked out the window into the backyard before turning to face Bryn. “Chances are, if you want it, I’ve got it.”
Bryn smiled and cocked a brow in playful challenge. “What kind of wine do you have?”
“Two-Buck-Chuck.” Anna cackled at the indignant look Bryn gave her and shook her head. “I’m kidding. I’ve still got eleven of the twelve bottles you gave me the day you showed me around Spectrum.”
“Good answer,” Bryn murmured. She sighed as Anna pulled her into a one-armed hug. She had nearly jumped out of her skin the first time Anna had done it, but she was beginning to enjoy the easy familiarity of the light embrace. “Two-Buck-Chuck…”
“Like I would really offer you Two-Buck-Chuck.” Anna rolled her eyes and gave Bryn�
��s shoulders a quick squeeze before letting her go. “But, seriously…what can I get you?”
“What are you having?” Bryn asked, eyeing the pint glass on the counter.
“Snakebites. But I have your basic yuppie Sam Adams variety pack in the fridge too.”
Bryn laughed. “A Snakebite sounds great. I don’t think I’ve had one since I was at Oxford. My flatmate was quite fond of them.”
“Karen, right?” Anna asked.
“Very good, Doctor.” Bryn smiled. She did not think her stories about studying abroad had been particularly interesting, but she was both touched and impressed that Anna remembered something as trivial as the name of the woman she had shared an apartment with while attending graduate school.
“Thanks.” Anna winked. “One Snakebite for the lady, coming up,” she drawled as she pulled open the fridge.
“Can I help with anything?” Bryn offered.
Anna set open cans of Strongbow and Guinness onto the counter and turned to pull a pint glass out of the cabinet that was above the dishwasher. “You can start trimming the artichokes if you want.”
“I can do that.” Bryn looked around the kitchen. She pulled a knife from the wooden block beside the range and asked, “Cutting board?”
“Oh, here.” Anna pulled a red plastic cutting board from a cabinet under the counter and slid it onto the counter near the trashcan. “Anything else?”
“I don’t think so.” Bryn moved the bag of artichokes she had brought with her to the cutting board and pulled one out. “How are you planning to cook these?”
“I was thinking we could grill ‘em.”