by MJ Duncan
Bryn felt like she was completely out of her league as she started toward them, and she smiled nervously when they both turned to look at her. “I see you’ve finally met.”
“We have.” Kendall gave Bryn a quick once-over and smiled as she nodded appreciatively. “You look great.”
Bryn blushed as she murmured, “Thank you.”
“I…” Anna cleared her throat and shook her head as Kendall laughed at her reaction. “Yeah. Wow. Gorgeous.”
Bryn put a little extra sway into her hips as she finished making her way across the room to join them, her confidence bolstered by both their compliments and the almost slack-jawed way Anna was staring at her. She watched the way Anna’s eyes followed her across the room, and by the time she was standing beside her, Bryn could not have stopped herself from smiling even had she wanted to. Anna’s boots had a low heel, which, when put next to her stilettos, made them the same height. It felt a little strange to not have to look up at her, but Bryn appreciated the way her added height gave her a better view of Anna’s eyes.
She gave Anna’s wrist a light squeeze, the small touch a silent thank you that hopefully conveyed exactly how much she appreciated her reaction. She held her gaze for an extended moment, absolutely hypnotized by the way Anna’s eyes danced over her face. She had noticed before how Anna’s eyes would shift color, her pale blue irises turning gray and stormy whenever she looked at her this intently, and she wished that she understood what the subtle change in hue meant.
It was clearly something, judging by the way Anna’s pulse pounded beneath her thumb, but before she could figure it out, the moment was shattered by Kendall chuckling softly beside them.
Bryn had honestly forgotten that Kendall was right there with them, and she dropped Anna’s wrist as if burned. She did not miss the way Anna’s smile fell as she looked away, and Bryn crossed her arms over her chest as she turned to look at Kendall. “Yes?”
“Nothing.” Kendall glanced between Bryn and Anna and smirked. Bryn felt Anna tense beside her, and she had to fight the urge to look at her as Kendall continued, “So…we going to pre-game this thing again, or what?”
“Because that worked so well last year.” Bryn rolled her eyes. She stole a quick glance at Anna, and her heart sank at the shuttered expression on her face.
Kendall waved a dismissive hand in the air as she started for the bar. “One drink won’t hurt anybody. Besides, this is tradition.” She pulled the stopper out of the crystal decanter of apple brandy Bryn favored on those nights she wanted something a little stronger, and arched a questioning brow at Anna. “Apple brandy?”
“Um…sure.” Anna shoved her left hand into her pocket as she turned toward Kendall, and Bryn tried to not feel hurt that it was the one she had been holding moments before. “Thanks.”
“Yep.” Kendall poured two fingers into a snifter, and handed it to Anna. “Here ya go. Bryn?”
“Fine. But we do need to head down to the winery. The DJ called when I was drying my hair, and he’s already finished setting up on the patio.”
“We’ll get down there with plenty of time.” Kendall poured two more glasses and handed one to Bryn. She held hers up in a toast, and said, “To another successful year for Spectrum Vineyards.”
Anna lifted her glass. “Here, here.”
Bryn tipped her head in thanks as she tapped her glass against Kendall’s and then Anna’s, and was relieved when Anna gave her a small smile as their glasses clinked together. “Thank you.”
When they had finished their drinks, Kendall took the glasses into the kitchen to be washed later, and Anna turned to Bryn. “Do you need to get a coat or something before we head down there?”
“No.” Bryn smiled and shook her head. “The weather is supposed to stay nice, and if it cools off too much, the heaters on the patio should keep me warm enough.”
Anna nodded and ran a hand through her hair. “So I don’t really need the blazer I brought with me, then.”
“Not unless you want to take it. I usually try to take as little as possible down with me so that I don’t have to keep track of anything.”
“Smart.”
“She has her moments,” Kendall drawled, winking at Bryn as she rejoined them. “So, you ready?”
Bryn nodded. “As I’ll ever be.” She led them down the hall to the garage, and shook her head when Anna made to climb into the UTV they usually rode around the property. “We’ll take my car,” she said as she pulled her keys off the hook by the door.
“Better for the hair and stuff,” Kendall chimed in.
“Makes sense,” Anna said.
“I’ll take the back, you can have shotgun,” Kendall told Anna as she pulled open the rear driver’s side door.
Once they were all in the car, Bryn glanced at Kendall in the rearview mirror. She was checking her phone for messages, and Bryn rolled her eyes as she looked over at Anna, who was watching her with an enigmatic smile that made Bryn’s pulse jump. “You okay?” Bryn murmured as she twisted the key in the ignition.
“Fine,” Anna replied just as softly. Her eyes did that subtle blue-gray shift again as they looked at each other, and she sighed as she looked away. “Shall we?”
“Of course,” Bryn agreed as she shifted the car into drive. She drove slowly through the courtyard, which had Kendall’s Lexus parked on one side and Anna’s coupe on the other, and flexed her hands around the steering wheel as she made the slight turn down the hill. The silence that filled the car grated on her nerves the longer it lasted, and she finally broke it as she pulled to a stop at the bottom of the hill to wait for the gate to roll open. “What time are Mitch and Diana planning on coming?”
Anna checked her watch. “Soon. I know they were planning on being a few minutes early just to make sure they were able to get a parking space.”
Bryn shook her head. “I’ve hired a valet company for the evening. They won’t need to worry about it.”
“Ah, now you tell me,” Anna drawled with a playful wink. “Well, whatever. It gives them more time to hang out and see how awesome everything here is.”
“Okay. I am done with work for the rest of the night,” Kendall announced as she slipped her phone into her purse. “Bryn, I give you full permission to break out your mad karate skills and kick my ass if you see me on this thing when we’re at the party.”
Bryn arched a brow and looked at Kendall in the rearview mirror. “Even if you’re talking to Jen?”
“Okay, not her. But since it’s like—” she leaned forward to look at the clock on the dash, “—five here, that means it’s two in the morning in Munich, so I don’t think she’ll be calling me.”
“Mad karate skills?” Anna asked.
Bryn rolled her eyes and nodded. “I have a black belt.”
“She’s got a third degree black belt,” Kendall corrected proudly.
“Which I haven’t done anything with since I moved out here.” Bryn rolled her eyes. “I’m so out of practice that I doubt I could do much.”
“Wow, so you really could have kicked my ass that day we first met,” Anna said. She folded her left leg under herself and turned in her seat so she was facing both Bryn and Kendall and grinned. “Mitch and Di kept saying that they thought she was going to.”
“I would have never,” Bryn said, shaking her head. “I have only ever kicked anyone’s ass when I was sparring.”
Anna gave Bryn an impressed look. “Still. How did I not know that about you?”
“She’s a humble one, our Bryn,” Kendall teased.
“She certainly is,” Anna agreed. She shook her head as if trying to clear her thoughts, and looked at Kendall. “Bryn said you guys went riding yesterday, how’s my girl Figgy doing?”
“Figgy,” Kendall muttered.
Anna laughed. “How did you come up with the name Figment, anyway? You a big Epcot fan or something?”
“God, if only it were that innocent,” Kendall said. “She’s Figment, as in, a figment of the i
magination. Kinda like me.”
“I…don’t get it.” Anna looked at Bryn.
Bryn chuckled and glanced over her shoulder at Kendall as she drove around the tasting room and parked by the service entrance since the valet company had not arrived yet. Plus, this way, she had the added benefit of being able to leave whenever she wanted without having to wait for her car to be brought around. “Kendall…”
“I’m bi,” Kendall elaborated. She smiled and shrugged as she held her hands up in front of herself, mimicking a scale. “So, if I’m with a dude, I’m assumed to be straight, if I’m with a woman like I am now, I’m assumed to be a lesbian. I always joked that because I’m bi I was a figment of the imagination—so when I bought a horse to keep here to go riding with Bryn, I decided to name her Figment.”
“Yeah, that is a kind of sucky deal for you, isn’t it?” Anna commiserated with an understanding smile. “I like the meaning behind her name though.”
“Even though you call her Figgy?” Kendall asked.
Anna grinned and shrugged. “Hey, it’s not like I’m denying her existence or anything.”
“That’s true,” Kendall admitted. “But still…Figgy.” She rolled her eyes.
Anna laughed. “Okay. Fine. I won’t call her Figgy anymore.”
Bryn turned off the car and opened her door. “I think Figment might be mad if you did that,” she told Anna. “She seems quite taken with the nickname.”
“Unfortunately,” Kendall grumbled as she slid out of the car. “Just treat her well, and I won’t come after you for it.”
Anna nodded and climbed out of the car. “You have my word.”
“Good. So, let’s go get tanked!”
“Always so classy, Kendall,” Bryn drawled as she led the way toward the lower entry door. She punched the code into the lock, and pushed the door open. “After you, my dears.”
“Thanks, gorgeous,” Kendall quipped, dropping a playful kiss to Bryn’s cheek as she passed.
Bryn smiled and looked at Anna. “Can I just apologize now for anything she says or does that might be offensive?”
“Of course,” Anna chuckled. “Same goes for my friends. I have a feeling that her and Holloway could be quite the tag-team once they get going.”
“Yes.” Bryn nodded. “I can kind of see that. We’ll have to keep an eye on them.”
“Or a video camera,” Anna replied with a sly grin as she finally stepped through the door Bryn was holding open.
Bryn laughed and hooked Anna’s right arm with her left as she led them toward the stairs. “I like the way you think, Ms. Fitzpatrick.”
Twenty-Three
Though Bryn knew how important socializing with her guests was for the Harvest Festival’s success, she never particularly enjoyed it—and she let out a small sigh of relief as she smiled at the small group seated around table twenty-six on the far end of the patio.
She was done.
“Again, thank you so much for coming,” she said, rubbing her thumb over the stem of her empty wine glass as she nodded at each person in turn. “I sincerely hope you enjoy the rest of your evening.”
Their assurances that they would were the wind against her back as she made her way through the maze of tables that filled the patio. The party was in full-swing, the dessert plates were being cleared, and the DJ was playing a mix of music that had a steady stream of people making their way to and from the dance floor. Judging by the smiles on the faces surrounding her, the event was a resounding success, and Bryn let that thought carry her through the open doors of the tasting room.
There was a small group congregated near the bar, and Bryn turned back toward the patio as she waited for them to get their drinks refreshed, her gaze seeking out a specific table on the western edge of the patio. For the first time since she began hosting this event, her personal table was full, and she smiled to herself as she looked at it. Anna was slumped gracefully in her seat, her right ankle resting atop her left knee, with her right arm draped over the back of Bryn’s empty chair, laughing as Kendall told a story that involved a lot of hand waving and dramatic expressions. Bryn could not help but wonder what Kendall was saying, but more than that, she simply wanted to be there with them, sharing in their happiness.
“Ms. Nakamura?” Michael, one of the bartenders working the event, called politely, interrupting Bryn’s reverie.
Michael was a regular in the tasting room, working every weekend while attending graduate school in town at Dickenson University, and Bryn smiled at him as she approached the bar. “Hello again.”
“Another Pinot?”
Bryn nodded. “Please. Which wines seem to be the most popular this evening?” she asked as he pulled a bottle from beneath the bar. It was part of the small stash she had hidden earlier in the day, a little treasure trove for her and the rest of her table alone. While she was sure that it would have been a hit with her guests, she had decided to keep it off of the menu for that evening due to the limited quantities she had available. Only one case of Pinot Noir was produced for every twenty cases of Merlot or Cabernet, and keeping it to sell as a special reserve seemed more prudent than simply giving it away.
“The Merlot,” Michael said as he pulled the cork out of the half-empty bottle and refilled Bryn’s glass. “Which is to be expected, I think. Though if you made this available to everybody, it would be gone in an instant.”
“It’s quite good, isn’t it?” Bryn murmured as she picked up her glass and took a sip.
“It’s incredible.”
Bryn hummed and swirled the wine in her glass, watching the way the light altered the color of the wine. She lifted it in his direction as she turned toward the door. “Thank you.”
The crowd parted easily for her as she made her way back toward her group, and Bryn smiled at them as she set her glass on the table in front of her seat. “I’m glad to see that everybody is behaving themselves,” she teased as she reclaimed her chair.
“In a manner of speaking.” Anna sat up straighter and started to pull her arm from the back of Bryn’s chair, but Bryn stopped her with a gentle hand on her knee.
“You’re fine,” Bryn murmured, leaning a little into Anna’s side, enjoying the warmth of her presence as the wind shifted and the heat from the nearby space heater went with it. “So, what did I miss?”
“Not a lot,” Anna said as she settled back in her chair, her fingers drawing soft lines up and down Bryn’s shoulder. “We’ve just been hanging out. How’d your thing go?”
Bryn shrugged. “It went as well as could be expected. Everybody seems to be enjoying themselves, so I’m willing to go out on a limb and call the evening a success.”
“Well, it’s an awesome party.” Diana smiled at Bryn and then she turned to her husband. “You wanna dance?”
“Sure.”
Mitch arched a brow at Erica, who nodded. “We’ll join you,” he said.
“And just like that, the three singles are left alone at the table,” Kendall drawled.
“That’s fine with me, my feet hurt from standing for so long. I’m not used to wearing heels like this anymore,” Bryn said, shaking her head as she picked up her glass of wine.
“Excuse me,” a deep voice interrupted. The man was perhaps in his late forties, with distinguished salt-and-pepper hair and laugh lines around his eyes, and he smiled as he looked at Kendall. “Would you care to dance?”
Kendall nodded. “Sure.”
“And now we’re down to two,” Anna drawled.
“I don’t mind,” Bryn said, leaning her head on Anna’s shoulder. “Though if you’d rather join them all…”
“I’m fine right here.”
Bryn smiled and snuggled a little more into Anna’s side. It was nice to just sit and relax after having to engage with her guests, and the feeling of Anna’s blunt nails dragging lightly over her shoulder in lazy swoops and swirls that followed the beat of the music lulled Bryn into a pleasant haze.
After sitting like that thro
ugh about a half-dozen songs, Bryn looked up at Anna, who was staring back at her with the softest smile on her face. Anna looked as content as she felt, and she smiled as she asked, “Are you enjoying yourself?”
“I am. Are you?”
“I am.” Bryn shivered as the breeze picked up again and added, “Though I am regretting not bringing a coat.”
The fingers drawing on Bryn’s shoulder stilled as Anna cocked her head at the tasting room and said, “So let’s go inside where it’s a little bit warmer.”
“I don’t want to take you away from the party,” Bryn protested. “I’ll be fine.”
“Like I care about the party,” Anna murmured, giving Bryn’s shoulder a squeeze before she pulled her arm away and stood. She smiled and held out her hands. “I’m here for you. Let’s go inside where you’ll be more comfortable.”
“If you’re sure.” Bryn took Anna’s hands and allowed her to pull her to her feet.
“Of course.” Anna gave a small bow and waved a hand at the tasting room. “After you, beautiful.”
Bryn smiled. “Thank you.”
The interior of the tasting room was empty, save for Michael and his fellow bartenders, and Bryn spared them only the briefest of glances as she led Anna through the large tasting room to a smaller room toward the front of the building that had a massive mahogany conference table running down the center of it. The light from the party outside spilled through the handful of floor-to-ceiling, colonial-paned windows that overlooked the patio, casting a soft golden glow about the room. The sound of the music playing and muffled conversations filtered into the otherwise quiet space, making it seem like it was both a part of the event and separate at the same time, and Bryn wrapped her arms around herself as she started toward the windows.