Drunk on Love(33)

Damn it.

Margot caught Avery’s eye when she brought their coffee over to the milk station, and Avery shook her head at the milk, but nodded at the sugar, so Margot brought a few packets over to the table, after she stirred some milk into her own coffee.

“Thanks again for meeting me this morning,” Margot said when she sat down. She pulled out the new notebook that she’d designated as The Notebook for this event. “I’m really excited about this event, but I have to admit that I’m starting to feel a little in over my head.”

Avery laughed.

“Oh, that happens to me every time, but don’t worry, you have lots of time. All you really need is to have obsessively organized spreadsheets, and this will go great.”

“Avery, that’s music to my ears,” Margot said. “If there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s obsessively organize spreadsheets.”

They both laughed, and then got down to details.

“Okay, so that’s all of the most important stuff,” Avery said, thirty minutes later. “I’m sure I’ll think of other things, but like I said, the key is hyperorganization leading up to the event, and then flexibility on the day of, because everything is going to go a little sideways.”

Margot looked up from her notebook.

“This has all been invaluable, thanks so much. Thank goodness for the great community here—between this info from you, the Barrel jumping in already to be one of the food stations, and then hopefully finding a landscaper through someone on my team at the tasting room, I’m starting to feel like we might be able to pull this off.”

Avery grinned.

“Oh, did Luke hook you up with Pete?”

Shit. She shouldn’t have made a reference to anything having to do with Luke. In her defense, this last hour had been so all about business that she’d almost forgotten about Luke and Avery.

Also, apparently he and Avery had been dating long enough that she was on a first-name basis with his mom’s boyfriend. Great.

“Pete Smythe? Yeah, he’s coming by the winery later today,” Margot said. Time to move the conversation away from Luke. “The party is a good excuse to do this landscaping, I just hope we have time.”

Avery took a sip of her coffee.

“I’m sure Pete will be able to get it done for you. He’s great—I’ve known him forever. Luke and I went to high school together, you know.”

No, of course she didn’t know.

“Oh wow, really? What a small world this place is,” Margot said. What else could she say?

“Isn’t it?” Avery took another sip of her coffee. Wasn’t it cold by now? Didn’t she need to be somewhere? But no, she looked perfectly comfortable, like she was settling in for a nice chat. “Luke’s great. He’s been one of my best friends since we were teenagers. He’s like a brother to me.” She laughed. “We dated very briefly when we were fourteen, but quickly realized we were much better as friends.”

Wait. Did that mean that Monday night hadn’t been a date?

“I bet you’re glad to have him back up here,” Margot said.

Avery nodded.

“Yeah. I had kind of a bad breakup recently, and he helped me move to my new place.”

Oh.

It hadn’t been a date, then. Margot forced her expression not to change.

“I’m sorry to hear about your breakup,” Margot said.

Avery looked sad for a moment.

“Thanks.” She sat up straight and smiled. “I’m glad I have Luke. He’s a good friend.”

Margot took a sip of her own now-cold coffee. Did Avery know about what happened between her and Luke? It didn’t seem like it. She hadn’t given her that smile last night that said she knew, and there was no knowing glance today. But maybe she just didn’t want to make it awkward?

“He’s been a great addition to the tasting room staff,” Margot said as casually as she knew how. “Even Elliot thinks he’s worthy of discussing his wines, and you know how winemakers can be.”

They both laughed, and Margot reached for the bag of pastries on the table and dropped it into her tote bag.

“Speaking of Elliot, I should get to the winery.”

Avery stood up.

“Yeah, I should get going, too. But seriously, Margot—let me know if you have any other questions. Just text or call.”

Margot nodded.

“I will almost certainly take you up on that. And let me know if I can ever return the favor.”

They hugged goodbye at the door of the bakery, and then Margot walked to her car. It wasn’t until she was a mile into the drive to the winery that she allowed a huge smile to break out over her face.

“I don’t know what you’re smiling like that for,” she said to herself. “It’s not like this means anything. It doesn’t matter that he wasn’t on a date with Avery—he’s still your employee, remember? You still can’t do one single thing with that man.”

But the smile stayed on her face for the whole drive.



* * *





LUKE GLANCED DOWN AT his phone when he got in the car to drive to the winery on Thursday morning.

    AVERY

Mission accomplished