“I . . . um, how are you?” he asked. “Having dinner?”
He was already fucking going on dates? And with someone she knew? See, she should have done that, instead of making excuses about work.
“Yeah, I love this place,” she said. “And hi, Avery, good to see you. Looking forward to our breakfast later this week.”
Luke turned to Avery for a half second. Margot could see the You know each other? question on his face, but he didn’t ask it.
“Hey, Margot, me, too. And hi, Sydney,” Avery said. “How are you guys?”
Margot smiled. At least, she hoped she did.
“Oh, good!” She gestured to Sydney. “Luke, my friend Sydney, she’s a local restaurateur. Sydney, this is Luke Williams, he’s one of our new tasting room staff at Noble.”
Sydney gave Luke a very bland smile, and Luke smiled back. Did he recognize her from the restaurant that night? Margot couldn’t tell.
“Hi, Luke,” Sydney said. “And hey, Avery.”
“Hi, Sydney. Nice to meet you,” Luke said. He—very slightly—raised his eyebrows at Margot. Okay, maybe he did recognize Sydney.
Damn it, why was he giving her secret little eyebrow raises when he was on a date with another woman? She tried not to let her expression change.
“Are you—” Luke started, but just then, their server came over with their entrées.
“Oh! I’m sorry, are your friends joining you?”
“No,” Margot said, she hoped not too sharply. “Thank you.”
Luke took a step back.
“We shouldn’t keep you. I, um— See you tomorrow, Margot. Nice to meet you, Sydney.”
Margot nodded, and tried not to look at him.
“Yeah, see you tomorrow. Talk to you soon, Avery.”
They walked away, presumably to another table, though Margot forced herself not to turn her head to see where they were, and just concentrated on the steak in front of her.
“Okay,” Sydney said after about thirty seconds. “They’re out of earshot.”
Margot’s head shot up.
“Are you sure? Like, positive?”
Sydney nodded.
“I mean, if you start shouting again, then no, but yes, we can carry on a low conversation about what the fuck just happened without them hearing us.”
Margot took a gulp of her drink.
“Great, because what the fuck just happened, Syd? Did my employee, who I—accidentally—slept with, and now can’t fucking stop thinking about, much to my dismay, just walk in here on a motherfucking date? With Avery Jensen, of all people?”
Sydney cut a scallop in half.
“Yes to all of those things, but why ‘of all people’? I thought you liked Avery?”
Margot cut into her steak, probably more vehemently than the steak deserved.
“I do like her! She’s great! She’s also young and skinny and has gorgeous hair and probably perfect perky boobs, all things I do not!”
Sydney paused, her scallop halfway to her mouth.
“Hey. You have great boobs. And fantastic hair.”
Margot rolled her eyes.
“Yes, when I work at it. Avery has that effortless sun-kissed-curls thing going on. When I try that, I just look bedraggled.” She grimaced. “See? I should have tried to go out on dates to get him out of my head! I should go pick up a stranger at a bar, or something, and make it even better than last time, so I know the magic is in me, not fucking Luke Williams.”
“In a manner of speaking,” Sydney said.
Margot glared at her.
“I didn’t say anything,” Sydney said.
“That’s what I thought,” Margot said.
Margot stabbed her steak again.
“You know it’s killing me that my back is to them, right?”
“Oh, I know,” Sydney said. “You’re doing great at not turning around, though. I’m really impressed.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that.” Then suddenly she grinned, and Sydney grinned back at her. And then they both started laughing.
“Only me,” Margot said, when they finally subsided.
Sydney shook her head.
“Oh God no, definitely not. Do you know how small Napa Valley is? Things like this happen all the time. Everyone knows each other.”
Margot sighed.
“I know. Did I tell you . . . when he kissed me, outside the Barrel that night, that’s what I told him—that we couldn’t do that there, that too many people know me.”
Sydney laughed again.
“Well, that’s both absolutely true and a very slick way to invite yourself back to his bed.”
Margot shook her head.
“No, no, I would have invited him back to mine, but his place was closer!”
And then they cracked up again.
* * *
“?‘HAVING DINNER?’ DID I really say ‘having dinner’ like that?” Luke asked Avery.
She nodded, a huge grin on her face.
“You did indeed.”
“Why would I ask that question? Like it’s not completely obvious they’re having dinner, when they’re at a restaurant table at seven thirty p.m.? What else would they be doing? Plotting to overthrow the government? Baking a cake? Watching a movie? What is wrong with me?”
Luke glanced over at Margot and Sydney’s table. They were diagonal from them in the restaurant, but Margot’s back was to him. From the look on Sydney’s face, though, they were having a great time.
“Nothing’s wrong with you,” Avery said. “You were just a little taken aback, that’s all, by running into your boss outside the office.”
Luke glared at her.
“Okay, fine, you were a little taken aback by running into your boss who you slept with the night before she became your boss outside your office. Better?”
“And that same morning, too,” Luke muttered.
Avery made a face.
“Please, no more details. But you recovered from it quickly!”
He absolutely had not. He still wasn’t recovered from it, as a matter of fact. Because not only did he have to deal with the shock of seeing Margot, he’d also quickly recognized that Sydney had been the bartender at the Barrel that night. She must own it; that must be what Margot had meant by local restaurateur.
But also . . .
“When were you going to tell me that you and Margot were meeting for breakfast? I didn’t even know that you two knew each other,” he said. He tried to keep his voice casual, but by the way her eyes swooped up from the menu, he’d clearly failed.
“Everyone up here knows each other, you know that,” she said, a little defensively.
He just looked at her.
“Okay, fine, yes, I should have told you I actually know her, but I didn’t want you to be self-conscious or think I was going to say something to her. We’re not, like, friends or anything, but . . . friendly acquaintances, let’s say.”
“Friendly acquaintances who have breakfast together?”
“It’s a work breakfast! She wants to get some advice for that anniversary party Noble is going to have, get some event planning tips, that’s all.” Avery grinned again. “It’s too bad I don’t know Sydney well enough to bond with her over how both awkward and hilarious it was to be with two people who desperately want each other and are also desperately trying to pretend they don’t.”
Luke’s head shot up.
“What do you mean, ‘two people’?”
The waiter came over just then to take their drink order, while Luke stared at Avery. She glanced at the menu like she hadn’t just said something impossible to him.
“I’ll have the Brown Sauvignon Blanc. Luke?”
He very much did not want to make any decision about wine right now.
“Yeah, sure. Me, too.”
As soon as the waiter walked away, he asked again.
“What do you mean, ‘two people’?”
Avery rolled her eyes at him.
“Oh please, you’re not going to try to pretend that you aren’t still completely hot for Margot, are you? That was obvious to everyone in the restaurant.”
He didn’t think it had been that obvious, but he’d let it slide for the moment.
“No, I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that it’s obvious to me that she doesn’t feel the same way.”
Avery laughed. He couldn’t believe she was laughing at him now. Actually, no, of course he could believe it.
“You are one of the smartest people—if not the smartest—I know, and yet you sit here and say something so silly to me? And with a straight face? Come on.” She took her glass of wine from the server while Luke stared at her. “That breakfast is going to be very awkward now, after Margot saw us on what very much looks like a date tonight.”
Luke looked over at Margot’s table. Neither she nor Sydney seemed to be interested in anything other than their own conversation.
“We clearly aren’t on a date, but Margot wouldn’t care about that. Margot could not care less about me, other than my value to Noble Family Vineyards. I mean sure, she likes me fine, but it’s all business with her. Other than a few tiny things—which are clearly just her being paranoid that someone will find out, or feeling awkward about this whole situation—she treats me like I’m any employee.”
Luke looked again. Margot was laughing, her head thrown back. He could hear her laugh even over the music in the restaurant and the din of all of the voices.
Avery narrowed her eyes at him.
“Okay, first of all, aren’t we supposed to be pretending that we’re dating?”
Right. He’d forgotten about that.