He shrugged.
“Depends on how quickly my mom gets better. At least another few weeks, maybe a month.” He sighed. “After that, I suppose I’ll have to look for a real job.” He grinned at her. “Maybe I can come back to the winery? I miss being around you all day.”
She just laughed at that.
He knew that as soon as his mom was better, he would have to look for a real job. Life had been far too easy for the past few months. Too easy and too fun. He’d slept a lot, watched a lot of sports, worked at jobs that he’d enjoyed, and had a whole lot of great sex. But he knew this wasn’t real life.
He was dreading going to another toxic, stressful place where he would wake up every morning depressed about going to work. At least he thought he could count on Craig for a good reference.
They stopped on the way to the beach—first at a bakery to get coffee and pastries, and then, when they were closer to the beach, at a deli to get sandwiches and snacks. They didn’t talk as much on the drive, not like that long drive from a few weeks ago, where they’d talked the whole time, but this time he knew he could touch her, knew he could kiss her, like he’d wanted to that other time. When he reached over and took her hand, she slid her fingers through his and rested both of their hands together on her bare knee. A little while later, she leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. She stayed like that, still holding tight to his hand, for a while.
She opened her eyes when they slowed to a stop in traffic, and looked over at him.
“I haven’t been doing a good job of entertaining you, have I?”
He shrugged.
“I don’t need entertaining. You seem like you needed a rest.”
She pushed her hair back from her face with her free hand.
“Yeah. I guess so. It’s not that—” She sighed. “I love the winery, I do. But planning for this party is a lot. I was probably too ambitious, to do it this quickly, and with the budget I had.”
He shook his head.
“The party is going to be great. And you don’t have to tell me you love the winery. I’m not going to think you don’t love it because you need a break from it.”
“I guess I just feel defensive about it,” she said. “Maybe I also feel like I shouldn’t need a break from it if I love it. Elliot doesn’t seem to.”
“You’re not Elliot,” he said. “You don’t have to be.”
“Thanks.” She squeezed his hand. “I’m glad we did this today.”
“We haven’t even gotten to the beach yet,” he said.
She smiled.
“I know. I’m still glad.”
* * *
THEY GOT TO THE beach just before eleven. They got one of the last parking spots in the lot, but the beach wasn’t too crowded. Luke carried their food and drinks, Margot carried the blankets and her tote bag, and they made their way from the parking lot down onto the sand. She lay the oldest of the blankets she’d brought along with her out on the sand, and then they set up the food and her bag and their shoes at the corners.
She really shouldn’t have taken a day off today, not with the party only two weeks away, and the tourist season in full bloom, and so much to do. But she’d been so touched by that look on Luke’s face when he’d said he wanted to spend the whole day with her. And when he’d said it was his birthday, there was no way she could say no. It was his birthday, and he wanted to spend it with her. And she wanted to spend it with him.
She’d looked at his birth date on his employment forms his first day, just to see how old he was, but she hadn’t remembered today was his birthday. She felt bad about that, for a moment. But back then, she hadn’t had any reason to remember the date.
“I have to get in the water, even though it’s freezing,” she said.
Luke grabbed her hand.
“I’m coming with you.”
They ran to the water, first stumbling in the deep, uneven sand, and then going faster as the sand got wet and compact, until the icy froth of the ocean touched them. She looked out at the sun breaking through the clouds and shining on the water, and then turned and looked at Luke, who was smiling at her.
“Should I have quit right away?” Luke asked, like they’d been in the middle of this conversation. Maybe they had. “After that first day, I mean.”
She thought about that for a second.
“No. If you had, it wouldn’t . . . we wouldn’t have gotten to know each other.” That’s not quite what she meant, but she wasn’t sure how to put into words what she meant. If he’d quit right away, she wouldn’t have cared about him. He would have just been that guy that she’d had the great one-night stand with. “I’m glad you quit when you did, though.”
He put his hand on her waist.
“Me, too.”
She leaned in to kiss him when a wave hit them and splashed them both chest-high. They both burst out laughing, and she turned back to the water, still giggling.
“At least the sun is coming out,” Luke said. “We’ll dry off.”
She grinned at him.
“Yeah, we will.” Then she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek.
They walked back to their blanket after a few more minutes and sat down. She hadn’t worn a swimsuit under her dress—it was usually too overcast at the beaches here for that—but Luke was right: the sun was coming out, they’d dry off. Eventually.
He sat behind her, put his arms around her, and pulled her into his chest. She sighed, and relaxed into him.
“We aren’t going to dry off like this,” she said.
“I know,” he said. “I don’t care.”
They sat there for a while, not talking, not reading, not doing anything, but doing so much at the same time.
“Do you remember,” Luke asked after a while, “how I said I wanted to find out if this was something?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I remember.”
“This is something,” he said. “Don’t you think?”
She put her hands on top of his.
“Yeah,” she said. “I do.”
She slid her hand into one of his and kissed his knuckles, like he’d done to her in the car. He tightened his grip around her and kissed the top of her shoulder blade.
“Something good,” she said.
He kissed her hair, the back of her neck, her cheek, and then, finally, when she turned around to him, her lips.
“Something good,” he said.
Eighteen
WHEN MARGOT GOT DRESSED the next morning, Luke assumed she would pull the black wrap dress back out of her closet, but she reached for a blue-and-white-striped dress instead.
“You’re not wearing the black one?” he asked.
She turned to him, a horrified look on her face.
“It’s Tuesday,” she said. And they both burst out laughing.
He and Margot left her place at the same time that morning. Usually, he left much earlier than she did, but today she’d wanted to get to the winery early, he guessed because she’d taken the day off before.
He got to the inn, said hi to Beth, and checked if any reservations or emails had come in overnight. Then he went into the office; he was trying to take this opportunity to update all of his mom’s software and get all of her systems working right, which he’d longed to do for years.
A few hours into the morning, Beth poked her head into the office.
“Is it okay if I take my break now?” she asked. “I was going to go on a coffee run.”
He stood up.
“Sure, no problem. I’ll take over the front desk.”
A few minutes after Beth left, the chimes dinged over the front door.
“Welcome to the Punchdown Inn, I’m Luke. How can I help you?” he said as he glanced up at the couple who walked in.
“Yeah, we’re checking in, last name Jordan—wait a minute. Luke Williams?”
He looked at the guy and sighed inwardly. He used to work with this guy. Grant Jordan. Perfectly fine coworker, but kind of a jackass.
“That’s me. Hey, Grant, how’ve you been?”
“You’re working here now?” Grant stared at him for a moment and shook his head. “How did that happen?”
Luke kept a smile on his face.
“My mom owns this place. Just helping her out while she’s recovering from an injury.” He took Grant’s driver’s license and credit card.
“Oh, that makes a little more sense, but . . . but still. Wild.” His eyes widened. “I knew you left, but to do this? How the mighty have fallen, huh?”
Luke gritted his teeth and ran Grant’s card through the machine.
“Oh, hey—did you hear that Brian is leaving?” Grant asked.
Luke looked up. Brian, his old, loathed boss.
“Really? No, I had no idea. I’ve been in touch with Craig, but he hasn’t mentioned it.”
Grant smirked.
“Yeah, guess he wouldn’t.”
Luke kept his face blank and gave Grant his room keys.
“Glad to have you here at the inn,” he lied. “Room Five, it’s right off the pool. Let me know if you need anything.”
He didn’t mean that. If Grant asked him for help with his luggage, he’d just want to kick it down the stairs.