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“Kate loves her wine,” Nonna said.
“You drink it with her,” she argued. “All the time.”
“Can’t let her drink alone. Violet isn’t going to be much help this year and you’re not going to get tipsy and worry you’ll say something you shouldn’t.”
Her shoulders dropped. There went Nonna again.
“Nothing to worry about saying,” she said. “But I’d rather not embarrass myself in front of my boyfriend.”
Nonna squinted. “Embarrassing yourself in front of each other is all part of the process, Sage.”
Her grandmother walked back into the kitchen after that.
She turned to Knox and saw him shrug. “I’d say we’ve both done enough of that in the past and present.”
“I hope so,” she said.
He leaned down and kissed her. “I thought I’d be nervous, but for some reason it feels as if you are. Just relax. Enjoy yourself. This is a new experience for me and I’m going to let it fall where it will.”
Another lesson she needed to learn.
29
BEING SO GROWN UP
“You’re okay doing this?” Sage asked him the following week. “Not too much family overload?”
“No,” he said. “I’m not someone that does much on New Year’s Eve, but this is fine.”
“I know we said we’d go out to dinner, but this is the last New Year’s Eve Violet and Trace will have no kids. They wanted to have a few people over.”
Sage had brought it up a few days ago in passing and he’d said sure. He didn’t care what they did. He just wanted to be with her.
It’s not like he had that many friends he’d ever do anything with. Most times he was sleeping when the clock struck midnight.
It was just another day for him in his mind.
“Who else is going to be there?”
“Trace and Violet. Luke is working so Heather, Theo, Daisy and Aster.”
“Who is Aster?” he asked, frowning.
“I didn’t introduce you to him at the Christmas party? Sorry. He was with Luke and Zane, but he knows Trace too. That is why he’s invited. Aster served with Luke and Zane, so really knows them well, but at one point he served with Trace, so it’s a small world.”
“And he’s in Mystic now?” he asked. “And works for Blossoms?”
She started to laugh. “I know. It’s crazy. Luke came here because he is best friends with Zane and didn’t have much of a family. You know how Trace came to live here and he didn’t know Zane at the time. He had run into Luke before. And though Aster wasn’t in the same squad as Trace, they did serve together somewhere for two years before he ended up serving under Zane. I don’t know a lot about him other than Lily hired him to oversee the manufacturing plant in terms of the structure and machinery. I guess that he did a lot of supplies and stuff in the service at one point. Their MacGyver or something they’d called him. He’s handy and has been working with Zane since he moved here.”
“Doing construction?” he asked.
“Yes. You know they are adding onto the plant. They started over the summer and will be working inside now during the winter. Aster will be there doing that, but they need someone on site daily. Not really maintenance, though they’ve got that, but someone who can fix machines when they go down by talking to a rep or other bigger projects. He’ll be on site all the time, which is needed. Or on call after hours rather than Zane.”
Because he knew with another baby in Zane’s house that things were probably getting harder and harder with their schedules.
“I guess I’ll meet him tonight,” he said.
“He’s not as outgoing as Trace, but he’s friendly. I think you’ll get along with him.”
