AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ray patted Teddy on the back, then death gripped my shoulder. I tried not to wince beneath his touch, but the old man had fingers made of iron. “Hurt my girl, and I hurt you,” he said before releasing the fingers of death.
I rolled my shoulders. “What do you bench? Two-fifty? Jesus!”
“Years of construction.” He shook Albert’s hand and followed Ron out.
I stayed for a while longer, shooting the breeze with Albert and Teddy, but Teddy had to get home to his wife and kids, and Albert had to be up at the ass crack of dawn. The problem with older friends was everyone called it a night before the night had barely begun.
In my car, I thought about heading to Green Mountain Resort to have a drink at the bar, but I usually did that when I wanted to hook up. The idea of a woman other than Lanes in my bed wasn’t appealing at all.
Instead of heading straight to my house, I veered right and drove down Lainey’s street. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. All I knew was I wanted to see her. Hear her laugh and smell her sweet vanilla scent. But the house was dark, and her car wasn’t in the driveway.
The universe was telling me what I already knew.
Go home.
I stepped back and admired the piece I was almost finished with for Albert. It was coming along perfectly, and I only had a few more tweaks to make. After Lainey’s date with Damian and my desperate attempt to woo her in a coat closet, I’d been spending all my time off in my workshop. Some would call it hiding, but I had nothing to hide from. The things that used to excite me and get me out on the town no longer did.
Now that I knew sex was so much more than just the physical, I didn’t want anything else. It was a total mind fuck for me.
“Did you make that?”
The unexpected voice jolted me. I was so lost in my own world I didn’t hear the door open or Chardonnay’s heels clacking across the floor.
I scratched the back of my sweaty neck. “Uh, yeah,” I admitted. For as long as I’d been doing metalwork, I’d never talked to my family about it. We usually had get-togethers at the winery, Mom and Dad’s house, or Franc’s place, since it was equipped for Gio. Not to mention the few times my siblings did stop by and they were greeted by a one-night stand in my kitchen wearing nothing more than their underwear.
“I didn’t know you could do that.” Her eyes drifted up the root structure to the twisting branches.
“It’s not a big deal. Just a hobby I picked up.”
Char turned to me, arms crossed over her chest. Her dark brown eyes narrowed in on me. “Shut up.”
“This is my house.”
“Exactly why you should be boasting yourself. You are quick to take credit for fucking some tourist, but here.” She opened her arms out to the piece. “You actually do something amazing, and you try to dismiss it. And it’s amazing. Take the compliment and own it.”
“Thank you, I think.”
“You’re welcome.” She walked around the tree, appearing as if she was admiring the details. My chest puffed up a little and my heart warmed. It wasn’t every day Chardonnay gave out compliments.
I picked up a glass of pinot I’d been nursing for the last hour and took a sip. “You want a glass?” I asked.
Her head tilted, eyes narrowing onto a particularly complicated twist. “Sure. Why the hell not?”
I headed to the back of my shop, where I had a small high-rise table with two stools. The bottle of pinot was already on the table, and I grabbed a glass from the cabinet that was filled with a million different samples of tasting glasses.
The sound of Char’s heels stopped clacking as she slid onto one of the stools. I poured a little into the glass and held it up. “Want to taste it first?”
“If I don’t know what that wine tastes like, we have problems, and I also know you wouldn’t dare drink a bad glass. Just fill ‘er up.”
A laugh muffled in my throat, and I did as she requested, placing the filled glass on the table and pushing it toward her.
“What are you doing here, anyway?” I asked.
She took a small sip and before placing the glass down. “It’s Friday night, and you’re not in the tasting room, so I thought I’d stop by and make sure you’re okay.”
“Sutton asked for another shift. She’s trying to pay off her credit cards.”
“Still doesn’t explain why you’re not there.” Char ran her fingers across the tabletop as if she was wiping away invisible crumbs. “Even when you’re not working, you’re there.”
