First things first, I need to make her breakfast. I’d much rather stay in bed with her all day, but I do have a baby shower I have to make sure goes smoothly. The timing of the shower isn’t great, but I’ll make do.
I slide of bed, doing my best not to wake Jasmin. I have a feeling she doesn’t get a lot of real rest. Right now, she looks peaceful, and I don’t want to interrupt it.
Grabbing a pair of sweatpants from my drawer, I put them on and hurry out of the room. I hope I have the stuff for breakfast. It’s been a while since I’ve done any sort of grocery shopping. Let’s be honest, I usually go to one of my siblings house to eat dinner. There’s no point in cooking for myself when they invite me over.
I scoop up the wine glasses from the table and carry them with me to the kitchen. They can be washed when I do the dishes from breakfast.
The fridge is pretty bare, but I do have eggs and bacon. That will have to do. Hopefully she likes them because I don’t have much else to offer right now. I wasn’t expecting company last night, or I would have been better prepared.
I pull out two pans and set them on the stove. One needs to heat up. As much as I admire my Peter’s ability to multitask in the kitchen, if I do that something will end up burning. I refuse to offer Jasmin burned food.
A quick glance at the clock on the microwave tells me I have about two hours before I have to head down to the winery. A sense of dread starts pooling in my stomach, but I push it aside. I won’t worry about the woman putting on the shower until I absolutely have to. Thankfully the shower is only two hours. I can manage that…I think.
Breakfast is underway when I feel arms slip around my waist. “You didn’t have to cook.”
“I know.” I turn toward Jasmin. She’s in one of my shirts, and it looks so much better on her than it does on me. I could get used to seeing her like this. “But I wanted to make sure you had something to eat.”
“Thank you.” She smiles up at me and I place a kiss on her forehead. “Is the festival happening today, too? Maybe we can hit up a few more food trucks.”
“Yeah, it’ll end this evening. But we’re have a baby shower scheduled in a couple of hours at the winery. Lucky me.”
“Who hosts a baby shower at a winery?” Her eyebrows squish together. “That’s just mean to the mom.”
“That’s what I said.” I shake my head and move my direction back to the stove, stirring the bacon. “But the best friend insisted.”
“Sounds a little selfish to me. Not that I have any experience with that sort of event outside of the ones within my family.” She sighs and pulls herself up on the counter beside me. “I’m pretty sure I’d be looking for a new best friend.”
“Yeah, the friend has been a real piece of work. Piper will be there to help me run interference. I think Phillip and Peter are working at the festival today.”
“Are y’all opening the winery to the public?”
“Yep. As soon as the baby shower is over and cleaned up, we’ll be turning on the open sign. I’m sure it’ll be busier than normal with the festival.”
“I should probably get out of your hair after breakfast, then.” A look passes over her face and I can’t quite decipher it.
“No, you can stay as long as you’d like. Take your time.”
“You’re pretty trusting to let me stay in your house when you’re not here. We’ve only technically been on three dates.”
“Why? I don’t have anything to hide.” It seems silly to make her rush out of here when she can take her time.
She grins. “This is a first.”
“What?” I scoop the bacon out of the pan, let the grease drain, and set it on a plate.
“Most guys I have a one-night stand with tend to push me out of their place as fast as possible.”
I move in front of her and place my hands on either side of her hips. “First of all, this is the second time we’ve been together. Secondly, I don’t think this will be a onetime thing.”
Her breath catches at my words and move on to make the scrambled eggs. It’ll be something she can think over for a while. Despite our relationship being fake, I don’t think I can handle not being around her as much as possible. Last night and this morning proved that point. At least for me. I can only hope she feels the same way.
“Maybe we should add a right to refuse service note in our consultation form.” The words are out of my mouth before I can reel them back in. Piper is stomping around the office with murder in her eyes
Honestly, if we had that I wouldn’t have accepted this baby shower. And I wouldn’t have felt bad about it. I knew from the second this woman walked into the winery she was going to be trouble.
“Or, I can kick her out right now.” Piper mumbles. “She was here earlier than she was supposed to be. Then gave me attitude because we weren’t down here with the doors already open. The entitlement is what gets me. Her contract shows what time she could be here to decorate.”
I watch my sister completely lose her shit. She’s the one who looks on the bright side of everything so to see her like this makes me feel horrible.
