“Who the hell are you and what did you do with my best friend?” I’m getting irritated now. Ethan isn’t normally the one to tease this relentlessly, but then again, he’s different since he fell in love with Summer. More relaxed and easygoing. Still, having the full blast of his teasing is getting to me. I’m tired and in pain, and I just want to get off the phone and find Ashley to figure out what the hell is going on between us.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ll stop. I’m just glad you clearly aren’t being an asshole to her anymore. Although hooking up with her isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I told you to stop.”
A groan escapes me. “Trust me, this isn’t what I had in mind, either. It’s not like I’ve got time for a relationship right now with the winery just getting up and running.” I fall silent, thinking about that statement. “But it’s also all I can think about. She is, I mean. It’s fucked up, man, I know it. But Ashley’s amazing. Even when she’s angry at me, spitting fire at something I’ve said or done, she’s amazing.”
“Wow, dude.”
“Yeah. I’m screwed,” I say drily.
“Nah, you’re falling for her. It’s about time a woman made you see things differently. So what are you going to do about it?”
“That’s the problem. I have no idea.”
Chapter sixteen
Ashley
The irony that I’m now doing exactly what I was mad at Finn for doing is not lost on me. Yep, I’m avoiding that man like the plague. It’s been shockingly easy, seeing as Ethan showed up at the Airbnb yesterday with bags of groceries and who knows what else. Aside from a knowing smile, he didn’t say a word, thank God.
Naturally, Finn didn’t come to the winery yesterday or today, so I’m going on forty-eight hours of successfully dodging any interaction with him.
Is it immature and ridiculous? Yes.
Do I want to see him and finish what we started? Also yes.
Am I absolutely bone-deep terrified of what we started…abso-fucking-lutely, yes.
On my way home from Victoria where I was picking up a few finishing touches for the tasting room, I swing into Camille’s, the café that is attached to The Nutty Muffin. Mila just opened the café a few months ago, but it’s busy every time I go in, and today is no exception. Even now, in the early evening, almost all of the tables are full of people with sandwiches or bowls of soup. There’s a guy playing guitar softly in one corner, and I have to admit — he’s pretty good.
I place my order for a grilled chicken and veggie panini, and find an empty stool at the long counter to sit and wait. Its been a long day, and I’m tired. A quick and easy dinner and home to my bed is all I can handle thinking about right now.
“Hello, Ashley, how is Finn recovering from his injury?”
I swivel on my seat to face Paige. “Hi! He’s, umm, well, he’s okay, I think.”
She pushes her glasses up her nose and frowns slightly. “You think? I assumed since you were now intimate with each other, you would know such a thing as how he is doing.”
I choke on my sip of water. “Intimate?”
Paige gives me a quizzical look. “That’s what Summer told Mila and I yesterday. Ethan allegedly interrupted a private moment between the two of you. Am I mistaken? Has the forced proximity of your living situation not created the perfect environment for romance?”
Good grief. Paige’s blunt assessment might be a little too influenced by all of the steamy books she reads, but she’s not wrong.
“I…don’t know how to answer that,” I admit.
“With the truth would be preferable.”
“The truth is, yes, we kissed, but it didn’t go any further, and I don’t know if I want it to go further, or if he does. So I’m avoiding him and I don’t know how he is right now.” My chest is heaving after that word vomit. To her credit, Paige doesn’t seem ruffled at all, she’s still calmly looking at me as if I didn’t just spill my guts to her.
“Ah, men. They just live to confuse the heck out of us. Let the record show, none of us are the least bit surprised to hear you and Finn kissed, my friend. The sparks between you two are pure fire.”
Crap, I didn’t even notice Mila walk over. She drops her arm over my shoulders. “Despite your ‘he’s so grumpy’ complaints at book club, we all knew you guys would hook up eventually. So the question is, what the heck are you doing here and not at home playing nurse to your man?”
“What’s the point? My life isn’t here, it’s in the city. And Finn has made it quite clear how he feels about dating someone he works with. What happened the other day was just because of heightened emotions from his injury. Nothing more,” I blurt out. It might be oversharing, but damn it feels good to get things off my chest.
“Wait. You’re not staying in Dogwood Cove?” The hurt I hear in Mila’s voice makes me wince, but is also weirdly touching.
“I mean, I don’t know. My dad is in the city, and I guess I just figured I would go back there when the tasting room is done.” My voice trails off because the reality is, my life is not in the city anymore. I don’t have an apartment, I don’t have any clients, I don’t even have any close friends, with Sarah living on the East Coast now. There’s only my dad tying me to the mainland.
