They fell asleep again, and when she woke up, it was to find him smiling at her again.
“I wanted to let you sleep, because I know you need the rest, but it’s after ten. Are you going to the winery today, or are you going to stay here in bed with me all day?”
She sat up with a jerk.
“Oh my God, it’s after ten?” Then she laughed. “I guess you’re right, I did need the rest. I’d love to stay here in bed with you all day, but the staff worked just as hard as I did yesterday. I don’t want to bail on them on a busy Sunday.”
He sat up behind her and kissed her between her shoulder blades.
“Okay, but promise me that one day soon we both can take the day off and you really will stay in bed with me all day?”
That sounded wonderful. And from his voice, it sounded just as wonderful to him, too.
“I promise,” she said. “But how are you going to explain to your mom why you need the day off?”
He laughed against her skin.
“I’ll find a way.”
She suddenly remembered something, and turned to him.
“Oh. Speaking of. Something weird happened yesterday. I was talking to your mom at the party, and . . . Why does she seem to be under the impression that you and Avery are together? She said something like that, too, when I saw her at the auction, remember?”
He looked down.
“Yeah, I remember that. About that.”
Had anyone ever said about that in that tone of voice and had it preface something good? She sat back against the headboard and pulled the sheets up to her chest.
“About that?” she repeated.
He looked up at her.
“My mom thinks that Avery and I are together because . . . I may have given her that impression.”
She blinked. Once. Twice. Had he really just said that?
“May have? Or you did?”
He sighed.
“I did. But it was before you and I were together! Long before.” He shrugged. “After that first night, but you know what I mean. The thing is, I didn’t want to tell her I quit my job, I told you that. It feels stupid, but she was just so proud of me, proud of that job, and I knew how disappointed she was going to be. I was going to tell her, though, but when I said something about how I helped Avery move, she kind of jumped to that conclusion—she’s always wanted us back together—and then I just . . . didn’t correct her. And then it kind of . . . kept going.”
What the fuck? Margot took a long breath. And then another. But no, the deep breaths weren’t working this time to calm her down.
“I see. One question: Does Avery know about this, or will she also be surprised when your mom mentions it to her?”
He laughed. Did he . . . think this was funny?
“Oh no, Avery knows. I told her right away. She said she’d play along.”
Margot folded her hands together tightly. Was he really just telling her this, like it was no big deal?
“Let me get this straight. Your mom has thought for the past two months that you’re dating Avery. You told Avery this right away. She agreed to this. And then, a month ago, you and I got together. At what point did you plan on telling me that you’re supposedly dating Avery? Because I asked you about this back when your mom first mentioned it, remember? And you brushed it off. Or am I just not important enough to be in on this little scheme? Not like Avery, right?”
His face fell. He put his hand on her shoulder. She pulled away.
“No, Margot, that’s not it! I just kept forgetting to tell you, that’s all—it’s not that you weren’t important, it’s that this wasn’t important enough for me to mention it to you. I should have told you, I know that—I shouldn’t have even done this in the first place, it was stupid, I obviously know that, too. I was just embarrassed and stressed and in too deep, and the longer it went on, the harder it was to tell my mom the truth.”
“Okay,” she said. “I get all of that. Sort of. But look at this from my perspective for a moment. Imagine how it felt for me, to be standing there at the party yesterday talking to your mom, who looked over at you and Avery and started talking about what a cute couple you were. I was uncomfortable when I just assumed it was wishful thinking, but now I find out she thought that because you told her so? And you’ve let her keep thinking that the whole time we’ve—”
She stopped. That they’d been what, sleeping together? It was far more than that to her, and she’d thought it was more than that to Luke, too. Had she been wrong? She was annoyed to feel tears come to her eyes. She hoped Luke didn’t see them.