“Good morning. Looks like today is going to be busy; I took a glance at today’s schedule yesterday.”
No, of course he wasn’t thinking about her. Why did she think she knew his facial expressions like that? He was talking about work. She should do that, too.
“Yes, a lot busier than yesterday.” She walked over to the bar and pulled up the schedule, and he followed her. “Our first appointment isn’t until eleven thirty, but after that, we’ll be going almost all day.” She stared at the schedule again. Before they’d hired extra staff, when there were this many appointments on the schedule, she’d have to pitch in almost all day to help out. Today she’d still have to, but eventually the new staff would mean she’d have more time and space to devote to the actual running of the winery.
“Am I the first one here?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Taylor should be here any minute, and then Daisy will be here this afternoon—you haven’t met her yet, she’s great. It’s good we have so many people here today, it’s a packed schedule for a Tuesday.”
He took a step closer to her as if to glance at the schedule, but then stopped, still a few feet away. Yeah, that was for the best. Just the idea of him standing so close made a shiver go down her spine.
He looked at her for a moment, still a few feet away, and she looked back at him. Then, almost simultaneously, their faces both relaxed from their polite, tense smiles, into grins.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” she said.
“This is going to be weird, isn’t it?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Yeah. Probably. At least for a while.” Maybe it was easier to talk about this, at least briefly, than to avoid it. “I’m sorry,” she said.
He shook his head.
“You have nothing to apologize for.” He glanced around the room, then back at her. “I’m going to try my best to not make it weird, but these first few days might be a challenge.”
She laughed. At least she wasn’t the only one who was feeling like this.
“I was just about to say the same thing.”
“Good morning!” Taylor said as she opened the front door.
Margot turned in her direction. A few moments ago, she would have jumped guiltily at being caught in here alone with Luke, like she was doing something wrong just by looking at him. But their brief conversation and acknowledgment that they were both struggling with this made her feel almost as relaxed as she sounded.
“Hey, Taylor, good morning. I was just going over the schedule for the day with Luke.”
Taylor came over to the bar and glanced at the schedule.
“Is he going to shadow you on that tour and tasting at one?”
It did make the most sense for him to do that, but Margot hadn’t wanted to suggest it herself. She raised an eyebrow at him, and he nodded.
“Good idea,” she said. “Don’t worry, Luke, you’ll get lots of training before we send you out to do tours on your own.”
He gave her a wry grin.
“Was it so obvious that I was worried?”
She and Taylor both laughed.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you this yesterday—maybe Taylor did?—but there’s always coffee in the kitchen in the back, and often baked goods. The vineyard manager’s husband loves to bake, so he’s always bringing stuff in. Today there’s coffee cake.”
Taylor immediately turned toward the employees-only door leading to the kitchen.
“Be right back,” she said. They both laughed when the door closed behind her. And then they turned to face each other again.
“If you don’t want to shadow me today, I understand,” Margot said in a low voice.
Luke shook his head.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about that.”
She glanced back at the schedule, then stepped out from behind the bar.
“Okay, thanks. Just . . . let me know, okay? If it’s ever a problem.”
Luke nodded.
“I will.”
Taylor walked back into the tasting room, a square of coffee cake in her hand and a blissful expression on her face.
“I know that man is happily married, but I swear I want to marry him. Have you tried this coffee cake?”
Margot laughed.
“Wouldn’t Gemma have a problem with that?” Taylor’s girlfriend worked at a winery down the road.
Taylor waved that away.
“She would be fine with it if she got coffee cake like this. Luke, you should go get some.”
“That sounds like an order.” Luke disappeared through the door.