“Well, I’ll make sure she doesn’t.”
If Margot knew he’d told Avery about the two of them, she’d be furious.
“Avery—”
She waved a hand in the air.
“I swear, I won’t drop the slightest hint that I know what happened between the two of you, okay? I will just casually mention that you’re an old friend from high school, make it clear you and I could not be less interested in one another.”
Luke looked over at Margot and Sydney’s table. They were laughing again.
“There’s nothing I can say to keep you from doing this, is there?”
Avery grinned at him. He didn’t like that grin at all.
“Absolutely nothing, no.” She picked up her glass of wine. “It’s very funny to me that I have to make it clear to your mom that we are dating, but also make it clear to your boss that we are not dating.” She rubbed her hands together. “This is going to be fun.”
He dropped his face into his hands.
“Fun at my expense, you mean,” he said.
“My favorite kind,” Avery said.
Eight
THURSDAY MORNING, MARGOT DROVE over to the upscale bakery/café where she was meeting Avery for breakfast. She was very glad she’d had lots of experience forcing a warm professional smile onto her face at all times, because she still couldn’t fucking believe she had to have breakfast with Avery a few days after she’d seen her on a date with Luke.
“It’s not like you’re dating him,” she reminded herself out loud in the car, for the twentieth or so time. “Or that you were ever dating him. You don’t even want to date him! He’s too young for you, remember? And he’s leaving Napa Valley in a few months, he told you that. And even if he wasn’t, I’m sure he wouldn’t want anything serious—guys like him never do. And I don’t know why you’re even saying any of this to yourself because he is your employee!”
She let out a long sigh, pulled into a parking space, and touched up her lipstick. Sure, she wasn’t dating and couldn’t date Luke Williams, but if she had to see his new girlfriend or whatever right after she’d seen them on a date together, she was at least going to look fantastic.
She walked into the bakery and looked around. Avery wasn’t there yet. Maybe she’d forgotten about their breakfast date. Maybe Luke had distracted her. Maybe she was in bed with him right now. Oh God, stop it, Margot, what is wrong with you?
She went up to look at the display case, but heard her name a few seconds later. Avery walked up to her, a smile on her face.
“Hi, Margot, there you are. I highly recommend their apricot croissant if you haven’t had it yet this spring.”
Margot smiled at her.
“I haven’t, but I’m a real sucker for their ham and cheese croissant. I think I have it every time I come here.” She looked back at the bakery case. “Let me get one of the apricot ones for my brother, he loves those.” She waved toward the case. “Is that what you want? This is on me, you’re doing me a favor here.”
“Oh, I’m happy to help, but if you insist, yes, an apricot croissant and a large coffee,” Avery said. She glanced around the room. “I’ll grab us a table while you order.”
When she got to the front of the line, Margot ordered the pastries and their coffees. She really did appreciate Avery taking the time to talk to her, even though she wished they’d done this before she’d seen Avery and Luke together. Avery had been doing event planning for years—first with a local wedding planner, then bigger corporate events, many of which were at wineries. If Margot could have afforded to hire Avery to plan the party, she would have, but she was doing it all herself, so she was trying to glean all of the information she could about how to do this right. Avery didn’t have to take time out of her schedule to give Margot advice.
Damn it.
Margot caught Avery’s eye when she brought their coffee over to the milk station, and Avery shook her head at the milk, but nodded at the sugar, so Margot brought a few packets over to the table, after she stirred some milk into her own coffee.
“Thanks again for meeting me this morning,” Margot said when she sat down. She pulled out the new notebook that she’d designated as The Notebook for this event. “I’m really excited about this event, but I have to admit that I’m starting to feel a little in over my head.”
Avery laughed.
“Oh, that happens to me every time, but don’t worry, you have lots of time. All you really need is to have obsessively organized spreadsheets, and this will go great.”