Margot sighed again and got in her car to drive up the valley.
As soon as she got to the winery, she was so busy it felt like she never stopped moving. She was on one call even before she walked in the door, a returned call from a restaurant owner in L.A.; she had to remember everything about his account on the fly, which she did, but barely. She was just off that call when Pete called; when she saw his number, she was sure it would be a crisis, him canceling the rest of the work he was supposed to do for them—but no, it was just to tell her he and his guys would be there early the following morning and hoped to finish up this week. She’d just had time to get coffee when Taylor buzzed her to say that some VIPs had stopped in without an appointment, so she had to check her lipstick and then breeze into the tasting room to charm them and ply them with the best of Noble’s wines. They left an hour later, after messing up her whole schedule for the day, but also after buying three cases of wine.
She was so busy that day that whenever she saw Luke in passing, all she could do was smile or nod in his direction, and all he could do was smile or nod back. That was for the best. It felt different between them now. It had been one thing when they’d had sex, or kissed; that had been purely physical. But in the car together, they’d talked. Talked in a way that they hadn’t before. That she hadn’t with someone before, not in a while. She hadn’t even gotten that vulnerable with Sydney in months—it had felt easier to just push all of those difficult emotions away, not talk about them, not deal with them. But she’d talked to Luke, and he’d talked to her, and they’d felt like friends. She didn’t want to disturb that closeness between the two of them. But she also knew that it was exactly because she didn’t want to that she had to ignore it, put it away from her. If she were smarter than she was, she would do something to shatter it, show Luke she was one hundred percent his boss, not his friend. But then, if she were smarter than she was, she never would have allowed that closeness to grow in the first place.
Margot went back into her office to check her email. She jumped when Elliot knocked on her door.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.
“It’s no problem,” she said. “I was just . . . in the middle of something. What’s going on?”
Elliot usually didn’t come by during the day unless something was wrong. Though he’d been coming by the winery building more, recently.
“I just came by to check to see that you got back okay,” Elliot said. “Yesterday, I mean. Since there was all that traffic on the way back up here.”
What? He was checking on her now? Did he suspect something about her and Luke? No, that didn’t make sense—he’d been the one to volunteer Luke to bring her home, anyway.
“Um, yeah, it was fine. A long drive, but no big deal.”
He nodded.
“Okay, just making sure. Also, I know you said it was too expensive for Pete to get planter boxes. I was thinking that I could use some of that scrap wood I got yesterday to make some. If you wanted.”
This was a surprise. Margot looked at Elliot, but he was looking at the old plan that she’d tacked up on her office wall.
“I’d love that,” she said, carefully. Like if she talked too fast, it would scare him away. “If you have time, that would be amazing.”
Elliot turned from the wall to look at her.
“I know there isn’t time before the party to put vegetables and stuff in them, but we could get herbs, flowers, some things like that. I’ll check with Pete about it all.”
This was one of the only times he’d ever brought up the party himself.
“That sounds great,” she said.
He turned to walk away. Then he turned back.
“I hate those things, you know. The auctions.”
She had no idea.
“No, I didn’t know,” she said.
He nodded quickly.
“Makes me feel like a vulture, grabbing up everything from a winery, from people who tried their best and failed. It just makes me think . . . I’m always in a bad mood, after. I thought maybe bringing you along would help, but I . . .”
Her phone buzzed, and Elliot took a step back.
“You’re busy, you probably have to get that. Talk to you later.” He walked away, and left Margot staring after him.
Was that his attempt at an apology? If so, it actually did make her feel a bit better about Sunday. And explained why things had felt good between them early in the day, and it had all gone south later.